Lesson 7--Ebooks on EbscoHost (formerly NetLibrary)

 

 

     My students and I have been talking about South Dakota's exports, so I decided to see what Ebooks on EbscoHost had to offer.  I found it easy to navigate, especially with the table of contents listed at the left.  I quickly found a book entitled Foreign Trade of the United States:  Including State and Metro Area Export Data.  Perfect!  Better yet, the data was somewhat recent, with the latest information on South Dakota's exports being from 1999.  I was able to see a detailed table with a breakdown of about 35 export categories by millions of dollars and the destinations by country or by region yearly from 1994 to 1999.  I learned so much in such a short time!  For example, Japan was, by far, our largest export trade partner in 1999 with almost 581million dollars' worth being sent their way.  A surprise to me was that manufactured products exported totaled about 1.1 billion dollars in 1999 while agricultural products totaled about $0.01 billion.  I would have guessed agricultural products to be easily in the lead for our exports.  Since I'm big on my students citing their resources, I clicked on the icon to help me to do that.  It led me to seven different citation formats available for the taking.  To my delight, I was also able to e-mail (from a link on the right side) just the four pages with information on South Dakota to myself.  I'm sold on this one!

 

     In my quest for information on the Constitution for my students, I found quite a few materials that were a little too in-depth for them, so I decided to see what other databases were available to me.  I clicked the one titled "Teacher Reference Center."  I was distracted by all the goodies for teachers. I'll no longer be reinventing the wheel on Constitution Day because there was a wealth of resources out there for me!  Deciding that I had better get back to the task at hand, I changed my database selection to "Middle Search Plus" since I teach middle school.  The selection entitled Did You Know? Monkeyshines on America caught my eye. I think my students would love this one because it would pique their curiosity by bringing up potentially shocking things like the fact that the government can take your private property (provided they pay you for it).  Another one from "Junior Scholastic" was titled "The Fight over the Constitution."  This can be viewed as a pdf complete with color pictures and an inviting layout.  Students could also view it as html with a read aloud option where students can even choose the accent!  A similar, but more challenging article would be "The Deciders" from "Time" magazine, which suggests that Internet and telecom company officials are really the folks who get to decide what is fit to print.  This sounds like fodder for good class discussion!

 

     The advanced search for my class projects on Western history yielded 170 books published by either the University of Nebraska Press or the University of Oklahoma Press.  They have been busy!  I would  not  have thought about limiting my search based on the location of the  publisher, but it yielded much more relevant results than I would have found doing it my way.  My students would have spent way too much time perusing options rather than doing their project.

 

 

Lesson 6--Gale Virtual Reference Library

 

 

    1.   In the blizzard of information available to students online today,  it's refreshing to find dependable reference materials within.  The Encyclopedia of World Biography was my choice.  There I found 23 volumes covering human notables worldwide and historically deep.  Heaven!  I went to the table of contents and chose a volume to get me to information about Meriwether Lewis.  I chose to view it as a PDF because I like the look of a real book rather than a computer screen, but I quickly went to the text version because it was much easier to navigate, I found.  The end of the article had a list of books for further reading on Meriwether Lewis as well as other articles within the Encyclopedia of  World Biography that are linked to Lewis.  Being somewhat of a skeptic, I tried the e-mail function to see whether it was actually that easy to just send the entire article to my school e-mail.  Sure enough--there was the article along with all the necessary citation information.  When I clicked the citation tab back  in the encyclopedia, I was given the citation and the option to export the citation to EasyBib, EndNote, etc.  Students really have it made with resources like this literally at their fingertips! I can't wait to tell mine that very good news!

 

     2.   My search for zinc in foods was as simple as typing those exact words into the search bar on the GVRL homepage.  That took me to several publications, some of which were not focused on the foods as much as health, so I narrowed my search by using the list on the left side that offered me the option of using a "Zinc (Nutrient)" link.  Now, I was in business!  My resource list was whittled down to two, both editions of the Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health.  I chose the later edition and skimmed the article for the highlighted search terms I had used.  It was simple and quick.  I found that oysters, beef, chicken, turkey, milk, cheese, yogurt, and pure maple syrup are not only good sources of zinc, but allow it to be used by the body more readily than some other sources.

 

I liked the listen feature and the settings it offered, such as whether to use highlighting and what color I would like it to be, the speed of the reading, and automatic scrolling.  I also liked that when I went back to the article, it picked up from where we left off instead of starting over.  One thing I didn't care for was that it didn't read the words that were hyperlinked to another article.  There was probably a way around that, but I didn't find it.  Nevertheless, many of my students would benefit from this listen feature, and they all have their earbuds handy at any given moment these days!

 

     3.  Faith Library's blog reminded me of how current some of the information is in the GVRL.  Students no longer have to used the outdated set of encyclopedias in my classroom closet.  Yea!

 

     Matt's Blog mentioned the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Cultures 2012.  I'm going to put that one to use this week in my own geography class!

 

 

 

Lesson 5--ProQuest

 

 

    1.

