The task is to create a lesson plan where the students utilize three separate search engines.
LESSON: After reading a piece of classic or recognized literature, the student must find three separate notable analyses of the text through three different search engines. Google, Yahoo and Bing. In doing so, the students will learn different ways the search engines behave and decide which they find most effective. In order to teach safe and effective research methods, the teacher will demonstrate to students the dangers of using the internet too liberally. The most important thing to tell students is to NEVER give personal information over the internet at school unless they know for sure it is a notable website. If they are not sure, they should ask an adult. Additionally, in order to conduct the most effective search, students should use key words of titles and authors they might be searching for. They can also place quotation marks around the words they want to stay grouped together in the search. In addition, students will learn the value as well as the drawbacks of sites such as Wikipedia. The teacher should explain to students that there is certainly a time and place for Wikipedia when doing base introductory research but when it comes time to find notable authors and articles, it is not the right resource.
Possible questions to address during research unit:
- Which search engine did you find the easiest to navigate?
- Which search engine gave you the best results?
- Was there a specific search engine that ever asked for your personal information?
- Compare the articles you found and decide which is the most comprehensive.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Using RSS Aggregators in the Classroom
Having never really used a RSS Aggregator feed before, I was skeptical about how one could be used effectively in the classroom. But then I explored feedly.com a bit and realized the ease at which a teacher could create a useful and practical tool for her students. I added about seven different links that concentrated on different areas of English lessons, literature and modern examples of how these things can apply to the real world. Links such as the NPR and New York Times's book list as well as TED talks and "article of the day" seem like really useful tools to use in a middle school or high school english classroom. It would be fun to have my students explore the feed and pick out one or two links to concentrate a project or presentation on, even if it's just simply reading one of the books offered on the a best sellers list.
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