My Final Post to You All!

• Finally, explore resources the Invitational didn’t cover. MARVEL gives you access to Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts which covers all things libraries. You can also access WorldCat, OCLC’s huge bibliographic database. There’s also Literary Reference Center which is a full-text database that provides information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and time frames.

1.  What was your biggest discovery?

2. How will you promote or use the resources with your patrons, colleagues or students?

     I spent half time of the Dallas game researching several topics also part of MARVEL. I actually think that the invitational explored the most interesting databases for me. I looked further into using the medical databases and was allowed to further look at diabetes and its diet and the myths about diabetes. Again, some of the databases made it difficult for me to find what I was searching for. This is why I think for the first time someone is encountering MARVEL it would be very helpful to have a live person present should there be the need (YES) for clarification. I would have done much better with my questions answered immediately instead of floundering alone. Even being in a class with others would have helped me get where I needed to be.

     I truly believe I will continue to use Novel List K-8 forever when helping my students or even friends choose an appropriate book title. This was the best feature of MARVEL for me. I will make the search mandatory for students who are choosing books below grade level, who have read series and might want another 'alike' of said series, or just for the reluctant readers I so often encounter in my classroom. I've found some success already and hope to continue to spread the word. My cohort in 8th grade will also use this in her classroom once I teach her how to use it.

Week 11

We'd like your final blog entry to tell us what you learned along the way and what you'll do with your new knowledge.

This has been certainly the most unique way of learning something new that I have ever participated in. Yes there were struggles along the way and no I will not give up on all learnings. I especially loved the ease at which I could assist my students with finding new books while using Novel List K-8 Plus. My librarian is purchasing as fast as she can for them I have supplemented my classroom library with 'book alikes' and 'author alikes' that my students love. I've gotten my students to read more than 1000 pages a week on average since learning this resource. I will continue to utilize this aspect of MARVEL and integrate into my teaching so more and more of my students will find books they love. I also want to use Learning Express to help my 8th graders do some career search to help them begin to think of the future into which they will soon be thrust. They need someone to talk to them about their likes and dislikes and what aspirations they might have. This too often gets overlooked within the home and I want my students to know I want them to succeed with whatever they want. This will give them options. WIsh me (and them) luck! I've enjoyed the challenge, but have found myself a bit lacking when it comes to some of the lessons, but I tried and will find much use for MARVEL when the opportunity arises.

FINALE 10

Pick one of the databases mentioned above from the alphabetical list or pick Ebsco Host from the list and then choose the database from that list.

I chose Middle Search Plus and searched classroom management, a topic I am always trying to perfect in my classroom. I also narrowed the search to reflect articles within the last 2 years so I could possibly read the most recent research on the topic. I just want to review what I do and how I can become a more effective disciplinarian. Middle school students  present such challenges today and I struggle with managing the behaviors that are domineering the classroom.

2. One of the first things to figure out is what journals and books are actually indexed in the database.  To do that, click on “Publications” in the blue menu bar at the top of the page.  Scroll down the list or search for a popular magazine title.  Is it covered in the database you’re in?
I couldn't find any publications I know of related to middle school teaching. It did not include Educator magazine or any publication related to In the Middle. I was at a loss for any others. Most I found was bibliographic records. Somewhat disappointing.

Now, click “Basic Search” and type a search in the search box. Search for answers to the question about zinc in foods posed at the beginning of the post if you can’t think of something else. Review the results, selecting an article to see what kind of information you can find. Discuss your results.
I searched 'teaching in the middle' and found that there were several useful articles. I found one lesson I could use for my students that had direct correlation to what we are doing now: comparison and contrast writing.

3. Look at 2 or 3 other participants’ blogs to see what they discovered. Comment if you like.
I reviewed others' posts and found a bit of both worlds. Some were as unfortunate as I and others were successful. I found, as has been in all my searches, it depends upon what topic you post. I have been less than successful and find that perhaps I am not as focused as I need to be to use this source. I'l keep plugging along!

1. Do a search for a topic that interests you. Note the default search is “full text.” You may want to change the search to keyword. Review your findings and observations.
I searched digital photography and found one full text ebook titled Computers and Creativity. This was not my intended result, but I did peruse it and found some interesting information. I was more looking for digital photography instruction or tips. It did entice me to want to learn computer programs that would allow me to edit on a professional level. 

2. Constitution Day is looming and several students need more material. Search NetLibrary and recommend some appropriate titles.
I searched net library for Constitution Day (which I thought was in September) and fund no results. Better luck next year.

3. A class is doing projects on Western history. They have exhausted the library’s print collection. In NetLibrary, click “Advanced Search.” In the Publisher box, type “Nebraska” or “Oklahoma.” Report your findings.
Nothing.......... finally frustrated! I honestly gave it a good try, but I found too many road blocks along the way.  Thanks for the opportunity.

