Motivate and Engage by Teaching Citing Sources

21st century learners are motivated by exposing their academic skills. They use digital tools to organize knowledge and present results of their research in a scholarly way. They are motivated by showing their erudition and take pride when the list of cited sources comprises books and articles published by leading academic institutions.

This week, 10th Grade students learn how to find peer reviewed scholarly articles in databases and Google Scholar, how to make note cards and cite materials in NoodleTools.
They realize that searching the "Hidden" Internet saves time and efforts and provides them with copyrighted information published by academic journals. NoodleTools allows them to quickly link note cards to the sources and keep Bibliography in order. It's such a boon!

Crediting sources: Creative Works

One of the essential skills every 21^st century learner should practice is to respect intellectual property. 

Educators often talk to students about plagiarism and remind them to give credits to information they have used. However,  we often omit teaching  students to give credits to other creative use media without consideration of their copyright. For example, images, music, and videos used in student works miss credits to their creators.

Students mash up media into their presentations thus creating their own works that also
should be copyright protected. Show them how to choose the type of the license on Creative Commons, an open source,  depository of creative works available for others.

Not every image found on the Web is available for reuse.  By default, Google searches everything. However, if you set up Google Images - Search Tools – Usage Rights on Labeled for Reuse, you will limit your searches to specific use rights, including for commercial/non-commercial use, reuse with modification and other options.

Also, there are many collections of copyright fair use images, music, sound effects and videos. Some of them are collected on Free Media Sources ais-sharing site. 

How to credit media:
Add "Credit" field and display it under the media that you upload to your work. 

Informational Text as a teaching tool.

In the dynamic world we live in, content and technology exponentially grow and become more and more complex. To prepare our students to effectively function in the world and be efficient global citizens, educators re-evaluate their teaching instructions and come up with new educational strategies. 

Daily reading of current events and informational texts develop not only student language skills but prepare them to be informed, think critically, solve real world problems, and be able to communicate their ideas to others. In other words, students are learning to become active members of society.

Resources:

There are a great number of web sites where informational texts can be found. Some of them are pinned on a Pinterest Nonfiction Reading board. 

Check a Pinterest collection of News Sites 
and News Sites in Spanish.

Paraphrasing, Summarising and Quoting

Paraphrasing, summarising and quoting are the three ways of presenting someone's ideas and phrases that Middle School students are often struggle with. To help students grasp the difference, Humanities teacher Mr. Sullivan and I, library media specialist conduct a purpose-built class activity.

Before we start a lesson on paraphrasing, summarising and quoting, six grade students are divided by groups. They brainstorm and  share their understanding in front of the class. Other students listen carefully, take notes and ask questions when the presentation is over.

Building an even clarer differentiation between the tools through a dialogue is the next step of student discovery. Students are paired to develop each concept through a conversation. We guide  student discussions by asking open questions.

Below are the results of the class discussions.

Quoting:

What? Quoting is an exact reproduction of spoken or written words. It's usually a short message that

supports and not replaces students' own ideas.
Why? Writers use quoting when the exact wording is the best way to convey a message.
How? The message should not be altered. Quotation marks are used in the beginning and at the end of the message.

Paraphrasing:

What? Paraphrasing is a way to express the original ideas in ones own way by using different words.
Why? It is done to support students' original ideas and/or provide evidence.

How? Paraphrasing doesn't make the original text shorter.
A correct way to paraphrase is

• to read the original text carefully and understand it. 
• Then, identify key words and main ideas and relationships between them as well as the author's attitude toward information you are paraphrasing. 
• When paraphrasing, change the grammar and sentence structure but keywords, main ideas and relationships between them keep the same. 
• Express the attitude the author has to treat the original text, that is confidence, doubt, criticism, or other.

Summarising
What? Summarising is a way to convey main ideas of the original text.
Why? Summarising is used to support main ideas of student writing or provide evidence to prove student thoughts.
How?

• To summarise, read the text, take notes and outline the main ideas. 
• Leave out details and examples.
• Close the text and rewrite notes in your own words.

Ten Basic Steps to work on iSearch Project

An amazing learning is happening in Grade 9 classes. Students work on individual projects and go through divergent research experiences.

