Technology Requirements

Here are my Technology Requirements:

1.  Concept Map/Brainstorming

http://www.mywebspiration.com/view/320730a32b33

2. Delicious tag

http://delicious.com/leah_dresser

3.  Web Based Tool

I used a website evaluation tool at http://21cif.com/tools/evaluate

.5.  I emailed an expert librarian at NYPL but still haven’t heard back.  In addition, I chatted with a Colorado librarian at Ask Colorado about censorship but she said she didn’t work for a particular library, she worked for Colorado.  I finally heard back from NYPL, and it is a good thing that I found another technology tool, because here is the lame response I got to my questions:

chat@nypl.org to me
show details 9:39 AM (13 hours ago)

Hello Leah
Due to the numerous e-mail questions that have been received by The New York Public Library’s AskNYPL  service, we were unable to respond to your inquiry until now.  We apologize for any inconvenience that this delay might have caused.  We are forwarding your e-mail to NYPL’s Office of Young Adult Services.  You should be receiving a reply shortly.  Should you wish to contact the Office of Young Adult Services directly, contact information is as follows:

tel. (212)340-0906
E-mail:  teenlink@nypl.org

4.  Productivity Tool:  I did a Power Point Presentation.  I am able to open from this link, but let me know if I need to email it.

https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/ldresser

Personal Connection

Prior to starting this project, I had little concept of inquiry.  Before this class, I hadn’t really made the connection of how everything consists of inquiry and how we all should strive to be lifelong learners.  I’m afraid that sometimes I focus more on the end result than the actual process of inquiry, which might be why I sometimes don’t remember all that I should about certain topics or subjects.  I think that personal inquiry made me have a more invested relationship with the topic I was exploring.  I think that my approach to inquiry has changed during the scope of this project because now I realize that I need to spend more time in all the steps of learning and inquiry instead of racing to the finish line.  I think that personal inquiry will make me a better communicator and teacher.  Finally, I think that this project has made me more of active and reflective, something Stripling would approve of.

Curriculum Connection

This project could be translated for students of pretty much any age, but for the purpose of this project, I think it would be best to adapt it for 8th graders and 11th graders.  Because the project involved mostly researching young adult authors for me, I would make an assignment for 8th graders in which they read an assigned novel and then choose to research something from the novel.  For example, in John Green’s Looking for Alaska, one of the characters is obsessed with dying last words.  A student could choose to research dying last words or an option of their choice.  That might be somewhat of a deep subject for 8th graders, but they can research what they want after getting approval.  They will also need to incorporate technology into the assignment and then at the end they could give an oral presentation or use a creative outlet to share their findings. 

Another way to translate this assignment would be to have students attemp to get in contact with the author of their choice by writing to them.  Even if the author doesn’t write back, students have the opportunity to practice letter writing skills.  Also, if the author doesn’t respond, the student will research questions on his/her own and share the results.  This might best be used for the older age group.

Because almost everything can be connected ins some way, I actually think the project uses quite a few of the Language Arts Standards for both 8th grade and Language Arts.  There are many more, but here are a few taken from this link:

.http://dc.doe.in.gov/Standards/AcademicStandards/PrintLibrary/docs-english/2006-06-ela-grade08.pdf 

8.3.2 Evaluate the structural elements of the plot, such as subplots, parallel episodes, and climax; the plot’s development; and the way in which conflicts are (or are not) addressed and resolved.

Organization and Focus

8.4.1 Discuss ideas for writing, keep a list or notebook of ideas, and use graphic organizers to plan writing.

8.4.3 Support theses or conclusions with analogies (comparisons), paraphrases, quotations, opinions from experts, and similar devices.

 8.4.10 Create an organizational structure that balances all aspects of the composition and uses effective transitions between sentences to unify important ideas.

 Research Process and Technology

8.4.4 Plan and conduct multiple-step information searches using computer networks.

Wishing

There are so many things I wish I would have done differently for this project.  I felt that I started with enough time, but then I somehow seemed behind on everything.  I wish I would have picked another topic.  I enjoyed learning about my subject, but one night I was watching this show called Hoarders and I really started wishing that I would have researched that subject.  Hoarding is when people form attachments to objects and can’t throw things away.  I am a super neat person and for some reason the show just really interests me.  I’m pretty sure that no one else would have picked the topic and I know there are lots of resources.  I am glad that I finally narrowed in on the subject matter.  First I was going to do book reviews and research blogs but I just wasn’t interested so instead I started learning more and more about three young adult authors, themes in their work, and censorship. 

