Thursday, April 06, 2006
Blogging is an easy way to communicate. Just remember that whatever you type can be read by anyone so if you post student work, use first names only.
Here are all the links that we are showing today in a handy format that keeps you from having to remember all of them.
Because remembering is hard!
INTERLIBRARY LOANS:
Noble Library System
Noble is the North of Boston Library Exchange - the consortium of libraries of which Beverly is a member. If you live in one of these communities you can get a pin number to order books online to be delivered to your local branch.
The colleges in Noble (particularly Salem State and Gordon) have excellent collections. Let your students know that they are able to use them for research.
Perkins School For the Blind
The Perkins School's Library provides free services to Massachusetts residents of any age who are unable to read traditional print materials due to a visual or physical disability.
INTERNET:
Google Advanced Search
This allows you to narrow your searches by domain name. ORG used to be a fairly reliable domain name, but no more.
Directories are a great place to start, especially with younger kids
and/or broader subjects. You can get just a few targeted links that'll get
you going.
Yahooligans is a web directory that is targeted just for school age kids. It's best for about grades 3-7, but can serve others too. It doesn't search every site out there, it only searches through a catalog of vetted sites, so you should never get sites inappropriate for a child here. Use the search box, or drill down through the categorized menus. Also note the "Teacher's Guide" in the Resources section on the left side of the page.
To go to the next level of directory with more resources and a wider range of topics, check Yahoo's main directory. This is what put them in business in the early days of the web, but it sort of got lost in the shuffle the past few years. You can click on the directory tab or start directly at the directory page.
Another excellent starting spot for research with kids is Fact Monster. It's run by the company that publishes the Information Please almanacs and is geared toward kids 8-14. It combines the resources of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas, and several almanacs. The front page always contains timely and fun information.
Clusty
Clusty is a search engine that lets you see how they culled the results. It also clusters responses into specific groups so your students can determine which sites are going to tell them about dolphins, the undersea creatures as opposed to Miami football.
Wikipedia
There is a lot of discussion about the reliability of this site because it is a wiki - anyone can write for it. As they tighten up their editing and crack down on vandalism, it becomes more reliable. School Library Journal sums up their excellent review with the following:
"Bottom line: Subject to ongoing critical review, Wikipedia articles are generally well-researched and substantiated by footnoting and linking to sources, allowing readers to judge the quality of information being used. Moreover, Wikipedia entries often have more, and more current information. That said, no resource can be considered infallible, including Wikipedia. Ultimately, reliance on any single reference will not help students develop the necessary understanding of a subject that's needed to successfully complete projects."
Librarians' Internet Index
This is a publicly-funded website and weekly newsletter serving California, Washington state, the nation, and the world - according to their tag-line. They offer excellent, reliable sites in a easily browsable format.
Blogger
This is an excellent way to communicate with student and parents and is extremely easy to use. There are two of them at the high school library:
Booksplat: A librarian's quest to read every book on the BHS summer reading list. There are links to sites that will give more visual learners a better sense of what they are reading.
BHS Library Links These are all citeable links for teachers and students on topics that are regularly covered in the curriculum.
If you are interested in looking further into blogging for teachers you can look at an overview I did for a class at Salem State that I never thought I would look at again!
Library of Congress
There are tremendous resources here particularly for social studies. Many of the collections offer teacher resources that can be directly lifted for your own use.
Scholastic New Teacher
Some resources presented by Scholastic with new teachers specifically in mind.
CyberBee
There is so much "out there" it can be difficult to know where to start in integrating online technologies into lesson plans. CyberBee has all sorts of curriculum ideas, research tools, and how-to's.
CITING SOURCES AND COPYRIGHT
A quick overview of all the major citation styles is on the Long Island
University C.W. Post library site.
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University has a good abbreviatedguide to using the MLA format including the works cited list and electronic resource. They also have one on the APA style.
A decent free MLA citation maker is available at the Oregon Public Education Network Clearinghouse plus resources for both Elementary and Secondary level kids and teachers. You plug the information into forms, push a button and voila! A perfectly formatted citation read to cut and paste.
To use the Turabian style for citations and bilbliography, check the Bridgewater State College Library site.
Copyright - or copy wrong? There are lots of misconceptions out there
about what is OK in an educational setting. A fun little quiz is on the Cyberbee website.
There is a nice list of copyright links at The Librarian's Bookmarks as well.
BPL AND DATABASES:
Beverly public library offers many ways to enhance the learning experience of your students.
The Information for Teachers provides a portal to the print databases as well as links to Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators and Federal Resources for Educational Excellence.
AND FINALLY:
Don't be afraid to talk to your school's library media specialist. We are an odd bunch, but our apparent crankiness merely masks a nearly overwhelming desire to be helpful.
