Evaluating Websites

Well...it's that time of year again in my building when students are getting ready for semester exams and are being asked to complete RESEARCH. Last year I worked with a couple of my ENGLISH teachers showing their students how to "evaluate" websites for credible information. One of those teachers has asked me to do this again. Last year her students were researching someone they thought was a "Hero." This year they are doing "Greek Mythology." 

I pulled out my trusty Website Evaluation Form and the PowerPoint presentation and decided to "tweak" them both. 

I decided to create a Prezi (first time) this year instead of using the Powerpoint and made it a little bit shorter. I also created "two" Website Evaluation Forms because a few of her classes needed modifications. 

I'll be presenting with my iPad (first time using my 30-pin to VGA Adapter) and the students will also be using iPads to evaluate two websites chosen by the teacher (one good/one bad). 

At the end of the day, I'll post my reflections from the lesson and let you know what worked and didn't work. 

Reflection and What I Learned...

• Know the Student's You are Working With.
• What I mean by this is their reading and comprehension level. The first three classes I worked with needed a shorter version of the Website Evaluation Form. The form I used with them, after talking with the English teacher, I modified it. Instead of having 19 questions to determine if a website was a credible resource, I reduced it down to 8. This really helped those students feel successful. Also, after I worked with the first class, I realized I needed to guide the students through the first website, asking each question on the form and giving the students a few minutes to search for the answer. This helped a lot. 

• Set Time Limits
• It was also helpful to "time" them. Because we only had a limited period of time, they needed a deadline or they would begin discussing other things or get wrapped up in the "research" part of learning about Greek mythology which the teacher didn't want them to really do until the next day. This activity was strictly about finding credible sources. 

• Know The Limits of Your Technology
• My original plan was to have the students complete an "Exit Ticket" about what they learned by clicking on a QR code that would lead them directly to this blog and they would answer the question in the comments. However, because this blog is connected to my "work" Google email account, it required a Google sign in before you could comment. And actually, that's fine because our students DO have school issued Google emails, but, after the first class I ran into students who "forgot" their password. So, instead of having the students use the QR Code, I had them access the "Notes" app on the iPads they were using and answer the question. After, I realized I could "print" their note to a printer in my Media Center because it was connected to the network. Worked like a charm! I was able to print each note, then delete it off the iPad. 

• Easy Access To Pre-Selected Websites To Evaluate
• The teacher pre-selected two websites (one good/one bad) for the students to determine if it was a credible source. I also recommend this for whatever you  will have your students research. If you just send them out there to the WWW who knows what they'll pull up. But, if you give them at least 2 pre-selected websites it'll make it so much easier for this activity. One of the things I knew would be an issue was typing in the correct URL. So, I created QR codes for each website. So, all the students had to do was scan the QR code and answer the questions. It made the whole process very simple. 

• Student Exit Ticket Comments
• "I learned that you have to be very specific about what kind of website you use. Certain websites can give you the wrong information when you're looking information up. I have to be very careful." Sydney J. 
• "Today I learned that not all sites for research are reliable. Some creators of the websites are extremely biased and not accurate." Derrick J. 
• "I learned not to use websites that doesn't give you enough information about what you're looking for." Taishi W. 
• "What I learned today is to always look for the authors info when evaluating a website." Austin H. 
• "You can find real and fake stuff when you evaluate websites." Maria G. 
• "This was a good learning experience because I have trusted Answers.com and now I'm totally like, no." Nina R. 
• "I learned how to check a website to make sure it's relevant." Cedrick C. 
• "I learned specific details about figuring out how to get on a reliable website for new information." Cherlissa M.
• "What I learned today is to always check the website I browse on to see if the information is up to date and relevant." Ivory C. 
• "Some websites may not have correct information to help with certain projects or school work. Always look for the author and credible sources." Timothy J. 

QR Code: A Library Media Orientation Scavenger Hunt

I decided to try something new for library orientation this year with my students. Instead of standing up in front of the students going over a boring PowerPoint Presentation about the library media center, I decided to create a QR Code Library Media Center Scavenger Hunt. I got the idea from The Daring Librarian Blog. 

Usually, I would pull in the English classes to do orientation, but this year I used the Social Studies (Civics and Economics in my building) classes. I had each teacher schedule a full day to spend in the Media Center and I split the class period with the Computer Lab Manager who also set the students up with their school Gmails and Windows accounts.

With help from The Daring Librarian's QR Code Quest Table and my Library Orientation Powerpoint from last year, I had a clear direction of what I wanted my scavenger hunt to look like. It took a lot of work in the beginning: taking pictures, uploading them to Flickr, creating the QR Codes, creating the QR Code Clue pages, BUT it worked out really well in the end. The students enjoyed using the iPads and learning about the library a different way than they were used to.

REFLECTION AND THINGS I LEARNED...