Students discern that information gives freedom. They face a challenge of meeting with information that "empowers people to do what they want to do", as Steve Ballmer said about information, "It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn't think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential".

TEN Basic Steps to make your iSearch projects successful:

 1. Choose a topic of your interest, the one that you wished to learn but never had time to do so. You are going to work on the project for several weeks, and it's important that you are passionately involved in what you are reading and writing about.

 2. Create Timeline. You need to know when to stop collecting information and start working on an outline, write the paper and create a visual component related to your topic and presenting it in a creative way.

 3. Read broadly on the topic to identify a particular question you would like to write your paper

about. Read encyclopedias such as Britannica and World Book Online to observe what subtopics the topic of your interest holds and choose the direction for your inquiry.


 4. Narrow down your research topic and turn it into a question (create a query). It will help you concentrate on a certain problem.

 5. Read non-fiction books and scholarly articles in order to learn how the question you are asking was attempted by specialists.  Support your hypothesis and ideas.  Use library catalog and library research databases to find detailed reliable information.

 6.  Evaluate web sites when using Internet sources. Authority, objectivity, accuracy and currency of information are factors that identify web sites as credible sources of information. Read more.


 7. Organize collected information and take notes. Use NoodleTools to organize information you have collected. Add sources of information to Bibliography, create note cards and connect them to sources listed in Bibliography. 

 8. Work on an Outline: Use NoodleTools Outline to plan the paper, identify topics and subtopics and add your note cards to support topics and subtopics.

 9. Conclude your research. Compare what you thought you knew and assumed with what you actually discovered. Offer some personal commentary and draw some conclusions. Then apply your conclusions to your own life.

10. Reflect on the research process and describe your growth as a researcher.

Informational Sources for Science

In Middle School, classes on information literature have started right in the beginning of the school year.
We are talking about testing in facts in science (scientific method). Students know that scientists start testing natural phenomena with observation and then they make an educated guess or prediction (hypothesis), which is based on prior knowledge. 

The KWHLAQ Chart  helps students identify questions they want to answer and resources needed to do so. The 21st Century chart shown below is powerful. Besides well-known columns "Know", "Want to know", "Learned" it comprises columns that inspire students for critical thinking: "How Do I Find Out?", "What action will I take?", and "What New Questions do I have?"

Students use encyclopedias and preselected web sites to learn about the subject. Here is a collection of scientific resources.

Using Podcasts in class

The article The Atom Family:Using Podcasts to Enhance the Development of Science Vocabulary by S. Michael Putman and Tara Kingsley published in The Reading Teacher, 63 (2), describes a successful use of podcasts in science class. An experiment described in the journal proves that podcasting has become a very popular and wide used tool not only in Middle and High School classes but also in Kindergarten and Elementary educational setting. Reasons for having podcasts widely used in schools are many: it is "inexpensive to produce, simple to use, portable, reusable, and beneficial to auditory learners" (Smaldino, Russell, Heinich, & Molenda, 2005 - according to Putman 2009, p. 101).

Putman and Kingsley used podcast as an enhancing tool for "science-specific vocabulary development in fifth grade". Their research demonstrates that podcasting increases students' recollection of the words and improve their understanding of the material studied in class. Students listened to podcasts to review class material and make up missed classes when they were sick.

The whole article can be accessed through EBSCOhost. There are many ideas on teaching vocabulary by the means of podcasting.

Among examples of educational podcasts and resources published in the article are:

Radio WillowWeb, published by Kids for Kids.
Small Voices - using podcast by Kathy Shields, Elementary School teacher.
Eagen High School: Honors Chemistry - multimedia in High School Chemistry classes.
Just Vocabulary - learning vocabulary with a podcast.

Picture Credits - JustVocabulary.com

New Resource helps teach 21Century Skills

Social Studies: Integration of 21st Century Skills into Social Study Curriculum - eSchool News by Laura Devaney
View the 21 Century Skills map

English: English teachers now have a new free source to help them integrate 21st Century Skills into their curriculum (read more in eSchool News by Meris Stansbury).
View the 21st Century Skills map and English(Designed in cooperation with NCTE).

Foreign Languages in a global society - Foreign Languages in 2020 published by Converge magazine highlights the necessity of being bilingual or multilingual to succeed in new economy.