Here are all the links that we are showing today in a handy format that keeps you from having to remember all of them.
Because remembering is hard!
INTERLIBRARY LOANS:
Noble Library System
Noble is the North of Boston Library Exchange - the consortium of libraries of which Beverly is a member. If you live in one of these communities you can get a pin number to order books online to be delivered to your local branch.
The colleges in Noble (particularly Salem State and Gordon) have excellent collections. Let your students know that they are able to use them for research.
Perkins School For the Blind
The Perkins School's Library provides free services to Massachusetts residents of any age who are unable to read traditional print materials due to a visual or physical disability.
INTERNET:
Google Advanced Search
This allows you to narrow your searches by domain name. ORG used to be a fairly reliable domain name, but no more.
Directories are a great place to start, especially with younger kids
and/or broader subjects. You can get just a few targeted links that'll get
you going.
Yahooligans is a web directory that is targeted just for school age kids. It's best for about grades 3-7, but can serve others too. It doesn't search every site out there, it only searches through a catalog of vetted sites, so you should never get sites inappropriate for a child here. Use the search box, or drill down through the categorized menus. Also note the "Teacher's Guide" in the Resources section on the left side of the page.
To go to the next level of directory with more resources and a wider range of topics, check Yahoo's main directory. This is what put them in business in the early days of the web, but it sort of got lost in the shuffle the past few years. You can click on the directory tab or start directly at the directory page.
Another excellent starting spot for research with kids is Fact Monster. It's run by the company that publishes the Information Please almanacs and is geared toward kids 8-14. It combines the resources of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas, and several almanacs. The front page always contains timely and fun information.
Clusty
Clusty is a search engine that lets you see how they culled the results. It also clusters responses into specific groups so your students can determine which sites are going to tell them about dolphins, the undersea creatures as opposed to Miami football.
Wikipedia
There is a lot of discussion about the reliability of this site because it is a wiki - anyone can write for it. As they tighten up their editing and crack down on vandalism, it becomes more reliable. School Library Journal sums up their excellent review with the following:
"Bottom line: Subject to ongoing critical review, Wikipedia articles are generally well-researched and substantiated by footnoting and linking to sources, allowing readers to judge the quality of information being used. Moreover, Wikipedia entries often have more, and more current information. That said, no resource can be considered infallible, including Wikipedia. Ultimately, reliance on any single reference will not help students develop the necessary understanding of a subject that's needed to successfully complete projects."
Librarians' Internet Index
This is a publicly-funded website and weekly newsletter serving California, Washington state, the nation, and the world - according to their tag-line. They offer excellent, reliable sites in a easily browsable format.
Blogger
This is an excellent way to communicate with student and parents and is extremely easy to use. There are two of them at the high school library:
Booksplat: A librarian's quest to read every book on the BHS summer reading list. There are links to sites that will give more visual learners a better sense of what they are reading.
BHS Library Links These are all citeable links for teachers and students on topics that are regularly covered in the curriculum.
If you are interested in looking further into blogging for teachers you can look at an overview I did for a class at Salem State that I never thought I would look at again!
Library of Congress
There are tremendous resources here particularly for social studies. Many of the collections offer teacher resources that can be directly lifted for your own use.
Scholastic New Teacher
Some resources presented by Scholastic with new teachers specifically in mind.
CyberBee
There is so much "out there" it can be difficult to know where to start in integrating online technologies into lesson plans. CyberBee has all sorts of curriculum ideas, research tools, and how-to's.
CITING SOURCES AND COPYRIGHT
A quick overview of all the major citation styles is on the Long Island
University C.W. Post library site.
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University has a good abbreviatedguide to using the MLA format including the works cited list and electronic resource. They also have one on the APA style.
A decent free MLA citation maker is available at the Oregon Public Education Network Clearinghouse plus resources for both Elementary and Secondary level kids and teachers. You plug the information into forms, push a button and voila! A perfectly formatted citation read to cut and paste.
To use the Turabian style for citations and bilbliography, check the Bridgewater State College Library site.
Copyright - or copy wrong? There are lots of misconceptions out there
about what is OK in an educational setting. A fun little quiz is on the Cyberbee website.
There is a nice list of copyright links at The Librarian's Bookmarks as well.
BPL AND DATABASES:
Beverly public library offers many ways to enhance the learning experience of your students.
The Information for Teachers provides a portal to the print databases as well as links to Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators and Federal Resources for Educational Excellence.
AND FINALLY:
Don't be afraid to talk to your school's library media specialist. We are an odd bunch, but our apparent crankiness merely masks a nearly overwhelming desire to be helpful.
