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.
Dawn,
ReplyDeleteI love your comments about narrowing your search and keyword selection. This is always a hurdle when I work with kids. Convincing them that their list of keywords should be flexible is a hurdle in itself. When I have enough time, I model how my keyword list can evolve (I use a made up scenario). I make sure they see how my research provides new keywords that make my search more directed.
Suzanne