• The QR Code Scavenger Hunt has to be specific for "your" library.
• After I looked at my Powerpoint vs. The Daring Librarian's QR Code Quest Table I realized that the scavenger hunt had to be specific for my library and I did have to create my own QR Codes. 
• Have a clear path around your library for the QR Codes. 
• After the first day I realized that the students didn't have a clear path or direction to go in. I had number eight in one location but number nine was clear on the other side of the room. That didn't work. So, I re-did my "table" and made a clear path from 1-14. One was near two. Two was near three, etc. Yes, it is a scavenger hunt, but don't make it too hard of the students to find the next one on the list because they'll spend more time "looking" around your library instead of "learning" about your library. 
• Don't put too many QR Codes in one section.
• I moved the QR Code clues around a couple of times. I found that the students would "bunch" up in the stacks if two many codes were in one aisle of the library. So, I moved the codes around (still in a easy order to find) to create less congestion. 
• Don't start every student at number one. 
• Students also "bunched" up when I started them at number one as well. I found that alternating where the students started on the scavenger hunt and telling the students they "didn't" have to do the scavenger hunt in number order helped with the flow and it moved them along faster. For example, my numbers "two" and "three" were doing an activity at the computer so if I moved the students along to number four, or had them go "backwards" and start with number fourteen, helped relieve the congestion. 
• If there is something you want to know about the students, get that done first. 
• The first thing I had the students do was complete a survey. I didn't want them to just learn some things about the library. I wanted to learn about them too. I wanted to know what their hobbies were, what types of books they liked to read, how often they read for pleasure, how many books they owned at home, etc. However, with the first classes, I had the survey as the "last" thing to do. But, my some of the students in my first couple of classes didn't get to the survey. So, I had them do the survey first. When I changed my "table" I moved the the survey up from number fourteen to number one. 

Getting Ready For Book Club

This year I am very excited to be introducing a book club at the Freshman Campus. I've had this idea in my head since last year and decided I would implement it the 2014-2015 school year. Last year I started thinking about the books we could read and right off I thought about The Giver by Lois Lowry and The Maze Runner by James Dashner because both of those books are being released as movies this year. In my mind I thought...read the book...go see the movie as the culminating activity! Also, Hunger Games: The Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is coming out this year too and even if students have read the book already...they'd probably want to read it again to catch themselves up with what happened. 

I've already ordered and received these three books plus one more that I'm excited to read. I have some others in mind but I think I'll let the students come up with some ideas too or give them an opportunity to vote on the books we read. As of today I have 7 students signed up on the Google form I created. All I need is 3 more. Our first meeting will be on Wednesday, September 24th where I'll pass out the book club contract and go over the rules. I got the book contract idea from....wait for it... Doris Borck's Pinterest board/website. (Ya'll know I love Pinterest!) 

The great thing about this book club is the student will get to KEEP the book at the end if they read it! I'm also hoping to come up with some other fun activities to do as a culminating activity, including Skype with an author. I think that will be really fun. There's a grant out there I'm going to apply for that I hope I can use to pay for that. 

To get the word out, I have an announcement running on our daily news, and I also put up this neat little sign this morning one of my Media Aides created for me. 

Hopefully those two things will pull in the last three students I need to get started. I also created a blog I'm going to encourage students to comment on while they read the book. Hopefully we will be reading on October 1st! 

BookJunkie

Readbox Poster!

This year I'm all about getting more kids to come into the library. I created a board in Pinterest of all the great things other library media specialists and teachers have been doing in their libraries/classrooms. I came across this PInterest pin from Lessons With Laughter...

...and thought...what a great idea! 

I had to improvise with my background because we didn't have red bulletin board paper and the order that went in the previous week I was waiting for didn't include "red". I had some "red paper" so I decided to use that instead. With a little elbow work and tape...this is what I came up with. 

I couldn't find any "white" letters, nor would my printer "print" white letters so I decided to just go with black and it actually ended up turning out okay. 

After that I decided what books to use. They had to be available in my library media center, of course, but I also wanted books that had book trailers so I could include a QR code with each of the books. 

I'm hoping that added technology aspect will entice the students to come on in and check out the book. 

This is the end product! 

What do you think? What ideas have you used to entice students into your library media center? 

Note: I did laminate the "Readbox" background. I plan to leave it up and change the books out every couple of weeks. I also laminated the book covers so I can use those again as well. If we end up getting some red bulletin board paper some time this year, I might do this project over but for right now, I like what I came up with. 

The Book Junkie

Growing To Do List

This is the first official post of Confessions of a Book Junkie! Yay! At the end of last year I decided that I wanted to do a lot of new things this year but I knew if I really wanted to accomplish them, I'd have to create a running To Do List to keep myself focused. Even though I've been able to cross a few things off that TDL (including creating this blog), it's been growing since that time. Which is a good thing I think. The overall goal of my TDL is to get my 9th graders excited about reading. These are a few of the things I've gotten done.

• Update my beginning of school year student survey
• Update my beginning of the school year teacher survey
• Create my Wildcat Review Blog
• Create my Confessions of a Book Junkie Blog
• Create my Wildcat Virtual Book Club Blog

 I have several ongoing/uncompleted projects:

• Library Orientation QR Code Scavenger Hunt
• Bookmarks with QR Code link to Review Blog
• QR Codes Codes for Book Trailers

Can you tell I'm obsessed with QR Codes? And Pinterest! I've gotten soooo many good ideas from Pinterest this summer that I'm trying to incorporate into my library.

What am I working on today? A reading log! I've done a reading log before, but all I did was "list" the books I read and post them on my door. What I'm going to do this year is actually post "pictures" of the covers of the book. Of course I got this idea from Pinterest. I think the visual will be more effective and hopefully inspire my students to read!

Unfortunately I'm waiting for more laminating film so I can laminate my book covers before I put them up. But, I've already printed and cut them out so I'm ready as soon as the film gets in! 

I'll be sure to post a pic when I get it all up!

UPDATE!!! I finally got my "picture book log" up. What do you think? I'll add more books as I read. 

On to my next project....a "Read Box!"
Have a great year!
The Book Junkie