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.