I am very appreciative of this online course. It has given me the confidence that I need to tell our teachers that we need to be using more reliable electronic resources. I have given the junior high classes a lesson for using the World Book Student. I made a work sheet using the information that was in this resource on the Berlin Wall. This included a video which of course attracts the attention of even the poor students.
I did some more studying about SIRS and there are many educational helps. I have printed off quite a bit of material and am almost at the point of information overload!!!
During the last two weeks of school the students do not check out books so I am making plans that they visit the South Dakota State Library web site! I would have never done this if I had not taken this course!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Lesson 9 History & Genealogy Resources
These are resources that could get me in trouble!! I love to work on genealogies and family history but soon realize that so much time is needed. I am attending two family reunions this summer. One is the family of my great-great grandparents. So when school is over I may return to these sites again! Perhaps it is a good thing that I can only access Ancestry Library at school!
Ancestry Library
-1 I looked up my name and much to my surprise they had my birth date wrong! The year was correct but the month and day were incorrect. I searched my husband's name and he was born on the incorrect birthday they had given me!! Several years ago I traced my husband's family back to the 1600's but realized how important birthdates were because first names were often given to sons and grandsons. So I was disappointed that my birthday was incorrect!
-2 I searched for one of my grandparents and found his draft registration and printed that.
-3 Oops....I just see that I didn't do number three! I will have to return to the site at school next week.
I do believe I get emails concerning Ancestry Library but you have to pay for a subscription. I may have to do that.
Heritage Quest
This does not seem as user friendly to me as Ancestry Library. I did type two of my grandparents names and found them in census records. The frustrating thing is that some of the handwriting is so poor that is it is hard to read. I tried to use the "Search Books" but I was not successful with that part. I started paging through two books but had no clue how I was going to find what the information that I wanted. I was tempted to open my file cabinet and pull out lots of information that I have on my family history but I need to clean my house for company!! :)
Sanborn Maps
The disappointing thing about Sanborn Maps is that Platte, my hometown, was not listed and neither were any of the small towns close to Platte. The closest town was Armour but I am not very familiar with the town. I had hoped this would have allowed me to look at towns in Iowa where I grew up.
I am thinking of how these resources could be used at school. Some teachers have students make a personal history book and research family history. My children had to do that some years ago but I am not aware that our social studies teachers are requiring that informaton recently. I will have to ask.
Ancestry Library
-1 I looked up my name and much to my surprise they had my birth date wrong! The year was correct but the month and day were incorrect. I searched my husband's name and he was born on the incorrect birthday they had given me!! Several years ago I traced my husband's family back to the 1600's but realized how important birthdates were because first names were often given to sons and grandsons. So I was disappointed that my birthday was incorrect!
-2 I searched for one of my grandparents and found his draft registration and printed that.
-3 Oops....I just see that I didn't do number three! I will have to return to the site at school next week.
I do believe I get emails concerning Ancestry Library but you have to pay for a subscription. I may have to do that.
Heritage Quest
This does not seem as user friendly to me as Ancestry Library. I did type two of my grandparents names and found them in census records. The frustrating thing is that some of the handwriting is so poor that is it is hard to read. I tried to use the "Search Books" but I was not successful with that part. I started paging through two books but had no clue how I was going to find what the information that I wanted. I was tempted to open my file cabinet and pull out lots of information that I have on my family history but I need to clean my house for company!! :)
Sanborn Maps
The disappointing thing about Sanborn Maps is that Platte, my hometown, was not listed and neither were any of the small towns close to Platte. The closest town was Armour but I am not very familiar with the town. I had hoped this would have allowed me to look at towns in Iowa where I grew up.
I am thinking of how these resources could be used at school. Some teachers have students make a personal history book and research family history. My children had to do that some years ago but I am not aware that our social studies teachers are requiring that informaton recently. I will have to ask.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Lesson 8 Learning Express Library
A few years ago our school received information about this resource. I did send the book marks we received home with students but I think this resource should be emphasized again. There is so much valuable information for any student who would like to take the time to use it.
#1 & 2 I took a 4th Grade Reading Test, a Middle school test and a word analogy test on the high school level. These would be great practice tests for any student! Using this resource would be so much better than playing on a computer during spare time!! The answers given later are good for making you think in a different way and for learning some new information.
#3 The ebooks look like they would be very valuable if you like to read from the computer. It was interesting at the wide range of sources that are available for students and even some items for parents. The ebooks appeared to have practical information. I opened up a Reading Comprehension Success book. There were 20 lessons. The book had 208 pages. If a student had enough self disciple to stick with these lessons, there would be a great deal of information that could help a person take tests and become prepared for a job and/or a career.
I am planning to go to our high school counselor and show her about this resource. Our students should be made aware of this resource. I feel test scores could be improved with the use of the Learning Express Library. Often a test score determines the amount of scholarship money that a student receives. We need to take advantage of this resource.
#1 & 2 I took a 4th Grade Reading Test, a Middle school test and a word analogy test on the high school level. These would be great practice tests for any student! Using this resource would be so much better than playing on a computer during spare time!! The answers given later are good for making you think in a different way and for learning some new information.
#3 The ebooks look like they would be very valuable if you like to read from the computer. It was interesting at the wide range of sources that are available for students and even some items for parents. The ebooks appeared to have practical information. I opened up a Reading Comprehension Success book. There were 20 lessons. The book had 208 pages. If a student had enough self disciple to stick with these lessons, there would be a great deal of information that could help a person take tests and become prepared for a job and/or a career.
