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!