"Thing 17" Social Networks

This course equips educators and media specialists the tools for collaborating to create lesson plans with other educators and media specialists.  With the common core curriculum coming for our state, educators can share lesson plans, creative ideas, reference resources, and online databases.  I know that I am constantly trying to find new and innovative ways to inspire and spark enthusiasm in my students in the area of my expertise.  Language Arts is a challenging are of study, as students do not want to spend their time on writing/composing papers and essays or reading the traditionally accepted format of a narrative story . . . a book!  They love technology and have the need to be social.  I am looking for ways to collaborate via technology with my students and look forward to seeing them collaborate with each other about their academics; they can problem solve and create together, yet on their own.  The world is at their fingertips and students need to learn appropriate ways to use it to better themselves and make create a digital legacy to be proud of.  They have already been intrigued with the chatting process we used to collaborate with vocabulary study and use of collaborating to clarify misunderstandings and share learning/study strategies with classmates in different rooms in our school.  Their enthusiasm has been sparked and they are inspired to create in my Language Arts domain.  By taking a course such as the one in my screenshot, I hope to find new innovative ways to bring my course to life for the future of my students.

Classroom 2.0

Yeah me . . . I was accepted to join.  Talk about feeling rejected if a social network replied with "DENIED!" 

I think I am going to like using this site.  I logged in and began replying to people's posts.  This social networking is totally new to me, as I do not Tweet, Twit, or Facebook.  I am not a social-tech butterfly.  After attending many sessions at MACUL, I learned that it is a pretty good idea to become a technologically social.  I prefer to stick to the academic networks, as I will use it to enhance what I do in my classroom.  I do not need to enhance my social life, as I do not have one, nor do I have the time and energy to fit one in.  At any rate, I can see how this is going to be useful.  Due to the passion that I have for educating and coaching my learners, I feel that I have a lot to offer other educators.  I have a Reading Specialty degree, Emotional Impairment major K-12, a Learning Disabilities certification, and a Masters in education with an emphasis in the Language Arts.  I know that I can be a good resource for other educators.  Moreover, I am always looking for ways to spice up what I do and keep up on latest research in the area of reading and reading difficulties.  When you think of the knowledge out there in this world, knowledge from different cultures and walks of life, you can become educated in so many areas that bring a whole new world into your classroom.  There are forums to visit, specified groups to make collaborating less intimidating, as you can find the educational realm you need to communicate in, and you can take part in workshops.  This is going to be fun and innovative for me and my students.  I am going to check in and see if anyone from Neah Bay, WA is a member, as my students just finished a novel that takes place there and has a lot to do with the Makah Native American culture and history.  Can you say, "enrichment"?  :)

As for the professional learning organizations, there is no link to click on, nor was I able to ctrl + click to activate a link.  I cannot respond to this portion of Thing 17 at this time. 

"Thing 16" Reference Tools

InfoTrac Junior - a database created for students in middle school for research from magazines, newspapers, current events, culture, the sciences, health, history, &  government.


Info Trac Student - this is a database of periodicals for high-school students.  They have access to a variety of full-text magazines, newspapers, podcasts, reference books, current events, the sciences, culture, health, government, history, or sports.

a) Appropriateness - the aforementioned are both appropriate for students at the levels they are intended for.
b) Usability - I did not find this to be a user-friendly database; it was time-consuming to search.
c) Content - Not much information was found for the information I was searching for. 
d) Credibility - I did not find any evidence to support suspicious information or content. 

Topic for research - Bullying

Since bullying is so endemic in our country, and we cover the issue in schools trying to intervene, bullying would be a great topic to research, especially under the heading of current events.  As you can see, I was prepared, in the aforementioned, to compare and contrast the two databases in MeL.  However, as I tried to research the topic of bullying on both of these two databases, I did not find the usability worth my time.  It may be appropriate for specific areas of research at different levels, but it did not seem to lead me to the information that I was looking for.  The content is very concise without enough elaboration on the topic.  I would trust the credibility of the information, since it is a database compiled by the State of Michigan for educators and MI students at different levels.

Actually, the only aspect that I found usable was the bibliographical citation information in both APA and MLA.  The more they see and get to utilize the formats for citing researched information and borrowed narrative text for written response to reading, the more they understand the format, the more they will remember how to use it.  Students, however, may find the podcasts intriguing.  There is such a push for student technology in the classrooms (BYOD), that having access to sites like this will make research easier for them and less intimidating.  I think up through eighth grade, students need to be doing the thinking and writing of sources borrowed for research.  However, 9th and up, why not curtail the research process?   

Item #3 
Ah Ha database research moment . . .

In doing a search for a topic related to the novel I am using for my unit of study, I came across the sketch below.  I have to say that I did not come upon it with the click of a button or a simple search.  The MeL information took some time to find.  I dug deeper into the InfoTrac Junior database and found a separate database for kids and one for teens.  The ages/grades are broken down better and topics are easier to search for without frustration.  This then took me to "eLibrary" to where I actually typed in my keyword.  Moreover, I really liked the sidebar that provided additional forms of information on the topic of choice.  I did not find the text I wanted; however, I had the option to look under the following:  5 newspapers, 13 pictures, 189 magazines, 1 map, 11 books, 1 website, and 30 transcripts.  

Actually, because of doing this assignment, I have located information that I have been searching for for months now-

Makah Tribe: People of the Sea & the Forest
::: American Indians of the Pacific Northwest :::
http://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/renker.html
Copyright(c) 2010 ProQuest Information and Learning

I have what I need to do the culminating activity/writing assignment for the novel Ghost Canoe by Will Hobbs.  I will use this information along with the information attained by Skyping a middle school in Neah Bay, WA, where our story takes place.  We will have a question and answer session with their students and ours about the culture now compared to the information we gather from eLibrary about the history of the Makah culture.  Yeah me!   :)   I love 2 get the students 2 love 2 learn. 

 
 Makah Indians whaling at entrance to Fuca Straits Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1883
Image ID: figb0204, Historic NMFS Collection
Credit: NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service
(c) 2001 National Oceanic & Administration (NOAA)

MLA citation:  Makah Indians whaling at entrance to Fuca Straits Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1883 -- ID: figb0204. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 15 Oct. 2001. eLibrary. Web. 14 Mar. 2012.

APA citation:  National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)(Publisher). (2001). Makah Indians whaling at entrance to Fuca Straits Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1883 -- ID: figb0204[Photograph]. Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com

Item #4

Topic of research -

Pascua, Maria Parker. "Ozette: A Makah Village in 1491." National Geographic. 180.4 (1991):
38-53. Print.