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I'm hoping this will be an on-going 2 week dialog about how to work through
the INQUIRY PROCESS

in your classroom
in order to complete an LCP.



That means no more tasks, just a conversation.  If I were you, I would definitely do this process this first time with me during your a-synchronous meeting time.  (Who knows---I might get a real job one of these days and not be here any more!)  


Remember at the end you have to turn in 3 LCPs, so you can toss this first one out if it's no good, or you can keep it.  :-)


So. . .  let's get going, shall we? 


HERE'S the link to the PROCESS RUBRIC that we designed for you. 



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  • I am thinking I am off base for the LCPs - I thought we were suppose to find a burning question about our units that we are studying -now it is looking more like I should be looking for the burning question in the teaching methods?  

    Here are the LCPs I am working on - one is for the early American contact of:  something to do with the intergernerational trama that an  oral tradition culture faces and how it is overcome through the generations...

     

    the Great Migration:  the burning question I wanted to address would be something about a family or cultural or community "champion"  the ones that seek and do the work to keep the "culture" intact....

     

    is this way off base??

     

     

  • Karen,
    I can answer some things about Zotero that might help you out a bit.

    First, just getting students to familiarize themselves with new technology is difficult enough. It seems to me that if students can successfully add items to their Zotero database, in the process of analyzing chinese immigrants, that meets a requirement of using technology to build American History and issues of diversity. However, Tom Rushford might want to pitch in on this.
    Zotero
    Depending on the site you are visiting, Zotero pulls in relevant information about the source (book, journal article, web site, etc.)...but some web sites are much better than other for pulling out information. So, when you work with students on creating files, there is a big difference adding a book to Zotero from an Amazon information page, than from adding a book from a scholarly search engine like WorldCat (or any library database).

    WorldCat, in fact, is one of the best because (usually) all the required fields for citation are included, but also each entry is "tagged"--important for cross referencing. Of course, students should create their own common list of tags as well. If I go straight to WorldCat and look for books, the citations are very good. But, if I use George Mason's university rights to WorldCat, and log in as a student, the citations are much better. I don't know ehy. My point is that you might want to use various sites, pick one common book as a test model, and see what information Zotero is able to pull in. That way, you can direct students to good places where they can hunt for sources.

    I'm not sure which sites students use to hunt for books, but Google Books and Amazon are commonly used, but fair in their Zotero-friendly information. WorldCat is better and accessible, users just need to set up a free account. EBSCO, JSTOR, and other places might be available to you depending on which subscriptions your schools system has paid for.

    Two small pieces of Zotero advice: One, consider having students set up their own Zotero folders, but also a course folder. That way students can add items to their own folder, and then contribute to the course folder as well. Over the years, future students can edit, add, and overall strengthen the course folder--students doing the leg-work and you (teacher) moderating and supervising. Two, for any item (or multiple items at one time)...students will right click and "create bibliography from selected item". After choosing the correct citation format (Chicago Manual of Style, APA, MLA, etc.), they can select "copy to clipboard" and then go to their document and "paste". Voila! Citations ready made, but in need of editing...just in case. The more accurate entries are in the Zotero database, the less editing students will have to do when they paste it onto their Word document.

    Hopefully some of that helps.
  • Ok, a few questions:

    After having spent an hour loading zotero on the kids' computer files--each kid has their own access--and after dialoguing with the tech person (who also teaches a full course load with everyone else)--we decided it was best if I loaded zotero on the kids computers myself, so as not to give the kids the idea they can be installing their own software and plugins on the school computers. So now they have it on. There is no way they are going to experience the full "joy" of zotero on this LCP. I am barely one step ahead of them on this. The best I can hope for is that they learn to store their documents in one file they can easily access while they are working on their "product".

    So my questions are:

    1. Is it acceptable that they only learn how to create a file and store it for access with zotero? (that is not their product--their product will be to analyze the degree of agency chinese immigrants in the canneries exhibited.
    2. When is this due? I hope I will be able to get the whole LCP project completed and posted by the end of November, but given the glacial pace at which my kids work, it might not be posted until Dec. 3 or so. Is that ok?
  • Shareen, you sound like you are right on track. As I understand it, you do have to present an American History lesson. But Tom will probably want to weigh in with an answer.
  • I am just now figuring out what I need to do for this course and looked up this post because I have been confused by what is required. The dialogue is great and I think I have a clearer idea, but I have a problem. I am only teaching World History right now. I use CNN Student news at least once a week because I truly believe one of the purposes of the Social Studies classroom is to open up the world to the student. This broadcast does a wonderful job of engaging the students and it has led to some engaging discussions about different news stories. The role of the teacher is to provide the relevancy to the student and that in turn leads them to being more informed about the outside world (I teach in a remote village).

    The point of taking a day off of my regular coursework to incorporate a LCP is one way I could go about it, I just need to understand...I have to create a LCP based on the information presented within the learning cycle? American History Based?
  • Eric, are all of your kids Alaska Native? If so. That's a pretty hard task. At least in my experience those kids couldn't talk because to shine or to show off your knowledge was a really bad thing. I had some success with posters around the room with questions and they could rotate and write their answers on the posters---but since we are adding in a technical element, would they dialog with each other on a wiki? Do they text each other all the time like the kids here do? How do they communicate? How could you encourage what they are already doing?
  • You are spot on Karen. And you could wait, or you could just have a flash back day! :-)
  • Mary, My response might not be the same as Tom's, but I'm thinking you should simply take ONE of your learning tasks and run with it. You have a master's degree outline here. Maybe a PhD! You can always do another learning task during the next round. What would happen if you just picked one part of it, like "in what ways can I introduce the depth of perspectives of the cultures colliding?" And then used the writing process with My Access as a method to get there.

    Just a suggestion, and maybe you need to do all of it anyway, but maybe you should just do one piece at a time.
  • Cindee: Please post anything that you have that would give us good graphics. I think this really helps me visualize. And yes, anything you have to share on the inquiry process would be MARVELOUS.

    Cindee Karns said:
    OOOH Mary, I wanna see that, but model. This whole process of Inquiry was my Master's degree back in 2000. I have the model I developed through my inquiry process that I wouldn't mind sharing as well.

    Furthermore, this kind of conversation is what will make this a sustainable process for History teachers---heck for any teachers---who want to be part of a learning/reflecting community. I wonder who would do this if they weren't getting credit. Hmmmm.
    So What Exactly Do I Have To Do To Complete An LCP?????
    I'm hoping this will be an on-going 2 week dialog about how to work through the INQUIRY PROCESS in your classroom in order to complete an LCP.That me…
  • I am confused about the LCP. I understand that it arises out of our burning questions, but I also thought it had to match up with the topic of the month, as well as incorporate the technology featured during that month as well. Is that correct? I did not do the LCP for the first cycle, as that is far too early for the time period I am covering in my classes. I just gained a sixth class to prep for this quarter--and they are all different. I should be able to jump on the 2nd cycle LCP, if those questions could be cleared up for me.
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