Lesson # 10 - Wrap Up

I enjoyed exploring all of the various resources that were covered in this survey of resources. I especiallly enjoyed learning about the vast variety of materials available through the Learning Express Library.
I told our technology coordinator last week that I am going to try and develop a scope and sequence of writing assignments (for ninth through twelfth graders) that incorporate most of the electronic resources available through the state library. Of course, I will have to align my assignments with our state standards. Our school is also using the Writing to Win program developed by Dr. Warren Combs, and I have been trained in that program, so I want to also align the assignments with the suggested types of writing assignments that are a part of the Writng to Win program.
I have chosen to begin this project with my ninth grade students because in our school, every high school student is issued a personal laptop for use during the school year. I feel that designing a scope and sequence that begins in ninth grade and continues through twelfth grade will be practical and possible. Since I teach all of the ninth, eleventh and twelfth graders in our school and since I work closely with the tenth grade writing teacher, I should be able to see my idea through to completion.

Lesson # 9 - History and Geneology Resources

I enjoyed exploring Ancestry Library. Some of the interesting materials I found included my mother's obituary and the marriage certificate of my paternal grandparents. When I searched the photos and maps that are available through this resource, I found a map of the farmland that I grew up on and that one of my brothers currently lives on and farms. My greatgrandparents moved to South Dakota from Wisconsin and acquired this land through the Homestead Act, Earlier this summer, my father asked me to fill out the paperwork needed in order have our family farm recognized for being in our family for at least 125 years. Although I already sent in a different document as proof that our farm has been in our family for this period of time, I could have used the map I found through Ancestry Library as proof. I also found a map of my greatgrandparents' farm located in Lafayette County, Wisconsin, with the town listed as Blanchard. I found that interesting, as last summer, my father received a phone call from a woman who identified herself as a long lost cousin from Monroe, Wisconsin. She stated that her father, my father's brother, had grown up in Blanchardville, Wisconsin and that she has been there to tour the farmland that the original farm buildings were located on. Now I will have to do further research to find out if Blanchard and Blanchardville are two different locations or if Blanchard is simply an abbreviation for Blanchardville. This cousin and her husband came to meet my father, his sister, and other relatives last summer,and although neither my father nor his sister are able to travel long distances, two of my cousins and I hope to go to make the trip to Monroe next summer to spend time with this cousin of my father, as she is planning to take us to -- whatever it is -- Blanchardville or Blanchard.
When I explored Heritage Quest,I searched for my paternal grandfather and found a census report from 1923 that listed my grandfather as a resident of Sweet Township in Hutchinson County which is the county I currently live in. I was quite surprised at this, since I thought he had only lived in BonHomme County, where our 125 year old family farm is located. I called my father tonight to tell him what I had found, and he confirmed the accuracy of this by stating that when my great- grandfather was still actively farming our family farm, my grandfather rented farmland in Hutchinson County for a few years, moving back to the family farm a few years later to help his father, who was aging and not able to do as much physical work.
Although I was not able to find any maps of Menno (where I currently live) in the Sanborn collection, I did find maps of my hometown of Scotland. Using a 1923 map, I was able to find the City Hall, which is still standing and is still used today. At one time, a lodge hall that housed the International Order of the Oddfellows and the Rebecca Lodge was located on the same street as the City Hall. I remember spending a lot of time in that lodge when I was a young child, as my father was belonged to the Oddfellows and my mother belonged to the Rebeccas. That building is no longer standing, but I found it on the map.
The accessibility to all of these history and geneology resources is quite impressive.

