Homework, 10/27

1. I had a hard time reading this article online.  I wanted to print it out-but my darn printer kept giving me an "error" message.  I felt frustrated that I couldn't highlight key ideas or write in the margins.  Where am I supposed to log my ideas?  On binder paper as I'm reading online?  Awkward.

2. How much time do I have before I need to get rid of my pen and paper?  I hate when I sound like a "Negative Nelly."  I really need to get over myself and embrace this online business.  I tell you what I have embraced online-shopping.  However, that is a different matter...back to the homework.  Online.

One idea from the article that made an impression on me is that online reading is a challenging process that requires people to understand how search engines work.  I don't believe that many students really know how search engines work.  I'm still impressed by last session's google search homework.  I think one of the first lessons I would do with students would be to explain this process.  In addition, I believe it is important to teach how information is organized within web sites.  I'm going to bet most of my students don't realize when they have entered a page within a site or a new site.  Although many of us believe that our students know more than we do, I bet all students would benefit from a web "foundations" lesson.  This knowledge could help them determine the value of information.

Figures #1 and #2 provide great examples of what can be done with students to help them navigate online information.  I think I'll steal these ideas.

As I conclude, I keep wondering about our struggling readers.  How can we help these students from falling further behind in this digital age?  How wide will the digital divide become in the next few years?

Still Searching...HW 10/13

What surprised me most about this week's assignment was how long it took me to complete the "search strategies" quiz!  Was it me? Or did anyone else have a hard time finding the answers?  I found myself trying to "google" the answers!  Perhaps this was the point?  In addition, I spent too much time going back and forth between pages-searching, copying, pasting, etc.  Uggh.  I'll admit it, I'm stuck in the StoneAge-give me a paper and pencil test, please!

However, during this experience, I can't believe how much I learned about searching.  For example, I almost screamed when I discovered the advanced features such as the minus sign(-) to exclude words during a search-genious!  The CommonCraft videos are awesome, I could become addicted to those.  How about a CommonCraft video to review the French Revolution?  I'll have to do a "search" for that in the future...when I haven't reached my maximum capacity for searching!

All in all, this experience was a positive one.  I think that investing time to become an "expert searcher" could pay off in the long run. I know that I've logged many hours searching for items that I could have found in a fraction of the time.  My students would benefit greatly from learning some of the advanced search techniques--become more efficient searchers.  Finally, teaching students to be critical of websites is key.  I'm going to use that lesson with my students in the near future.

Homework, 10/6

I really enjoyed the video introduction of the Library of Congress.  Wouldn't it be fun to jump on a flight to DC, and take a tour?  Unfortunately, a trans-continental trip is not in the works at the moment, so I'll settled on a "video" tour.  The analyzing primary source lesson on photographs and prints was well done.  I would love to show the first part of the presentation to students because it gave a clear definition and examples of these types of sources.  In addition, I appreciated the idea of questioning primary sources in terms of the motives and audience of the artists.  Too often, my students believe that primary sources are the "end all, be all" sources, and they don't think about questioning the value and limitations of these sources. 

After experiencing the interactive piece of this assignment, I attempted to do my own research within the loc site.  I discovered that I need help with my researching skills, and/or I need more patience and time!  I finally found an interesting picture title, the "Darkest Africa." (I was attempting to find pieces to use in a unit on European imperialism).  However, once I found the image, I couldn't see it in a larger format.  Clicking, cutting, pasting, etc. didn't help.  I took down the bibliographic information and quit.  Patience needed.  I'll try again when I have someone nearby to help!