This is your reflection so you can reply as you wish.
If you kept a journal, you can share from those thoughts if you wish - or consider and address any or all of the following:
Time to process information
TIme to apply new information
Was their new information that you will continue to use
Thank you for enrolling in this class. I hope that the work we did here will serve you and your students long into the future.
Neva
Replies
Wow--another summer and another class filled with tons of information. For me, the two day format it is always just so fast and it whirls by but this time I tried not to stress out about the technology and the forms. I was lucky enough to find a colleague and working partner who had a great skill set that made it easier for me to play at LoC.
Because I was familiar with LoC, I had time to process information while looking at new parts of that vast resource. I was thankful that the outside readings were short but meaty--if they had been longer I probably would have stressed out about them. As it was, I could read them and respond and now I want to read them again. I liked working on the lesson plan and it is definately one that I will be using but I found tons of information at LoC and the other sites and I want to play some more and work on other plans.
Over the past two days, I have been wowed by the amount of information presented in ASDSA class, “Teaching with Primary Sources.” There is so much available to teachers to use in their classes. If the goal of this class was to help teachers be better prepared for classroom instruction, then I would say that the goal was superbly met. On the first day, I was a bit overwhelmed at first due to the numerous cites and links shared with the class in what seemed to me, rapid secession. Before I could grasp how I arrived at one site and determine the purpose of being there, the class was moving on to another. It wasn't long before the intuitive instructor realized that we needed more time to navigate the different facets and links of the Library of Congress. From that point on the door to a wealth of fabulous resources became known and available to us all. I have learned how to find permanent URLs in the digital ID of a source, how to determine copyright status of a source, and a variety of search strategies. The chance to put into practice what was gleaned from the class resulted in a collaboratively completed project proposal. Wow!
This course also presented other valuable tools to assist us in our role as teachers. The two articles on "Thinking Historically" as well as the handouts dealing with "How We Learn" and "Dual Inquiry" are helpful particularly when I am preparing a lesson plan. The Teacher's Guide to Analyzing Primary Sources will no doubt be used frequently to encourage students to use higher order thinking skills. I have been helped by taking this course and look forward to engaging my students this fall. Thank you.
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I was really interested in taking this class to find out more primary sources for myself in gaining more knowledge and for my students. It is very difficult for me to grow with my curriculum areas that I teach since I teach Kindergarten. I think that in the classroom we tend to use a lot of textbooks for teaching history and not using the primary resources that was used to create the history textbooks. I would like my students to become little historians to enable them to grow in making inferences by looking at primary sources and get excited about history, like they did in Science when they became little Scientists in my classroom.
Since I Kindergarten, and do not have a textbook to refer to when teaching Social Studies to my students, this class has allowed me to obtain sources to help me teach Social Studies in very simple, hands on, and engaging way to my students. I am very excited about learning how I can collect the pictures online by using LoC and then project the pictures on the Promethean board.
I would like to know where we can go after this class to have access to my work and what other teachers in this class have created. I would like to know where to locate the specific site.
My reflection on the time information is that process time will take a long long long time :) My point is that is takes large amounts of time to process information for long term learning. The brain will not hard wire in connections without time.
The time to apply new information takes practice. When you start a new activity very rarely does the activity go perfect the first time. Over time and many errors, mistakes, and much problem solving the application of new information or learning is seamless.
In the class the information I will continue to use are the following: The LOC website, The Ning for future classes, Capturing pictures, and /capturing Web site URL's.
The lesson plan activity gave me insight into grabbing original source use for future lessons and ways I can quickly grab primary source documents to embellish my instruction.
Thanks
Thank you for your help in understanding how to navigate the LoC website and assist me in identifying Primary Sources and Copyright issues.
I felt like I had enough time to process the information but feel certain that I will not feel completely comfortable until I have had a chance to play around a little more with the website and explore all the other wonderful things I have not had a chance to see yet.
I felt like I had enough time to apply what I needed to for the assignments and reflections. Again, I need to continue to search the website and see what else is available to me.
I will definitely continue to use the LoC website not only in planning lessons but in guiding students for use on research and other inquiries.
I really appreciate you showing us how to paste a permanent URL and explaining what that was. The little video about copyright helped me to understand how to identify what I can copy and what I cannot. I will use the Analyzing Primary Sources worksheet in my classroom with students.