Geneology Week 7

Discovery Exercise:

Create a blog posting discussing the following questions and other observations you have about Ancestry Library, Heritage Quest and Sanborn Maps. All resources can be accessed via this alphabetical list.

1. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be dead to be listed in Ancestry Library and can frequently find useful information in the U.S. Phone and Address Directories, 1993-2002. You may even find your marriage license. Search for your own name in Ancestry Library and report the results.

2.  In Ancestry Library, search for a grandparent or great-grandparent and see if you can locate them in the census.  Report your findings.

3.  In Ancestry Library, perform a search under the “Photos and Maps” tab for “Maine” as the keyword.  Report your findings.

I listened to the tutorials and found myself a little bit disappointed yet excited. I am a school teacher and do not have a local library open on a regular basis. So listening to the tutorials was very informative. It seems very intuitive to use Ancestry Library and I wish we had at our school library. My son in adopted and I have limited knowledge of his birthparents. I wold use this to search for him any information I could find. Ours is an open adoption in as much as it is agreed upon to allow him to search out his birthparents should he want to. I know names and location of birth and birthdates. It would enlighten him to have access to this more indepth database. I just may look into this option for him.

I know quite a bit about my own family tree and could verify much of the information. My sister compiled a scrapbook of family information for us one Christmas. I'd like to further investigate with possibly some updated information.

Learning Express to the Top!

1.  Set-up an account in LearningExpress and browse through the available exams.

Done: same login and passwords as MARVEL! 

2.  Choose one and answer a few questions. Then click "Score my test" in the top toolbar. Ignore the warnings and continue to have your test scored, so that you can see how the diagnostic page looks. Then click "View Answers" at the bottom of the page. What did you think about this test experience?

For pride's sake I took the Reading Practice Test 1 yet didn't spare my pride. I answered 8 questions and got 6 correct. Upon review, I need more work! I hurried because I knew there was a time limit and remembered that my students just took a test in class that was on computer and I agonized for them as some struggled to focus on the computer to answer grade appropriate reading questions. I feel their pain. 

3.  Job searching and resume writing are among the self-paced courses in LearningExpress.  Click on the "Job Search and Workplace Skills" learning center and add one of the courses to your center.  Take a few minutes to explore the course and note your observations.

I initially chose a 'course' that included only an ebook to download. Fortunately, I found some grammar review that I can use in my classroom. My next choice was a course that was Business Writing Basics Course 1: Organizing your writing. I found this information useful to help me teach my students. You teach best what you've learned to do yourself. I plan to use these sources yet again to enhance my writing instruction even though it applies to business writing skills. Not sure it will be much different because the basic rules apply. Good refresher.

4. Type a search term in the search box in the upper left of the home page for a skills improvement or career topic in which you are interested. Notice that results are sorted by tests, courses and eBooks (if all of those are available for your chosen topic). Please select an eBook and look through its pages.

As previously stated I mistakenly chose a 'course' that had an ebook. I did infact browse and found a ton of grammar improvement to include a pretest and skills lessons I could use. Students always need to know grammar is useful and will always be there to be improved upon as needed.

OR

From the home page, bottom right, click the link for eBooks. The list will open in a new window. Browse the titles and take a look at one that interests you.

Health be to thee....

1. In Health Source – Consumer Edition, click on the Publications link at the top of the page and explore the types of magazines and journals indexed in the database.
There is virtually anything one would want to research in this database.. A-Z every age, gender, interest group or need is represented. I explored ADHD and adolescence since that is a population both at home and at work I am affected by. I especially liked the fact that I found an entire book I could reference easily. I read a few chapters and will go back to read again.2. Search for a disease or condition, such as diabetes. Sort your results by the most current publication date by clicking on the ‘Relevance Sort’ option.

Options available went 'all the way 'back to 1985. I would like to explore changes in medical research over time I wondered to myself what would I find about diabetes and women that has changed of the 27 years. For example what advice was given to pregnant moms in 1989 as compared to 2012? When I specified my search the number of results decreased tremendously making it a more manageable list to maneuver. Very useful.
3. Pick one of the articles you found and read through the full text. Was the article written in terms you could understand without consulting a medical dictionary?
I chose a journal article, which probably wasn't the best place to start. I had to enlarge the font, because it was no where near large enough to read. No, I could not understand most of the article. Then I revised my search to include pamphlets which I thought would be more for the general public and found nothing. May have been my search techniques, but concluded that it might be only for the scholarly and I hoped I would find it more useful when I were to actually need resources.