  In checking out ProQuest, I decided to do a little research on Teachscape.  Our principal just talked to us about needing to complete a course in this professional development software before the end of the school year.  We can't access it yet, but my curiosity has me wondering what it's all about.  ProQuest was perfect for my endeavor.  When I did a basic search, up popped 57 trade journals, 15 newspapers, 6 scholarly journals, 4 reports, and 3 magazines.  Also, on that first page, I had the option to look at a preview of each source presented without actually leaving the page I was on.  Furthermore, from that preview, I could "Save to My Research" if I had created such an account as well as cite it, print it, save it, or e-mail it.  I liked the fact that I could have my searched word highlighted in the text as some of the articles were quite lengthy and didn't deal completely with Teachscape.  Still on that first page, I could conduct a "search within" those findings already listed and have that highlighted as well.  I decided to look for Teachscape Learn since that is the portion of the program that we teachers are expected to complete.  Sure enough, it then showed me the findings for the more detailed search within those sources it had already located for me in my first search.

 

     In trying the advanced search, only 31 results were available.  Those results, as you probably guessed, were better suited to my purpose.  Again, I had all the options to save, cite, print, etc. as before.  A feature I really liked, which was also available in the basic search, was that I could click on a bar graph which indicated the year of publication of the results that were being shown, enabling me to get only the most recent data.

 

     1.a.

   I enjoyed going to cohorts' blogs where I found out that I have a LONG way to go in blogging if I want to attract anyone to my blog!  Stephanie's blog showed me that I missed the videos on the Chilton Manual site, which I would have been impressed with, because I agree with her that I need to see the real thing and not an artist's drawing of the parts.  Mike's blog opened my eyes to the world of voice activation for entering my blog posts.  There are a few bugs to be worked out, but some potential uses nonetheless!  Shayna confirmed what I had been thinking about Learning Express and how handy it would have been "back in the day." 

 

     2.

 

     Next, I went to the Publications tab where I could find all the publications catalogued (4803 of them!) in ProQuest in an alphabetical list.  I chose just one, "Tech and Learning," which was available from 1988 to present.  Within just this journal, I could conduct a search for Teachscape as well.  I could again narrow it by choosing the year of publication, the databases to search, etc.  To find what I think my principal is really looking for, I decided to search within the 24 articles about Teachscape that were found with this query for those that included the name of Charlotte Danielson, famous for teacher evaluation tools.  Eight of those 24 articles included Charlotte Danielson's name.  This was just too easy!  I never imagined all this could be done in such a short span of time and all from the comfort of my easy chair at home!



 

 

Lesson 4--SIRS Discoverer

 

     I looked up armadillos and went straight to the graphics tab as my students would probably do.  There I found several pictures of armadillos, some in their defensive ball position, some as babies, some as adults, and a chart including information about armadillos.

 

     On the main page, I found many articles from various magazines for young people and from reference books.  These offered the option to have the article e-mailed to me and included citation information and a read aloud feature. Lexiles scores were included for each article and the heading at the top allows the reader to learn more about how to research and cite their sources.  I can even feature this information on my Facebook page with a button at the top.  I played with the translate feature and was able to see the same article in Chinese.  Amazing!

 

 

    Something that really got my attention in the "Country Facts" section of SIRS Discoverer was the graphic organizer which came ready to print.  I was impressed by having a direct link to the country's (I chose Bolivia) official government webpage.  I know this is not someone else's interpretation of the information.  Students can make decisions for themselves.  The Fact Monster link there had me lost with so many great activities for students like geography hangman, math flashcards, and even a conversion calculator.  I'm so glad I took this challenge!

 

 

    In checking out "Maps of the World," again I was lost in the treasure of maps available.  Forget about potential use, I'll definitely be using these historical maps on a regular basis for my American history classes.  Specifically, I found a map of Boston in 1775.  Rather than my students having to put up with my crude drawings on outline maps, they can see these beautifully detailed maps made especially for that particular period when we cover Paul Revere's ride, for example.

 

     This adventure just gets better and better!  I decided to look at the "Nonfiction Books" section as my last database feature, thinking that I would find a list of suggested books, but, instead, was able to download the entire DK Eyewitness Civil War book!  This will be a great resource for me in my American history class when I want to find pictures and articles not included in my textbook.  There are so many great books listed, and I'm anxious to share this discovery with my colleagues.

 

 

SIRS Issues Researcher

 

     Genetically modified food was the issue I chose to research.  I found very up-to-date information there, including the very recent announcement in the "LA Times" about Cheerios going GMO free.  I was given two citation options, a summary of the article, a list of many similar topics with live links, and a read-aloud feature.  I already have my opinion, but my eyes were opened by the articles I found in the "viewpoints" link, giving the other side of the story.  Looking closer, I found a timeline, which gave a chronological run-down of food and nutrition history.  The "My Analysis" link gave me a great deal of advice on researching and writing about my topic.  The "Note Organizer" looks like a lifesaver tool as far as organizing my material for my paper.

 

     Under "Curriculum Pathfinders," I chose social studies.  The next page showed me a graphic with many possibilities for research topics (all links for further inquiry).   To the right were two interactives, one entitled "Eyewitness:  American Originals from the National Archives" and the other a nuclear weapons interactive game from the Nobel Prize organization.  Both of these would be sure to get the attention of serious and not-so-serious researchers and maybe even grab the attention of those students who may be protesting the assignment!  Next, I went to the civics link, then to the "Newseum Digital Classroom."  I registered for free and was then able to open up and use many, many valuable resources for the classroom, one being a "Protesting for Right" timeline.  This allowed me to click on various years or events which opened up digital images of primary sources, categorizing them into legal, social, and economic groups.  There was a tab for lesson plans for a variety of civics, history, and media topics.  I had no idea there was so much available to me for free!