Well I must say that I am happy with the end product. There were challenges in the beginning. Once I decided what I wanted to do I sat at my desk for a while dumbfounded. Then, I dove in head first pulling website after website up. Big mistake. You can see from my initial postings that I was including websites in my posts without explaining why I chose them. Then, I had to backtrack and include that. I guess you can't read my mind over cyberspace anymore than you could if we were face to face. I would imagine that students make the same critical mistake. They fail to evaluate the website based on the five criteria for analyzing websites:
accuracy, authority, currency, objectivity, coverage...
So, needless to say, the pre-planning stages were shakey.
Since most of us graduated before the big bang of the Internet we are used to the traditional form of research. According to Callison and Preddy that high school students should be able to follow specific steps through the inquiry process. (The Blue Book, p. 90)
Regarding Evaluation and Selection, Callison and Preddy argue a high school student:
a. understands and is familiar with documents that have different purpose,scope,perspective,bias
b. is tolerant ofreview of information that does not immediately fit his or her personal perspective and seeks evidence from all perspectives before drawing a conclusion
c. can discriminate between important and less important questions and resources
d. explores information widely, and brings focus to the central porblem based on background readings, personal experiences and interests, and indentified the need for further research
(The Blue Book, pg. 90)
So, I suppose if I were the teacher / media specialist working with students on an inquiry project, I would emphasize how to analyze resources before getting started. Creating a checklist that would serve to determine the best resources before the research begins would be helpful especially for students new to the inquiry process.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
My Photos of the shrubs I chose
The left photo is the Holly bush. If you look closely you can see the berries! In the winter these are gorgeous! These will line the back of both areas. The boxwoods are to the right. They can be trimmed to form a nice hedge and stay a light green all-year round. They are hardy and both do well in the morning and afternoon sun.
My Photographs
To the left are the red day lilies that
will adorn the far right side. To the right is the Black-Eyed Susan. This is at the end of their season so they don't look great right now but they sure pop during the summer!
In the center is the coreopsis. They stay yellow from late spring to the fall. They are a round perennial that sit low to the ground. They are hardy and they LOVE the sun.
To the right is the other day lily that will be used on the far right and left side. They provide a subtle pink to soften up the color.
Technology Requirements
Digital Camera (My photos of the flowers and shrubs I took will be attached to tonight's blog entry)
Webspiration - Concept Map
Smart Draw 2010: Communicate Visually (free 7 day trial was used to draw my landscape plan. You can view this through Oncourse)
Web Links: I used the social bookmarking tool through Delicious.
Webspiration - Concept Map
Smart Draw 2010: Communicate Visually (free 7 day trial was used to draw my landscape plan. You can view this through Oncourse)
Web Links: I used the social bookmarking tool through Delicious.
Curriculum Connection
Curriculum Connection
The applications of the Dr. Lamb’s 8w’s are endless. It is a solid model that escorts students through the inquiry process. In particular the Webbing, Wiggling, and Weaving steps help to make students proficient in Indiana’s Information Literacy Standards from the Indiana Department of Education website, and these are:
The student who is information literate:
accesses information efficiently and effectively.
evaluates information critically and competently.
uses information accurately and creatively.
In meeting these standards through using inquiry models such as Lamb’s 8w’s students from 12th grade Social Studies students will meet Indiana State Standard 12.4.7 which states the student will:
Develop presentations using clear research questions and creative and critical research strategies such as conducting field studies, interview, and experiments; researching oral histories; and using Internet sources.
As well, 8th grade Social Studies students can meet standard 8.1.28 which is:
Chronological Thinking, Historical Comprehension, Analysis and Interpretation, Research, and Issues-Analysis and Decision Making: Recognize historical perspective and evaluate alternative courses of action by describing the historical context in which events unfolded and by avoiding evaluation of the past solely in terms of present-day norms.
