I found something new when using a computer the other day. On the lower left corner of the monitor screen is a circular icon. Out of curiosity, I clicked on it and it is an ‘ease of access’ tool. A computer can be set to read the screen, so every computer will read to students. It is machine language, but I opened the page the students were to read for an American History assignment and they could listen to the document rather than me read it. I showed them how to use the tool – they were impressed and indicated they could use it at home also.
Students regularly use Schmoop and SparkNotes to assist with comprehension of literature assignments. Without Schmoop, some of my students would not have made it through Scarlet Letter. I also encourage the use of SparkNotes. Before students read a chapter assignment in a literature book, reading SparkNotes will help them understand what is important and what they should be looking for as they read.
SparkNotes was one that I loved to use for myself when I was a Gifted Facilitator or I would have never been able to keep up with all the books that my students were reading. It also helps to give ideas for quizzes, comprehension questions, and research ideas.
I had never used Shmoop or SparkNotes, so explored each website just now and LOVED them, too! I hope all of my secondary teachers are more familiar with them than me and already utilizing them on a regular basis. If not, they'll definitely be hearing about them from me next fall when school starts back up, haha!
I'll add another one that might be useful to those taking classes. http://highwire.stanford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl is a list of links where you can access past and some current journal articles , many without charge. There are a few here that aren't on ProQuest.com and you don't have to have an active subscription.
Unfortunately we don't do alot of research in my class. I find ERIC somewhat hard to navigate so I don't use it with my students. My students like to use Wikipedia alot. I use Newsela and like that. I have not used it as much as I would have liked to this school year but plan to incorporate more next school year. The difficult thing about internet research is knowing which sites are credible and which ones are not. Students have a tendency to believe that anything on the internet is true! Scarey thought, huh? Just trying to get past that idea and teach them that just because its on the internet does not make it true is tricky. I need to do more research myself on credible sites to make it more effective for me as a teacher.
We have done some small research projects in my room. We have used the encylopedia's and used the internet to research. We have a variety of sites depending on what we are researching.
SparkNotes is very useful in helping students as they are reading books for ELA classes. I used ERIC many years ago and don't remember it being as hard to navigate as I find trying to use it now. I like the test prep feature of Shmoop and the study tools such as flashcards.
The database that I ALWAYS used throughout college for research purposes was PsycInfo, especially in grad school when I had to get eleventy million resources to back up my thesis. I tried out ERIC a couple times, but didn't like it as well, so always returned to PsychInfo. Pretty easy to use and easy to filter exactly the type of information you're wanting (i.e. books, peer reviewed journals, etc.). I remember there were different types of access, and because it was linked up to FHSU's library, I could have a little more access free of charge. Some articles were still unavailable right off the bat, but if you really wanted them, Forsyth (the library) could usually hook you up somehow. I never needed to do that though because I was lucky I guess and always able to find exactly what I wanted. I haven't used this database for a few years now, but if I ever get a wild hair to complete some monstrosity of a research project again, this will definitely be my first stop.
I found something new when using a computer the other day. On the lower left corner of the monitor screen is a circular icon. Out of curiosity, I clicked on it and it is an ‘ease of access’ tool. A computer can be set to read the screen, so every computer will read to students. It is machine language, but I opened the page the students were to read for an American History assignment and they could listen to the document rather than me read it. I showed them how to use the tool – they were impressed and indicated they could use it at home also.
ReplyDeleteStudents regularly use Schmoop and SparkNotes to assist with comprehension of literature assignments. Without Schmoop, some of my students would not have made it through Scarlet Letter. I also encourage the use of SparkNotes. Before students read a chapter assignment in a literature book, reading SparkNotes will help them understand what is important and what they should be looking for as they read.
SparkNotes was one that I loved to use for myself when I was a Gifted Facilitator or I would have never been able to keep up with all the books that my students were reading. It also helps to give ideas for quizzes, comprehension questions, and research ideas.
ReplyDeleteI had never used Shmoop or SparkNotes, so explored each website just now and LOVED them, too! I hope all of my secondary teachers are more familiar with them than me and already utilizing them on a regular basis. If not, they'll definitely be hearing about them from me next fall when school starts back up, haha!
DeleteI'll add another one that might be useful to those taking classes. http://highwire.stanford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl
ReplyDeleteis a list of links where you can access past and some current journal articles , many without charge. There are a few here that aren't on ProQuest.com and you don't have to have an active subscription.
Unfortunately we don't do alot of research in my class. I find ERIC somewhat hard to navigate so I don't use it with my students. My students like to use Wikipedia alot. I use Newsela and like that. I have not used it as much as I would have liked to this school year but plan to incorporate more next school year. The difficult thing about internet research is knowing which sites are credible and which ones are not. Students have a tendency to believe that anything on the internet is true! Scarey thought, huh? Just trying to get past that idea and teach them that just because its on the internet does not make it true is tricky. I need to do more research myself on credible sites to make it more effective for me as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteWe have done some small research projects in my room. We have used the encylopedia's and used the internet to research. We have a variety of sites depending on what we are researching.
ReplyDeleteSparkNotes is very useful in helping students as they are reading books for ELA classes. I used ERIC many years ago and don't remember it being as hard to navigate as I find trying to use it now. I like the test prep feature of Shmoop and the study tools such as flashcards.
ReplyDeleteThe database that I ALWAYS used throughout college for research purposes was PsycInfo, especially in grad school when I had to get eleventy million resources to back up my thesis. I tried out ERIC a couple times, but didn't like it as well, so always returned to PsychInfo. Pretty easy to use and easy to filter exactly the type of information you're wanting (i.e. books, peer reviewed journals, etc.). I remember there were different types of access, and because it was linked up to FHSU's library, I could have a little more access free of charge. Some articles were still unavailable right off the bat, but if you really wanted them, Forsyth (the library) could usually hook you up somehow. I never needed to do that though because I was lucky I guess and always able to find exactly what I wanted. I haven't used this database for a few years now, but if I ever get a wild hair to complete some monstrosity of a research project again, this will definitely be my first stop.
ReplyDelete