1. Go to Medline Plus 

2. Look at a few of the links on the main page. What’s in the news column on the right side? Indicate in your blog post what some of the top searches are as listed on the left side of the page

First of all, I couldn't find MedlinePlus on the alphabetical list.I had to return to the email to click on the link to find this link. Once here, very useful. The news on the right column are the latest findings of top articles for today's date on certain topics. For today the 25th topics such as kids and diabetes, soy rich diets may not help post menopausal, and teen smoking has fallen. These tops hit a wide variety of groups who may benefit from the latest information at first glance. Good topical information.

Top searches of the day (from the left column) are aspirin, cholera, diabetes and hypertension. They are the largest in size therefore I assume in this form these would be the most often searched of the day.

3. Click on tab “Drugs and Supplements” and search for a medication you take or you have seen ads about recently such as Prilosec or Cymbalta. Note the kind of information available.

I searched Pristiq and found that it says to see  Desvenlafaxine and I did. It gave an initial warning for those taking this drug. (Nothing I didn't already know.) There is a huge amount of information present that answers FAQ of someone taking or investigating this drug. I found it to be very informative and easy to understand. It is very similar to the inserts Rite Aid includes that I read the first time I filled my prescription. I wonder if things ever change and how I would be notified.

4. Click on “Health Topics” and search for the same disease or condition you looked at in Health Source. How does the information in MedlinePlus differ from that in Health Source?

This is a much better (user friendly) It is also available in Spanish easy to read? lol There is a limited amount of information, but much more usable.

5. Look at the list of videos available by clicking on “Videos and Cool Tools” tab. Pick one video and launch it so you have an idea of what a patron would experience. What did you think of the video?

I watched a video of a knee surgery and got a little queasy thinking this is what I am about to encounter myself. I hope my damage isn't as bad as the patient's but bad enough to have fixed. I'll check for these videos once I find out!

Business Resources? If you say so....

Business Source Complete:
"Available information on FM radio"
Trade publications, academic journals, magazines, product reviews, and newspapers
Searching through a visual search made it more difficult since no results were found? I don't know, maybe lets me go to another source.
EconLit:
There were only 8 sources found when I did a search for resources for small business owners. I would think there would be more. Maybe too vague a search. 6 were journal articles which might be beneficial. I chose 'financial resources available to small business owners' only returned 1 source. I also searched 'legal resourcs available to small business owners' which again found only 1 source. Disappointing should I be small business owner, which I'm not.
Regional Business News:
I searched the company my husband works for Sherwin-Williams and found 272 resources and since he is invested in the business I searched Sherwin WIlliams and stocks which in turn narrowed the 200+ down to 59 resources. I could narrow these down by most recent --2011 and 2012 which I found very useful. If a business person were interested in the progress of stocks with Sherwin williams by year then  it would be very beneficial. At least I could steer anyone to research options related to several regional companies. I am not that thrilled with the limited resources that came up for me. Maybe I'm not using the correct division of MARVEL EBSCOhost???
As far as a Maine company I tried The Bouchard Family Farm Buckwheat Ployes and found nothing. Then I searched LLBean and only found 6 resources from 2011 and 2012. I would have expected more results.
Value Line: It's all GREEK to me and due to lack of interest I am not a financial whiz nor intend to be in the future.
Wall Street Journal:
Again the search topic makes a huge difference. There were several suggestions which help me assess which options might be best for a small business owner. And yet again most of this is GREEK and of no interest to someone like me who has no use for such topics. No disrespect as I'm sure a public librarian would find this much more useful to his/her  clientele. Just not good for 8th graders. Thanks for this experience. I can definitely use this, but probably won't beyond the literature or research based portions of the database.

What a novel idea!

1. As an 8th grade teacher I found this an informative way to help my students who struggle to select a single book to say nothing about a series. I fill by classroom bookshelves with current top choices, yet I still have reluctant readers. I think this aspect of MARVEL has many opportunities for me to help those who have very little idea of what type book they might enjoy.

When I did a search on the Gone series, I did not find the 'view' nor 'sort by' options, so I cannot report on how this might help me assist my readers. I did search a non series topic. I have a student who ONLY enjoys outdoor survivor-ish novels. He's read everything I've suggested including all of the Gary Paulsen books. I was successful in finding 20 titles which I gave to our school librarian to use to search for title for him. I plan on using his recommendations of those he chooses to read to supplement my classroom library. This is a huge challenge for this age and interest level and MARVEL will help me with various choices.

2. tell us

how using this tool could make your job easier and promote better customer service in your library.

In finding a read-alike to the many authors my students choose has always been a challenge for me. This one resource will definitely solve that consternation when a student asks me for a book by the same author. I can go to MARVEL and find read-alikes based on author style which in fact may be just what my student liked about the book. They may be unaware of this attachment to his/her formerly favorite book. It doesn't always have to be the similar story line that has made the positive impact. Although looking myself through MARVEL may be helpful, this aspect of this database just might me develop a plan for instruction in my classroom so each one can find the best choice for themselves using this tool!

