Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Google Research and Trish's Learning

When I was researching using Google I was at first apprehensive because I normally struggle with finding the information that I truly want when using this vast search engine, but using the skills discussed in class I was able to narrow my search allowing for the desired information to be located.

The purpose of my research was to find tips and information on the internet that would guide me in creating a classroom Book Club at my Senior Year placement at Bath Elementary School. I was interested in seeing what other educators across the nation thought about Book Clubs and finding what the powers that be feel about implementing such a reading project. I learned that there are many different ways that educators have implemented reading projects that get students thinking about the books they are reading more critically from what is written on the page to integrating parents into the discussion. One of the websites that I found helpful in my search was "Education World; The Educator's Best Friend". On this site I my search located an article highlighting how one New York state school created a book club that integrated parents into the reading process. I enjoyed this particular article because it informed me of ways in which I as a f pre-service teaching looking for information about such an activity could work towards involvement of parents in the literacy process. To read this article, click here!

Keeping my focus on Book Clubs, I altered my search a bit so that I might find different sites that had information about materials and lesson plans that might be useful in attempting to create a classroom Book Club that gets students thinking critically about what they are reading and also being able to link what they are reading to the world as a whole. When I searched for this type of information I was lead to Heifer International and their Read to Feed program. This web site not only offered lesson plans and an interactive web site that would allow students the opportunity to understand the conditions children like themselves live in on a daily basis, but the site also has a place that an educator can go if they are interested in gathering materials that would help students become informed about world conditions. Click here is you are interested in explore these possibilities like I was!

All-in-all, I feel that this search gave me access to more tools than simply seeking out a teacher who uses classroom Book Clubs as part of their literacy curriculum because I would have been limited to who I personally know and it would have limited my possibilities in creating such a project.

1 comment:

Antoinette said...

I really like "Education World; The Educator's Best Friend" article. I think that this would be a great start on getting a book club going with the fifth grade classes. I would be interesting to see if we could set something up, when all three classes are reading the same book, to get them started with a book club. Do you know if they are going to do that again this semester?