There were strengths, weaknesses, and challenges of the project.  I am glad that the instructions were so explicit, but at the same time, I sometimes felt stifled because I was so worried about completing my blogs correctly that I really had trouble focusing on the Final Project.  It was only after I put my Power Point presentation together that I felt a sense of relief.  I am glad we had to cite course readings and post comments on other blogs because it made me understand the models better and get to know my classmates better. 

I was particularly challenged by the technology portion of the project, especially the Webspiration.  I had never used it before and instead of being a tool, I wanted to rip out my hair until I finally got it.  However, I will probably always remember how to use it now.  If I had to do a similar investigation, I would have focused on only one medal type and researched more of the winners or I could have done a brief overview of all the types of Young Adult Literature Awards. 

My  inquiry experiences would be similar and unlike those of students coming into my lab in a number of ways.  I’m sure that they might start the project with similar feelings of frustration which eventually turn to contentment once they put the process together and finish their project.  I think students could also be overwhelmed with the amount of material available and have trouble organizing and analyzing it like I did.  I would definitely refer those students to the Website Evaluation Tool which I found and I would let the students organize a concept map on paper if they wanted.

Waving

In Lamb’s 8 W’s, Waving consists of communicating ideas to others.  I have completed my Power Point, but am unsure how to publish it on Edublogs.  I will communicate with others by posting it in the forum if I can’t figure out how to blog.  I might share it with some of my classmates from other classes as well as this.  I don’t know if people would be interested in my blogging experience or not.  I know that I enjoyed looking at projects from previous semesters.  For me, the stage of weaving is connected to the evaluation step in Big 6 and applying and assessing in Jukes’ 5-A’s Model.  I feel as though I am in the midst of Kulthau’s Preparing to Present and Assessing the Process.  I am a little big past preparing but am not quite to assessing.   I am starting to understand Debbie Abilock’s Noodle Tools a little bit more as I go through these stages.  I feel as though my building blocks have built something and are just waiting for someone to come admire my creation or knock it down.

Wrapping

There are many ways this information could be used. I could have made a web page or created a video presentation. The information should definitely be shared before teaching the novels of these authors and to give background information on censorship and Newbery and Printz awards. In addition, the information could serve to begin a dialogue on censorship and themes in young adult literature. I am so glad that I was finally able to put all of my information together by packaging it in a Power Point presentation. I am still not that great at creating web pages, so I stuck with Power Point for this first assignment. This information was important to me becaused it gave me an idea of what inspired the authors to write the work that they wrote. For example, Susan Patron was so moved by Charlotte’s Web that she knew she wanted to be a writer. My hope is that students can also be inspired to realize that they also can be great writers.

I’m not sure how to attach my Power Point presentation as yet.  Any suggestions are welcome or I will just have to send it in an email.

Wiggling and Weaving

I have found so much information at this point that I really need to evaluate the content and I have been discussing that in webbing, wiggling, and weaving.  I keep going back and forth.   I synthesized the information on all of the authors separating them into categories including author web pages, author interviews, and articles about the authors.  In addition, I will check background information, books written, awards received, and future endeavors.  I also emailed NYPL to ask an expert a couple of questions.  I will post the reply as soon as I get it.

In addition, I need to judge my resources.  An author’s website will be more credible than a simple Google search.  In addition, there are important author interviews found in IUPUI’s database.

I listed some author web page examples and interviews in the Webbing portion of my blog.  I evaluated the web pages using a website evaluation tool at 21st Century Information Fluency Project at http://21cif.com/tools/evaluate.   This site is great because it gives evaluations based on author, publisher, objectivity, links from and to, data accuracy, and evidence.  You simply type in the web address and then choose one author, pub, etc and a checklist comes up.

For example, I entered www.susanpatron.com and clicked author.  A checklist came up with these questions:

Are the facts correct?  Do the author’s conclusions follow the facts?  Are there spelling or grammatical errors?  Can the facts be verified? 

Then there is a section to include evaluations.  This would be a great resource for students to use when evaluating a website.  Let’s use www.susanpatron for an example.  The facts are correct, it is her own website.  There were not errors, and facts could be verified at other websites. 

The Wiggling Portion of this exercise reminds me a lot of the use of information section in Big 6, locate and organize from DIALOGUE, Input in Yucht’s Flip It, and a combo of Exploring, Formulating, and Collecting Info from the ISP by Kuhlthau. 

So, I finally know that for this research project,  I will now focus on the authors of the books I was originally going to review and research important themes found in the author works.

