KartOO

Yet another kid friendly search place! I went there and typed in something for a student who had been searching for days for something new and within seconds I found 8 new pieces of information they could use. I also liked it because when you scroll over the icon, it shows on the left what the web page looks like.

It's user friendly for both adults and kids and has everything from Wikapedia to Primary sources. There are also tabs at the top for videos and images.

http://www.kartoo.com

Love this "Thing"

Librarians’ Internet Index: Here you’ll be connected to quality, authoritative sites. Search by keyword or narrow down your search by browsing categories like business, government, media, health, computers, or the arts and humanities.

http://www.lii.org/

LOVE IT!

As one of those "computer lab obsessed" Humanities teachers, I am always trying to find the next best thing for students to enhance their searching. This web site was awesome for history day research! Students are forever asking me if a certain web site is valid and we spend so much time trying to decipher one site that we miss out on so many more. This web site takes all that away. The only thing I would add is something like what nettrekker has. The readability piece is also so important for the students.

In spite of that, almost all of the students had success finding helpful primary sources on this site. They could actually break things down from History to US History to an exact topic. And it was fast! Which as we all know, 14 year olds appreciate that quick fix!

How to communicate with students

Myspace, facebook, twitter, teacher web pages... All ways to communicate electronically with students.  There seems to be a debate over which one is best.  To be honest I stink at keeping up with my web page.  MySpace is all too much for me.  Facebook is more for my own pleasure than for my students.  And Twitter is unfamiliar to me.

Students and parents e-mail and call me often to communicate and ask questions, but even that seems so old school.  It would be more user friendly to have a place for students to go that they go to anyway- like MySpace.  But I have already eliminated that option.

I am looking for someone with advice on what they do that wouldn't take up too much time, but is beneficial to all parties.

Thankful for Maureen!

Nothing in this profession should be done in isolation.  In these days of budget cuts and layoffs, I am delighted to have a knowledgeable and helpful Media Specialist at Anwatin.  When students want to do certain things for History Day, I find myself in a bind.  Yes- I took the classes on I-Movie but it was one of those things if I didn't have to actually do anything after the class, the paperwork went into a folder and is collecting dust on my desk!

Not only does Maureen help in the 2-3 hours she actually has free, she puts very helpful links on the Anwatin Home Page for the students to follow.

This year she has helped with the technology piece and resource part by not just encouraging the students to search out of "google" and Wikapedia, but she shows them the great things they can find when they use these different tools.

I wish every school could be so lucky!

Not reinventing the wheel

So I discovered this past month that I am about 2 years behind in terms of what I learn and what I implement in my classes for my students.  A few years ago at a History Day workshop, I learned about all the resources the MPS website and the library site had to offer my students in terms of research.  

This year I finally "made" the students go to these sites and try to find things that would help them in their research. I am proud to say that almost all students found helpful things on Proquest and the New York Times sites that assisted them in their projects.  Sometimes all it takes is a gentle push and turning it into an actual assignment instead of an add on.

Next- I tackle google docs and delicious.com!