Example: Use Internet-based documents and digital archival collections from museums and libraries to compare views of slavery in slave narratives, northern and southern newspapers, and present-day accounts of the era.
http://dc.doe.in.gov/Standards/AcademicStandards/index.shtml
The applications of the Dr. Lamb’s 8w’s are endless. It is a solid model that escorts students through the inquiry process. In particular the Webbing, Wiggling, and Weaving steps help to make students proficient in Indiana’s Information Literacy Standards from the Indiana Department of Education website, and these are:
The student who is information literate:
accesses information efficiently and effectively.
evaluates information critically and competently.
uses information accurately and creatively.
In meeting these standards through using inquiry models such as Lamb’s 8w’s students from 12th grade Social Studies students will meet Indiana State Standard 12.4.7 which states the student will:
Develop presentations using clear research questions and creative and critical research strategies such as conducting field studies, interview, and experiments; researching oral histories; and using Internet sources.
As well, 8th grade Social Studies students can meet standard 8.1.28 which is:
Chronological Thinking, Historical Comprehension, Analysis and Interpretation, Research, and Issues-Analysis and Decision Making: Recognize historical perspective and evaluate alternative courses of action by describing the historical context in which events unfolded and by avoiding evaluation of the past solely in terms of present-day norms.
Example: Use Internet-based documents and digital archival collections from museums and libraries to compare views of slavery in slave narratives, northern and southern newspapers, and present-day accounts of the era.
http://dc.doe.in.gov/Standards/AcademicStandards/index.shtml
Waving
The project has been communicated with my husband all along. This really is a personal quest that ended in an authentic product. According to Callison and Preddy, "Authentic assessment values both the processes and products involved in learning. For example, journals, logs, and concept maps may be developed as the project progresses. Final products might include a letter to the editor, online book review, or presentation to a local nonprofit groupo." (p. 297 The Blue Book). I have always been a believer in Authentic Assessment. As a classroom teacher I had my students write a book review on a book they chose from a list I generated. What I didn't want was a traditional book report. Through peer review, rubrics, lists that showed what a good book review is, the best review was chosen and we posted that on-line through Amazon.com.
My product are three sketches of our areas. While there was an enormous level of frustration throughout this process, my husband and I are ready for the spring. I feel satisfied as most students would when they produced an authentic product that was only possible through an inquiry process.
Additionally, the resources I used were authentic. The sites I chose are recent sites created by experts in the field. I relied on my new found friends at Smalls and Chesterton Feed for advice. They supported what I learned from the resources I selected. In the classroom, students need to be exposed to authentic resources. According to Callison and Preddy, "The library media specialist is essential in authentic learning environments. Stuednts are expected to go beyond teacher-directed activities and textbooks. The library media speicalist can collaborate with the teacher to locate and organize authentic materials and resources from community or online experts to primary source documents or photographs." (The Blue Book, p. 296)
So, while my project will be shared with my husband, the process of Lamb's 8w's needs to be communicated to the faculty.
My product are three sketches of our areas. While there was an enormous level of frustration throughout this process, my husband and I are ready for the spring. I feel satisfied as most students would when they produced an authentic product that was only possible through an inquiry process.
Additionally, the resources I used were authentic. The sites I chose are recent sites created by experts in the field. I relied on my new found friends at Smalls and Chesterton Feed for advice. They supported what I learned from the resources I selected. In the classroom, students need to be exposed to authentic resources. According to Callison and Preddy, "The library media specialist is essential in authentic learning environments. Stuednts are expected to go beyond teacher-directed activities and textbooks. The library media speicalist can collaborate with the teacher to locate and organize authentic materials and resources from community or online experts to primary source documents or photographs." (The Blue Book, p. 296)
So, while my project will be shared with my husband, the process of Lamb's 8w's needs to be communicated to the faculty.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Wrapping
I feel as though I have exhausted all the possible resources I could have used. I will say that the two most helpful things I did was go to Coffee Creek and write down everything I liked (and photograph) and then take that to Chesterton Feed and Smalls. Now that I have done the brain-work, my husband gets to do the dirty work. My final product are three separate drawings of the three areas I was interested in landscaping. To complete those I used Smart Draw's 7 day trial. I may even convince my husband to purchase the software for future projects. I will post the PDF files of those drawings to the Scout Area so they can be viewed. There is a little part of me that wishes I could hire this work out but the real satisfaction will come in June when those plants are in the ground.
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