Reflection: Problem-based Approaches Introduction to Locating Sources - Section 3: Time To Search
In which I offer some thoughts on how students approach the problem of their research, and how they apply their topic to both the parameters of the project and to something about which they care. An example of student source cards can be seen in today's lesson image.
Introduction to Locating Sources
Lesson 2 of 16
Objective: SWBAT locate sources to provide evidence for persuasive claims by using both traditional card catalogs and on-line database resources, demonstrating understanding by completing source cards.
Big Idea: Today is all about putting what students learned yesterday into practice: locating sources and creating source cards.
Print Lesson
It's Homecoming Week, and today, students might be wearing their favorite Crazy Hat. Before class starts, I post the location--Library--on the classroom door. As students enter the library, I greet them while I'm wearing my favorite crazy hat, and hand each student the "Some Answers on Sources" sheet. "Some Answers on Sources" was created to respond to a few Frequently Asked Questions that came up after class yesterday, or that were addressed in one section of Grade 10/Sophomore English 2, but not another.
As always, the Daily Holiday not only builds on the sense of community I try to establish in my classroom, but also ties to school spirit and community with Homecoming activities.
Resources (3)
For the first fifteen minutes of class, I turn the course over to our school librarian. As a lecture, with visual aids (the library website on a wide-screen TV) she takes the students through where and how to use the research databases (Persuasive Paper Step 2.2-Database Access) to which we have access: "Facts on File", "CQ Researcher", etc. She has compiled a handout of this information and provided it to the students (see below). As the expert on the resources we have, the librarian can provide the quickest access for students. By modeling where to go, she shows the students how to use each site, how to narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; and students are exposed to multiple sources on their subject (W.9-10.7). Turning the class over to the librarian provides me a chance to look over the topics students have selected, and identify the ones who still need help narrowing their focus.
Both this mini-lecture model and "Some Answers on Sources" are provided to give students the best places to support evidence to develop claims/counterclaims, as the databases all have vetted information.
Resources (2)
Time To Search
For the rest of the period, students have free access to the library stacks and computers. As they locate potential databases, evaluate the information therein, and begin citing the sources, I circulate the room, checking they came prepared with index cards, answering questions, and discussing potential issues and conflicts with their topics. During this time, the librarian is also available to assist. The primary objectives is to: gather print and digital sources that may provide relevant information for their claims and begin to assess the usefulness of each source (W.9-10.8). The “grade” on this assignment will come from the source cards they turn in the end of the time in library, but between now and then, students will gauge the usefulness of a variety of sources. Especially if I see them using Wikipedia, Google, or starting a source card before they had time to read the source, as I will be asking them to explain the validity of the source.
As class winds down, I approach each table with a group or cluster of students; remind them we will meet in the library again tomorrow; and ask they save their work, pick up any trash, and push in their chairs. The only homework I assign is to remember the above tomorrow, as well.
Similar Lessons
Analyzing Diction, Anaphora And Rhetorical Strategies In Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have A Dream Speech (1 of 2)
Environment: Suburban
Environment: Suburban
My Forbidden Face: Life Under the Taliban
Environment: Suburban
- UNIT 1: Literacy: In The Beginning There Was American Literature...Creation Myths & Creative Writing
- UNIT 2: Literacy: Plain Living Portrayed in Puritan Poetry and Sermons
- UNIT 3: Literacy: Rhetorical Devices and Revolutionary Thinking of the Enligtenment
- UNIT 4: Persuasive Writing: Research and Rhetorical Skills
- UNIT 5: Literacy: Catching Identity, Novel Study of "The Catcher in the Rye"
- UNIT 6: Collaborative Speaking & Listening: Designing Identity in "The Catcher in the Rye" Boardgame
- UNIT 7: Literacy: Poetry by the Fireside (Romanticism Part I)
- UNIT 8: Literacy: Brooding, Dark and Gothic Poetry and Short Stories (Romanticism Part II)
- UNIT 9: Literacy: Transcendent Impressions in Essays (American Romanticism III)
- UNIT 10: Literacy: The Reality of It All--Realism in the American Story
- UNIT 11: Literacy: What's Your (Local) Color? Regionalism in the American Short Story
- UNIT 12: Literacy: Naturalism and Understanding Conflict in the American Short Story
- UNIT 13: Literacy: Figurative Language in the Poetry of Whitman & Dickinson
- UNIT 14: Literacy: "To Kill A Mockingbird" Collaborative Study
- UNIT 15: Literacy: "The Great Gatsby" Characterization, Style, and Visual Literacy
- UNIT 16: Literacy: The Theme of Nostalgia in Text and Film
- UNIT 17: Literacy: "A Raisin in the Sun": Understanding Drama
- UNIT 18: Cultural Literacy: Holiday Insights and American Traditions
- UNIT 19: Literary and Skills: Final Exam Reviews
- LESSON 1: Citing Your Sources: Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
- LESSON 2: Introduction to Locating Sources
- LESSON 3: Continuing Work on Locating Sources: Evaluating Usefulness
- LESSON 4: Wrapping Citation Work: Concluding the Search for Sources
- LESSON 5: Informational Format: Creating MLA-Style Information Note Cards
- LESSON 6: Small Group Samples: Making Information Cards
- LESSON 7: Mapping a Route to Research: Student Info Card Creation (Day 1 of 2)
- LESSON 8: Mapping a Route to Research: Student Info Card Development (Day 2 of 2)
- LESSON 9: Making A Plan: Crafting an Outline
- LESSON 10: Outline and Thesis Writing Day 1 of 2
- LESSON 11: Outline and Thesis Writing Day 2 of 2
- LESSON 12: Roughly Drafting: Crafting MEL-Con Paragraphs
- LESSON 13: Roughly Drafting (Lab Day 1 of 2)
- LESSON 14: Roughly Drafting (Lab Day 2 of 2)
- LESSON 15: Peer Review: A Day Reading Another Paper
- LESSON 16: Giving Proper Credit: Works Cited and Starting Revisions
