Thing 31: bibliographic tools

Easybib.com saved my life during history day. It is so much easier than the days when we all had to have a bibliography reference book on our lap as we typed up our sources. I can remember counting the spaces, making sure I had a comma vs. a period...all of those very small details. Easybib.com made it so much easier on the students and on me. I have tried to teach writing a bibliography the "old-fashioned" way and I rarely got one that was correct. For History Day the kids actually have to do an annotated bibliography and easybib.com has that as an option.

thing 23: Del.icio.us

Social bookmarking is a very interesting concept. I use my del.icio.us account mostly for the bookmarking aspect. I am able to check my "favorites" from any computer. This is so much better than bookmarking to a specific computer. I have not done as much with the social part of it. I think it would be so cool to show this to one of my social studies colleagues and we could share sites this way. I do have one person that I share with, but she teaches science so I don't think it is as helpful as it could be.

I think having a del.icio.us account would help kids to keep track of sites they visited while researching. Especially when they are researching in a group...each member could have an account and they could track the sites that everyone has been using.

Thing 27: Customize home page

Creating an iGoogle page is one of the most time saving things that I have done in awhile. Having all of my important items in one spot makes me so much more efficient. Every morning when I log on to my computer at work, I am able to check my personal email, google alerts, blogs and feeds. I am also a big fan of the Google Tip of the Day.

Thing 19: Just for Fun

I think that the online image generator found at (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/) is a very cool thing. I created both a trading card and a magazine cover with a picture of my brothers and me. I could see how a person could spend hours playing around with this site and lose track of time. What a fun way to play around with digital images! This is one of those things that I need to use to make a bunch of "old, dead guys" more interesting to my kids.

I would love to have the kids create trading cards of historical figures from the various civilizations that we study. I think this would be a very useful review tool for keeping those pesky Roman dictators and emperors straight!

It would also be fun to use this with my advisory group at the beginning of the year as an ice breaker activity. They could each create their own trading card as a way of introducing themselves. Since I write our "Hawk Time" curriculum, I will make sure to share this with all the 8th grade advisors.

I was very excited to see that there is a tool for making a magazine cover. Our students create a magazine as a culminating project for an integrated unit on "perspectives". It would be fun for them to create a very professional looking cover with this tool. I just wish there was a way to do the inside pages as well.

Thing 14: reliable sites

I found the Librarians Index to the Internet very useful for a broad topic such as "buddhism" but as soon as I tried one of my student's history day topics I got nothin'. I tried to search for "minneapolis teacher strike of 1970." Apparently that was too specific for this index. I would have a hard time selling this to my kids for history day but maybe for another project I could tell them about this tool. I would probably compare it to a search engine like Google so that they could make the connection.

I liked how the Internet Public Library had the KidSpace and Subject Collections with Sub-headings. Again, it was not helpful with a specific search.

I did not like docuticker since I could not figure it out at all. I thought it was very unfriendly. I would never introduce this to my kids.

DMOZ and Complete planet were just "okay". I gotta be honest and say that I did not LOVE any of these sites very much. In a "google-world" it is hard to work with other ways of doing searches.

I also think it is important for kids to learn to evaluate sites for themselves. It is a good skill to have. Even though they get impatient and want immediate answers. They need to work on slowing down and looking at the reliability of sites.

Thing 13: databases

I spent some time playing around with InfoTrac Junior Edition and Kids Infobits. The first thing I noticed is that when I entered the databases through my school's web page they looked a lot more userfriendly than using elm4you. I wonder why they have different looks depending on how a person enters the database. Since I am in the middle of the World Religions unit that I teach, I decided to search for Buddhism to see what would happen. I really liked InfoTrac Junior edition. It pulled up a variety of helpful sources. I also liked that it had the "see also" button. It opens up more options for kids to look at. It might really help a student narrow down a research topic that is too broad. I also really liked the tool box. I would like to use the following tools with my students: how to judge information, how to write a conclusion, and how to write a thesis statement. I need to collaborate with the LA teacher on my team and figure out how we can do this together.

Even though it was obviously meant for elementary kids, I liked the Kids Infobits a lot. I liked the way that they provided subject areas and narrowed that down into topic areas. I found that they had a topic on "religions" which I am sure will come in very handy.

a VERY cool thing...

The Central Minneapolis library and the Minnesota Historical Society hosted a History Day Hullabaloo this past Saturday. I told my kids all about it and really tried to sell them on the idea. I offered a TON of extra credit. I figured if they spent a Saturday at the library and if their parents drove them downtown they deserved a sizable reward. Around 20 of my students went to this event. Most said that it helped them a lot with History Day but everyone agreed that the library was really cool. Can you believe that?! 8th graders said the library was cool! I am very excited about this!

Thing 10: copyright and plagarism

The quizzes were much more challenging than I thought they would be. I only got a 14 out of 21 on one of them. I guess I am glad that the ones I got wrong were because I was erring on the side of caution. I am also glad that I have a wonderful media specialist who can help me when I have a question on copyright. This is a great time to collaborate!

How do you deal with issues of plagiarism in your class?
The student automatically gets a 0 on the assignment, with the option of redoing it. I will take a phrase that I know they did not write and type it into Google. When the web site comes up that they plagarized, I print it off and attach it to the assignment. The kids can not deny anything at that point.

However, more importantly, I think it helps to be more proactive at the beginning. A well designed project makes it hard to plagarize. For example, with history day the kids have to connect their topic to a theme and explore its historical significance and impact. This kind of analysis demands that they use multiple resources and their own interpretation. Very hard to plagarize.

What resources do you use to teach these concepts?
For the first project that I have kids complete, my media specialist gives a mini-lesson on plagarism and citation. With easybib.com citations are a breeze. I find some 8th graders are already experts at notetaking and paraphrasing. Others are simply not there yet. Whether they are being mentally lazy or just don't have the skills, I am not sure. I often assume that kids know how to take notes, but I am not sure if they have ever actually been taught. Modeling is a powerful tool. Sounds like another great way for me to collaborate with my MS....