I am planning to go to our high school counselor and show her about this resource. Our students should be made aware of this resource. I feel test scores could be improved with the use of the Learning Express Library. Often a test score determines the amount of scholarship money that a student receives. We need to take advantage of this resource.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Lesson 7 ArchiveGrid and CAMIO
Archive Grid I was really looking forward to this lesson but found it hard to do it at school! Constant interruptions! :) I am not 100% sure I understand this resource. If you went to Cornell University you could read the autograph card of Sitting Bull? I have always known information about Sitting Bull but did not realize his death was the result of a Ghost Dance.
Lewis and Clark was the other topic that I researched. There were 20 entries and many of them can be found at the Montana Historical Society. There are several sources of contact information.
CAMIO
In researching Paul Revere it was interesting to see the detail on the silver items, the bowls, and teapots. It was amazing to see the items were so refined for the period of history.
The entries under Sioux were many. Clothing, pipes, drawings, dolls, and blankets make it easier to picture how these people lived.
Vincent Van Gogh was the artist that I chose. I teach art and the junior high students have been studying him. This site had 45 works listed. I attempted to make a slide show of Van Gogh's works.
I believe CAMIO could be used with many units in different areas if educators were made aware of this resource. It would be a great way to introduce units. Art teachers could show artists paintings. Social study teachers could show items that were made during certain eras. I ran short of time for this lesson but am eager to get back to it. I think CAMIO has endless opportunities if a person takes the time to explore this resource.
Lewis and Clark was the other topic that I researched. There were 20 entries and many of them can be found at the Montana Historical Society. There are several sources of contact information.
CAMIO
In researching Paul Revere it was interesting to see the detail on the silver items, the bowls, and teapots. It was amazing to see the items were so refined for the period of history.
The entries under Sioux were many. Clothing, pipes, drawings, dolls, and blankets make it easier to picture how these people lived.
Vincent Van Gogh was the artist that I chose. I teach art and the junior high students have been studying him. This site had 45 works listed. I attempted to make a slide show of Van Gogh's works.
I believe CAMIO could be used with many units in different areas if educators were made aware of this resource. It would be a great way to introduce units. Art teachers could show artists paintings. Social study teachers could show items that were made during certain eras. I ran short of time for this lesson but am eager to get back to it. I think CAMIO has endless opportunities if a person takes the time to explore this resource.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
World Cat Part 2
The exercise using OAIster was totally surprising to me. I had to follow directions carefully to figure out what I was doing! Since my mother's name was Ada I clicked on the entry "Ada schoolhouse and congregation." I didn't know what I would find on the access link. I was totally surprised to see an old picture from 1923. The comment with the picture was "65 miles from Railroad."
I then clicked on Cattle on Western Farm. Again there was a picture with the comment, "They pay the bills."
I did some more searching and found a pamphlet. I could probably spend more time and am curious just what a person could find for historical documents. I grew up in Iowa and would like to see if I could find any old interesting documents.
I then clicked on Cattle on Western Farm. Again there was a picture with the comment, "They pay the bills."
I did some more searching and found a pamphlet. I could probably spend more time and am curious just what a person could find for historical documents. I grew up in Iowa and would like to see if I could find any old interesting documents.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Lesson 6 World Cat & More
Exercise Part 1
I have never used this resource and so am learning quite a bit about it. To start out I tried just searching for the book, The Mitten by Jan Brett. That was interesting because in the search I discovered there is a guide for using "The Mitten."
The next thing I did was practical. We have a teacher who would like to find a few extra copies of "Stone Fox" by Gardiner. I searched for this book and discovered that 11 libraries in South Dakota have this book, including the Mitchell Public Library so I will give her that information.
#2 I decided to go to the subject of the Holocaust again. I have been using this subject in the other electronic resources and wanted to see how this resource would be helpful. The subject Holocaust yielded 65,724 book results with 8125 visual results. What I also found interesting was that there is a video called Paper Clips. One of our teachers has recently showed me the book with the same title.
The first book listed was Hitler Youth. There are 3784 books world wide and the first library listed is the Alexander Mitchell Library.
#3 The call number of Hitler Youth was LC DD253.5. It is described as juvenile literature with no specific age level mentioned. The abstract gave a short summary of the book. It has an index, 176 pages, is illustrated, and contains maps. It was published in 2005 and there was a picture of the cover of the book.
I think World Cat could be very useful for a teacher researching a topic to find books and visuals for units. Perhaps the teacher could find several fiction books relating to the topic as well as nonfiction books with more detailed facts.
I do not know if I am really following directions as well as I should on this lesson!! I will try to do better on part 2!
I have never used this resource and so am learning quite a bit about it. To start out I tried just searching for the book, The Mitten by Jan Brett. That was interesting because in the search I discovered there is a guide for using "The Mitten."
The next thing I did was practical. We have a teacher who would like to find a few extra copies of "Stone Fox" by Gardiner. I searched for this book and discovered that 11 libraries in South Dakota have this book, including the Mitchell Public Library so I will give her that information.
#2 I decided to go to the subject of the Holocaust again. I have been using this subject in the other electronic resources and wanted to see how this resource would be helpful. The subject Holocaust yielded 65,724 book results with 8125 visual results. What I also found interesting was that there is a video called Paper Clips. One of our teachers has recently showed me the book with the same title.
The first book listed was Hitler Youth. There are 3784 books world wide and the first library listed is the Alexander Mitchell Library.
#3 The call number of Hitler Youth was LC DD253.5. It is described as juvenile literature with no specific age level mentioned. The abstract gave a short summary of the book. It has an index, 176 pages, is illustrated, and contains maps. It was published in 2005 and there was a picture of the cover of the book.
I think World Cat could be very useful for a teacher researching a topic to find books and visuals for units. Perhaps the teacher could find several fiction books relating to the topic as well as nonfiction books with more detailed facts.
I do not know if I am really following directions as well as I should on this lesson!! I will try to do better on part 2!
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