3. I've explored and have decided that I will use this tool to help weed out some of my books based on this tool's aspects. I never know if what I have is worth saving because now I only base it on whether I have had students read the titles. This way I can research the books I have and possibly be able to recommend more and throw away less. It will now be based on solid information I trust and may help me save money replacing books. Levels are also important for me. MARVEL lets me have access to lists used and developed by 'book people.' This I like.

4. Looking at what others have said and have found that some expound on the praises of this tool and others just list "just the facts ma'am". I look to the others' blogs for writing styles not so much content value. I found nothing from others that I did not find myself. I often hope to learn from my fellow bloggers so I will continue to investigate. All in all, my students will ultimately benefit from my recent learning tools and I hope it will also increase their love of reading!

Uh-Oh Could be trouble...! :)

I was so excited when this topic showed up. I perused several topics before I was able to find something I could use. I searched wood crafting, beginner photographer and then just crafts. I was unimpressed with the results. Clicking on the tabs didn't help. I didn't find the long list of descriptions helpful. I wish it was more like the periodicals and indexed that way. Thinking in regards to my 8th grade students, I might just be cautious in having them investigate with this source. for personal use it is nice to know it is there, but I don't necessarily find it applicable to my classroom. Of course, I know that is not all MARVEL is for, but that is my life.

Eventually I found baking ideas through the topics tab. I was thinking of Thanksgiving baking and looked for any new recipes I could try on the family! Found some! I sent the article that had 2 'new' choice desserts to my e-mail so I can use them for preparing for the holiday.

When I used the help tab, I saw listed MANY topics on the left hand column. I found that there are certain search techniques such as Boolean which could have helped me find my initial topics' information to my satisfaction. Live and learn on a daily basis!

I also learned there is a 24/7 Help desk should I really need to find something I found impossible to discover on my own through diligence and lots of reading.

Don't let this resource replace Pinterest in your life! lol!!!

Newspapers Exploration

1. The tutorial was helpful. I spent time looking through the sources and wished all this was available when I taught Maine Studies. I would have much rather had students use these sources than the Dirigo, I lead text. lol!!

2. This week I decided to use the exploration through newspapers to investigate the meningitis outbreak across the country. Knowing that the compounding facility was in New England peaked my curiosity to research why so many people were getting injections and how it would be possible to have infected steroids. I was able to search and narrow the topic down from 58,000 to 28 articles by using the various options. I can see how students can get hung up on language and not be able to narrow topics just based on a word or two. One has to be quite creative to get exactly what you need. I plan to work with the students very closely at this point so they can see the differences a word makes. I can see how this is going to be very valuable in my classes when I begin research for support on debate topics later on in the year. Students will also need to find support on timely topics addressed throughout the newspapers and use the information to persuade an audience through a public speech. What a MARVELOUS source!

3. I simple saved the search.

4. I responded to my friend's posts. She finds this very usable for a very practical reason...information on worldly events. She will use the information as she fortunately follows several students during the day.

4. I spend a great deal of time talking about the difficulties with blogging. Several staff members in my school are part of this invitational and we all struggle some. I've assisted one cohort by guiding her through signing on, another by encouraging her to breathe and understand that this is a new learning experience that may take time, and many times by team partner comments with several ways that we can use these sources in our classrooms which leads to a better collaboration and confirmation that we are both thinking the same things.

Research-Research-Research!

Week 2
I find myself unsure which of the assignments I should respond to.  I chose Lesson 2a Britannica School edition for Middle School. In discovery, I found that indeed the articles for elementary were very simplistic and unfortunately could easily be copied instead of utilized for research in the traditional sense. One (the teacher) needs to be clever in requiring research skills to be used other than just read, copy and present as own at any level. I've realized that at all levels, the research question needs to be specific as was our question to 'find a picture and information on the mammal's habitat' at both elementary and middle school level. Middle School changed to Compton's by Britannica, I noticed. I've found that to be very simplistic, but given our students' reading levels it is adequate for most. I liked creating and using work space for the notes, but was limited in total characters I could include... a very good lesson for all of us to relay to the students. I was able to modify and include all I needed.

The help button/section was one I should spend more time with. It is full of ways to use Britannica that I can initiate with my students once research begins. I fully understand why Britannica and MARVEL will be essential for research in my classroom as they provide soooo much valuable skill development activities pertinent to the task!

To be continued......

Marvel R US: #1

Marvel R US: This is my first involvement with MARVEL. I can't ...: This is my first involvement with MARVEL. I can't believe I had not known before now of such a great research tool. I'm looking forward to l...

Trying t see if anyone can see this??? Please reply if you can? I'm very frustrated.

Will this work?