I am finally almost to the weaving process.  I have been going back and forth through all the stages of this process.  I keep adding more questions and changing the focus of my inquiry, but I think that is what learning is about.  I keep finding more and more interesting information and it is hard to stay in one stage.  I need to organize my information into how I will put the product all together.  I’m so glad that I changed my topic with enough time left.  I love books and writing book reviews, but I feel that I will learn more if I research the authors than if I simply find various reviews and articles.

Delicious Tags

Here are my Delicious Tags. This was my first time using them, so hopefully I did it right. For these links, I mostly included author bios, book prize criteria, censorship information, and some articles I found in IUPUI’s database.
Here is the link:
http://delicious.com/leah_dresser

Webbing

For the webbing portion of my blog, I thought it would be interesting to locate other young adult bloggers and book reviews.  In order to do this, I used online search engines, databases, and online catalogs.  I started with a pretty basic search strategy.  I searched for the books I read including Higher Power of Lucky, Criss Cross, and Looking for Alaska.  I visited Wilson Web and chose Library Literature, Book Review Digest Plus and Pro, Childrens Core Collection, Fiction, and various others.  When I entered my search for Higher Power of Lucky, I was surprised by the number of articles I hit, but then I remembered that there was a controversial word in Lucky and so it was kind of a big deal, even though it was harmless.  Since I got so many hits, I narrowed my focus in Wilson Web and eliminated some databases and also added more search criteria.  My questions of course needed to be modified because at the beginning I was unsure of the direction this inquiry was going to go.  At first, I thought I would focus on learning about reviews, but now I realize that I want to find out more about the authors and read book reviews by other people. 

I found a great resource in Susan Patron’s personal web page www.susanpatron.com.  On the site, she writes about her desire to write and her former work as a children’s librarian.  It was interesting to learn how she wrote in her spare time.  I also thought it was great that she included personal information because it made her more relatable. 

John Green’s website www.sparskflyup.com was awesome.  He has interesting blogs every day except the weekend on completely random topics as well as links to his books he is well known for such as Looking for Alaska. 

I used different formats such as audio, real people, and interviews to explore the books.  I listened to Criss Cross on audio and it was great because the whole book was kind of whimsical and the reader really added musicality to her reading of the novel.  I read other posts and discussions for the books, and I looked up author interviews defending the work.  An online expert would be categorized if he/she writes for a reputable journal, magazine, etc., or is a respected writer in the field.  I emailed an ask the expert librarian at NYPL and am awaiting her response.  In addition, I think it’s important to get students points of view because they are who the books are geared to.  I hope to find primary and secondary sources.  I found a really great blog in which the author interviews the author of the young adult book Criss Cross.  The page can be found at http://lookbooks.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/lynne-rae-perkins-interview/.  I have to say that Perkins personal website starts out promising but then it turns out most of it is “under construction” and can be found at http://www.lynneraeperkins.com/. 

I found an article which discusses censorship Susan Patron’s novel faced for including the word scrotum.  It was a huge deal once the novel was given the Newbery award and parents protested without even reading the novel.  The article can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/books/18newb.html.

I am very frustrated so far.  It’s sorhard for me to decide on a focus, and I feel like the assignment is due too soon for me to follow up as much as I would like.  I know that will change soon though.  Carol Kuhlthau describes how “thoughts that begin as uncertain, vaugue, and ambiguous become clearer, more focused, and specific as the search process progresses”  in her model of the information search process. 

I can see how that is true because I am starting to feel a little bit more confident.  I have finally focused my project and am stricltly going to research the authors of the books I was originally going to review.  I was so frustrated because I hadn’t narrowed my focus and everything was too broad, but now I am confident in my inquiry.

Wondering

I wonder who else writes about young adult books and authors.
One problem with this blog is that the number of books I review will be limited.
How long should each post be?
I wonder who would read my reviews besides classmates.
I wonder if school libraries have links to authors.
Some of the books I read deal with censorship issues, I wonder  if any of the books were banned.

I wonder why these books were given awards.

I wonder what made the authors Susan Patron, John Green, and Lynn Rae Perkins write their books or want to become writers.
These questions were derived based on brainstorming. They aren’t in a particular order, but I think I might focus the project on controversial books and what made the authors write them.

The wonder stage is comparable to the asking stage in Ian Jukes’ 5 A’s, the define in DIALOGUE, and formulating in Ann Irving’s Study of Information Skills.  This process is helping me to relate all the models together, which is nice. 

I did a brainstorming session at Webspiration.  It doesn’t look great, but it is my first time.  I may use another one later on in the project.  Here is the link:

http://www.mywebspiration.com/view/320730a32b33

I couldn’t get rid of the “linking words” without erasing the bubble altogether.  This is just in case I don’t have time to add a new one.