Lesson # 8 Learning Express Library

Before completing all four parts of the Discovery Exercise on Learning Express Library, I thought I was fairly familiar with the resources from this site. Shortly after I started the exercise, I realized my assumption was wrong, as all I was really familiar with were the practice exams for the ACT and SAT, which our guidance counselor shows to our students and had happened to do so during one of the periods I had the students in class. One feature that I especially liked when taking a practice exam was the timer showing me how much time of the 45 minutes allowed for the ACT English practice exam I had left as I progressed through the test. I also thought the the feature that allows the test taker to finish later was a great option.
When I expored the "Job Search and Workplace Skills," I got to a page that listed seven job search websites and mentioned a seventh website on Twitter called "Will Tweet for Work." This page would be helpful to anyone involved in a search for employment.
I also checked out the resume preparation and writing link. After explaining three types of resumes (chronological, functional, and a combination of both), the user was then asked to answer about ten questions to determine which type of resume would probably best suit that individual. For example, one question asked the user if he/she was looking for a job in a field that he/she had work experience or training in or if he/she was looking for a job in a field that he he/she had no work experience or training in. This feature of the resume writing link was quite impressive to me.
The part of Learning Express Library that I did not know anything about was the link to all of the ebooks. Since my daughter is currently gettting her master's in occupational therapy and will need to take the national occupational therapy licensure exam, I searched for practice exams on that topic. Although I didn't find any, my search brought up a lot of books that had practice exams in other subjects. Since I teach English, I viewed the ebooks pertaining to topics we cover in English, and I found a lot of high quality ebooks, including English to the Max, 510 Writing Prompts, and Grammar Success in 20 Minutes a Day. The grammar books included lessons, practice exams, the answers to the practice exam questions, and referrals back to a particular lessson for any question the student answered incorrectly. The book of writing prompts included sections on persuasive, expository, narrative and literary response essays. Each section included lessons on that type of writing, 125 prompts, 6 point scoring rubrics, and samples of essays that would theoretically receive a score from 1 -6 with an explanation of the score the essay was given.
Learning Express Library is a much more comprehensive site than I realized prior to completing this lesson.

Lesson # 7 - ArchiveGrid and CAMIO

As I completed the first discovery exercise using ArchiveGrid, I learned that Sitting Bull was involved in the Battle of the Little Big Horn and then eventually fled to Canada before surrrendering to US troops. He was killed while resisting arrest for refusing to abandon the traditions of the ritual Ghost Dance.
For my own search on ArchiveGrid, I searched for materials on Frederick Douglass, as my juniors in American literature read a cutting from one of Douglass' narratives. There were 716 results for Douglass, including letters and scrapboooks. The scrapbooks contain clippings on his life, career, funeral, interment, and the erection of a monument in Rochester, NY. Some of the institutions that have these materials include the Rochester Public Libray and the New York State Archives.
Moving on to the second discovery exercise using CAMIO to search for results on Paul Revere, I saw a number of the sterling silver items Revere is known for, including a teaspoon, sugar bowl and cover, teapot, urn and bowl. As I did this search, it reminded of a trip I took last summer to Boston as part of a Democratic Vistas conference I was selected to attend. While there, I had the opportunity to listen to guest lecturers who were art professors from the universities in and around Boston and to go to the musuem where John Singleton Copley's painting of Revere is located. Our guest lecturer talked at length about the sterling silver of Revere.
When I used Sioux as my search term in CAMIO, I found results that included books, drawings, dolls, pipe bowls, coats, and jewelry.
I entered Norman Rockwell as the search term of my choice and found many of his famous paintings. Rockwell is another artist I have studied in conjunction with the Democratic Vistas conference, and a portfolio of one of his famous paintings is part of the Picturing America collection that I incorporate into the American literature course that I teach.
As a teacher of American literaure, world literature, and mythology, I offer my students a variety of projects to choose from as we complete a unit of study. I always try to include a project choice that appeals to students interested in art, so iI am looking forward to introducing those students to CAMIO as a possible source for information for their projects.

Lesson 6 - WorldCat

For Part 1 of this lesson's discovery exercise, I typed in Of Mice and Men as the book title, with 917 results indicated. The top library listed was the Augustana College library. The Class Descriptors included both LC: PS357.3234 and Dewey 813/.52. The first link was to the book Steinbeck: Novel and Stories 1932-1937. Of Mice and Men is one five Steinbeck novels that are found in this anthology of Steinbeck novels. When I clicked on "Steinbeck," the titles of many other novels written by Steinbeck appeared, including Travels with Charlie, The Winter of Our Discontent, The Grapes of Wrath, etc. When I clicked on the four subject links, doing so took me to a list of other American stories and novels of the 20th century.
When completing Part 2 of the discovery exercise, I selected an an article entitled," Containment of Small Group Infestations of the Mountain Pine Beetle in Ponderosa Pine." I selected this article because two years ago, our family hiked up Harney Peak, where we were shocked and saddened to see the devastation caused by the mountain pine beetle in the Black Hills. Coincidentally, a few nights ago I received an email from a cousin who informed that she and her brother will be unable to come to our family reunion scheduled for next weekend because her brother is currently involved in trying to save the pine trees on land he owns in Colorado from these same beetles. Although the article was authored by employees of the the Rocky Mountain division of the US Forest Service, the article appears in a search of "South Dakota" because it refers to a study that was done to investigate the ability of semiochemical tree baits to contain the samll group infestations of the mountain pine beetle in the ponderosa pine trees thar are found in the part of the Black Hills National Forest that is located near Lead, South Dakota. I was able to read the article after I clicked on link nex to "Access."
I found World Cat to be an easy-to-use source with great potential for use not only by my students but also by me!