Thank you so much for your time and knowledge about the LoC and providing us with your contact information so we can get in touch with you if we need further assistance. I really enjoyed taking the class and learned a lot from it. The handouts were wonderful and I will use them in my classroom.
Thanks again.
Will I use LOC again?- Yes, this is a wonderful resource for finding historical information and resources. I look forward to looking through the website even more to practice using the tools more and to see what I haven't found yet.
Time to process information- yes, I felt like I had a good amount of time to process the information and the ask clarifying questions.
Time to apply information- I will be applying the information that I learned next year and I hope to use this resource when i can to enhance the classes learning.
New information that you will continue to use- yes, when I need these resources, I will know where to go and I will always check at the LOC for resources that support my lessons. I will also try out some of the tools and recommended websites I'll be thinking of ways that they could be of benefit to my class.
At least one lesson plan of immediate use- yes, I look forward to teaching this unit and adding to my plan throughout the summer. It is nice to have the main part of the plan handy and usuable.
I am thoroughly amazed by the wealth of information found on the Library of Congress (LOC) website! I had no idea that so many resources were available to us to use! Yes, I definitely plan to use the LOC again, beginning in the fall when I teach my Patriotic Song unit. Knowing how to utilize primary sources will be very helpful as I use it with my students. In my role as learner, not teacher, I feel that there was more than enough time to process and apply the information—at times I felt that there was too MUCH time given to process information. I function better if I am given the information at the beginning and then am allowed to “play” with said information; I found it very confusing at times what was happening in the class. However, I was given some fabulous information that I will most definitely use, and was able to create, via my ARS lesson plan, the beginnings of a unit that I will use this fall about This Land is Your Land. I am grateful to have been given a new resource to use with my students!
Wow is the LOC one confusing place. I wonder if they designed it to make you feel like you were actually wandering through a gigantic building lost and looking for that one book. Will I use it again? Yes I will because when you do find that one thing it's amazing. I found Myan artifacts that had the glyphs translated and could be rotated. It was great. I found maps that could be manipulated to show just what I want to show my students. On the other hand I'm not actually sure I can find my way back to them. I know they're out there but where? It's like a giant labyrinth and the librarians are all laughing at me as I fall into pit after pit. Did I find new information that I will continue to use? Most definitely. There are great collections which lead to great ways of getting students to ask questions, and that is what I want the most is to teach them to ask questions. Did I walk away from here with at least one immediate lesson plan? Again that would be yes. I might not use it exactly as I have it right now but it is there and it is usable. Did I have time to process and apply the information? Actually yes. If you get lost enough times you learn to find your own way around. Because of the time we took in class I am able to now feel confidant that I can actually use the LOC site and not just look on it in fear.
Final Reflection
This is the third time that I’ve signed up for a class and formally attempted to use the LOC. I’ve also used the LOC sporadically over the years usually quitting in frustration and disgust. I’m happy to say that for the first time I’ve found the LOC to be user friendly. While the current version of the LOC isn’t perfect, I can say that the site makes sense, has bundled information that is easy to navagate and I can honestly say that I will return in the near future with my students and create presentations for my classes.
As far as processing time and application is concerned, I felt as though I had plenty of opportunity to work through our project and surf through the site. I am computer literate enough to be dangerous so working with a partner was very helpful and between the two of us we were able to work through any points that were “sticky”. Once I navigated NING and understood the nuances, I found the reflection prompts to be useful for helping me focus my thought and ideas.
Finally, I’m glad that this was a two day course because it forced me to recall information. I’m not sure there would have been any shelf life if this were only a one day course. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.
To be honest, I wasn’t even really sure what a primary source was before yesterday! HA! Well, I had a vague idea, but would not have been able to explain it to someone else. Thanks to this class, I am well versed in primary sources.
I was extremely impressed with the collection in the Library of Congress. There is a vast amount of photos, newspapers, political cartoons, etc. that educators could incorporate into their classes.
Learning to navigate through the collection is another issue. That was definitely a major challenge that we were not able to overcome in a two-day class. Perhaps it would have been more productive to be given specific assignments so that we could be learners first. I felt overwhelmed and frustrated when we were just SHOWN the resources. The most valuable activities we were the few hands-on assignments. It helped to generate ideas that I can use as a teacher.
Overall I’m glad to be introduced to the LoC. Without the grant, I never would have known all these primary sources we can access. I look forward to learning more about the LoC collection and integrating it in my classroom.
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