Effective methods for getting students to use the internet for research in my classroom.

[claire grace]

First, I’d like to address the issue of Eric/ Enesco. As a teacher in
an Allentown Catholic school, we don't have funds to pay for these
types of programs. Eric was offered to us, free of charge, about 10
years ago but we don't have access to it any longer. Now that we are
in recession mode and catholic schools are closing and enrollment is
down, the belt has really been tightened. Fortunately, we are one the
few schools which are not suffering from enrollment issues but we are
watching the spending issue. So, general free sites need to be
utilized. Thinkfinity is a great one. We also use PHSchool.com plus
the diocesan recommended in their website and our curriculum files. I
also guess that I’m old school-nothing is wrong with using an online
encyclopedia to get the ball rolling!

So back to the point. I teach six language arts classes a day. One
day a week is dedicated to the writing lab. Personally with a 45 min.
class period, I don't have time to let kids research in class. My
writing lab is just that-a time to write not research. All research
has to be done at home. It seems when kids are at home and it is time
to deal with an assignment, they don't waste time. We give a couple
hours of homework each night, especially in 8th grade so there is no
messing around. I always give a list of recommended sites and
questions to be handwritten on an answer sheet. As I am already
familiar with the sites, I can tell if they just copied (plagiarized)
directly. They generally don't go down that road with me. It ends up
in a homework check and lunch detention doing the assignment
correctly. Jodi Cogan wrote earlier this week that, “Note taking is a
necessary skill, and so is paraphrasing. It is also a good way for the
teacher to ensure the students understand what they have just read.
So, no I don't agree that kids should just cut and paste on a table.
Items need to be rephrased and handwritten or in the case of Google
docs, rephrased and typed onto the document.
All my assignments begin with a guided sheet that students do at
home using my required sites. With teaching the younger group requires
a more guided and controlled approach to research. As Colleen said
earlier, we need to set the rules up ahead and tell them exactly what
we are expecting them to accomplish so that there are no
misunderstandings.
Claire