Lesson 5 : NetLibrary

I teach a semester length mythology class to high school students, so I chose "Odysseus" as the keyword for my basic search. This brought to me 57 ebooks. One book that I will be able to use in my classroom includes simplified versions of myths and holidays or events when these myths might be presented to elementary children. As a project in my mythology class, I will have students select some of these simplified versions of myths and present them to elementary students around the time of the holiday or event. Since the school I teach in is a small school with all students from kindgergarten through twelfth grade in the same building, our school is easily able to have our high school students work with the elementary students, and both age groups of students seem to benefit from these experiences.
When I searched for sources for students planning activities for Constitution Day on September 17, I found a multitude of ebooks that would be helpful. Some of the those ebooks include letters of Thomas Jefferson, personal memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, narratives such as "My Bondage and My Freedom" by Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address. For example, students could use information from these sources to create a "Jeopardy" type game using one of the free game templates available via the Internet. I have had students create games like this based on novels and plays we have read in class, and I find the students really enjoy creating and playing the games, which serve as good reviews over the novels and plays.

Lesson 4 - Gale Virtual Reference Library

I began my exploration of the Gale Virtual Reference Library by selecting the "literature" link. I then selected the "world mythology" link. SinceI teach a semester long elective in world mythology, I thought I might find a useful resource at this link, and I did when I found the UXL Encyclopedia of World Mythology. After reviewing the content of this encyclopedia by looking at the table of contents, I began my survey of this source by checking out the information on Beowulf, which is one of the myths we study in detail. What I found there that I liked is a "Read, Write, Think, Discuss" feature that refers to John Gardner's telling of the story from Grendel's point of view and then asking students to examine how the point of view affects the telling of a story. "What factors cause a single set of events to be described in two vastly different ways?" is the question students are asked to discuss. I plan to use this question as part of a lesson in my mythology class.
For my basic search key term while examing the Gale Virtual Reference Library, I typed in "quilts." I wanted to see if I could find some information to supplement one of the posters, a picture of various quilts, in the Picturing America collection that I received through a grant last year. I also received a grant to go to Boston to the Democratic Vistas conference, and as part of that conference, a speaker from the New England Quilt Museum talked about quilts as pieces of American history. When I typed in "quilts, " I was directed to a section on quilting in the Dictionary of American History. I found material there that I plan to use with my students in the American literature course that I teach when we discuss alternatives to written literature and discuss quilts (especially the ones in the Picturing America poster) as one of those alternatives.
I found the Gale Virtual Reference Library useful and easy to navigate.

Lesson 3 - ProQuest

Previous to this assignment, I had done some searches on ProQuest and had some difficulty finding what I was looking for. I experienced a similar difficulty as a completed this assignment. Here's what happened: I decided to look for information on Factor 5, a blood clotting disorder that I had never heard of until a friend of my was recently diagnosed with this condition. When I went to ProQuest and typed in "Factor 5," the articles that I was directed to were not relevant Here is an abstract of one of the articles I was directed to: "Mechanisms must be developed to identify patients who require assistance after discharge or transfer from an acute care facility. Recent changes in legislation have mandated discharge planning. Announced in 1986, the new Conditions of Participation for hospitals for the Medicare and Medicaid programs require that discharge planning be initiated in a timely manner and that patients, along with necessary medical information, be transferred or referred to appropriate facilities, agencies, or outpatient services for follow-up or ancillary care, if needed. The legislation points out the need for identification of high-risk discharge planning groups. While there is no single, universally applicable formula for determining which patients will benefit most from discharge planning, there are a number of high-risk indicators. Some of these include: 1. age, 2. residence, 3. behavioral factors, 4. social and familial factors, 5. medical condition, and 6. level of nursing care or social service needed. " I was able to figure out that because the word "factors" was followed by "5," the article came up as match to my search term "Factor 5," even though the article is not about the medical condition called Factor 5. When I went to Goole and typed in "Factor 5," I was directed to relevant articles. When I changed my search term to "blood clotting disorders," the articles I was directed to were relevant but not specific to Factor 5. I'm not sure why my ProQuest search for information on Factor 5 was not successful - if anyone knows what I need to do differently so that I am directed to relevant articles, please let me know what suggestions you have. When I went to Google and typed in "Factor 5, " the articles I was directed to were relevant.

My search for articles from professional journals was much more successful. When I used the search term "middle school grammar," I was directed to 40 different articles. Some of those 40 articles included games and activities. I noticed that when my search term was "middle school grammar games," I received a note stating that no articles matching my search term were found. When I used " middle school grammar activities" as my search term, I was directed to only two articles. Thus, I figured out to keep my search term quite broad.

I need to explore ProQuest further, trying other search terms to see what the results will be. The access to professional journals that ProQuest gives educators makes it a very valuable electronic resource.

Lesson 2 - SIRS Discover and SIRS Issues Researcher

After spending time exploring SIRS Discoverer in more depth than I had previously to this assignment, I found some neat features I was not aware of. When I searched for my "favorite animal," I selected the wolf, my school's mascot. The first article I examined contained not only a picture of a pack of gray wolves but also a graph showing how the gray wolf population increased from 1973 to 2007. The article included an explanation for the increase in the gray wolf population. I also noticed the reading level of the article was available.
When checking out the database features, when I typed in "Nepal" and hit the "Country Facts" link, I found information on the population, geography, wealth, government and history of this country. The feature "Maps of the World" can be used by students in my literature classes to discover information about a location that is the setting for the nonfiction selections we read.
I also chose to examine the "Activities" feature and selected "Reading, Writing and Language Arts" as my favorite subject since I teach classes in those content areas. I was surprised to find grammar activities and plays. I will probably use some of those activities in my middle school language arts classes.
I then examined closely SIRS Issues Researcher. I chose to pick the subject "online social networking" from the "Your Top 10" list. The topic overview included a one paragraph introduction, as well as two perspectives, one written from the viewpoint of someone discussing the pros of online social networking and one written from the viewpoint of someone discussing the cons of this issue. The research tools led me to many neat features; the one I think I will find particularly useful for my classes is the note organizer, where students can type in viewpoints, reasons and supporting evidence for both informative and persuasive essays. The note organizer also allows the student to enter this information in an outline view, which will be helpful for my students. The articles I examined were written by reputable sources. I also found a link to an "interactive" site, which was a video of an interview on the dangers of social networking and how to prevent those dangers.
When I examined the "Curriculum Pathfinders" feature of SIRS Issues Researcher, I chose the language arts option and then selected American literature, which I teach to juniors. There, I found a link to "American Passages: A Literary Survey" that is awesome! It includes 16 thematic based units, and each unit includes an overview, information about the authors, a video, discussion questions, project ideas, etc. I have already saved this link to my favorites and plan to spend more time examining this site before I incorporate some of the material into my American literature course.
I found this week's lesson on SIRS, particularly SIRS Issues Researcher, to be extremely useful. I had no idea that SIRS Issues Researcher included so much useful information for not only students but also educators.

Lesson 1- World Book School Edition

I spent the past hour exploring the four World Book Online resources that are part of the School Edition: World Book Kids, World Book Students, World Book Advanced, and World Book Discoverer
I like how the articles in World Book Kids explain concepts at an appropriate level for young children. For example, when I did research on the wolf, the mammal of my choice for this assignment, the article explained that the wolf's actions in the children's story "Little Red Riding Hood" give the wrong idea about wolves, since they actually stay away from people as much as possible. I noticed the article on wolves that I accessed in World Book Students was written for students a little older than the students whom World Book Kids' articles are written for.
When I explored World Book Advanced, the features I found that will be useful for the middle school and high school students I teach include hearing the text read aloud, saving the article to a research folder, and emailing the article. For example, I introduce my middle school students to research paper writing by having them work in small groups. One student can easily email to another student in his/her group an article so that the both students can read the article and then decide whether to use the article for their group's research. I also liked the right side, where a student can find a list of links to primary sources related to his/her research topic.
As I navigated through an article on American government in World Book Discoverer, I thought that the feature where a person can double click a word to find its definition would be a great resource for a person who is not a good reader of English. Many readers like this would probably be reluctant to take the time to stop and look up words whose meanings they do not know, but this feature makes it so quick and easy to get definitions.
I'm glad that I now know about the various levels of the World Book Online Student Edition. I didn't know about all of the levels and their features, and I will definitely make time during the first few weeks of the school year to show my students these resources and the features that I think they will find especially helpful.