Marvelous Maine Invitational Week 11 Wrap up

I can honestly say that there was something valuable and useful in all the assignments for the Invitational. I most definitely had a least favorite, Business Resources, but even that had some very worthwhile information. I had several HUGE discoveries. The two most valuable for me were Novelist Plus and Britannica School Edition. I will use these both for students in my classroom as research sources and for myself personally. I found both to be full of excellent features and information and very user friendly. Newspapers and Maine Newsstand and also Consumer Health Resources are two areas that I will continue to explore and use on a regular basis. I also am anxious to go back and further explore the Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center and can picture myself using this regularly for personal interest. I found it very valuable throughout the weeks to be able to read and respond to the blogs of other participants and felt that that was an integral part of this experience. I will highly recommend this opportunity to others who may consider it in the future.

Marvelous Maine Invitational Week 10- EbscoHost

Of the choices given, I searched MiddleSearch Plus. One of the first things I noticed was that the articles I chose to explore were written at a very high level. All would definitely have been too challenging for most of my 6th Grade students. There was however what seemed to be an infinite number of choices of articles and subject areas to explore. The first Discovery Exercise was very simple to access. Since I teach History and Geography I began to explore articles to be used in a project that I will soon be having the students complete. I searched first for the topic Colonial America and then was able to narrow that to Blacks during Colonial Times, specifically the early slave trade and the beginnings of the American Slave Trade in Portugal. I also searched Native Americans, and found a wealth of information on some of the more famous early colonists. There is definitely a huge amount of information, but again text levels seemed too difficult  for my 6th Graders. I plan to explore Primary Search prior to staring our project as I'm just realizing now that the Lexiles in this area might be more suited to 6th Graders. I also found similar amounts of information when searching the topic American Revolution. One of the things I found that I thought was wonderful was that each article was also given in audio and that as the computer reads the text, the words are highlighted as they are read. A very impressive feature.

Searching through Ebasco eBooks was just as impressive. I once again searched the topic American Revolution. I found books on a wide range of topics from Black Patriots and Loyalists to Modern Marxism to How to Ace your Midterms and Finals in U.S. History. In searching through resources for Constitution Day materials I found I had to first narrow the search to Constitution Day/ United States. There was some very interesting text on George Washington's inauguration. The novel Founding Friendship: George Washington, James Madison, and the Creation of the American Republic had some incredibly interesting excerpts. Also quite impressive was the novel Constitution Congress: The Federalist Period 1789-1801. Again some of the text seemed too difficult for my 6th Graders, but could definitely be used with some guidance.

For exercise #3 the projects on Western history, I was not as impressed with the materials available. Maybe it was me, but I couldn't seem to find as much information as I would have liked on the actual history of the West.  A couple titles that seemed appropriate and usable were Susan La Flesche, MD: Omaha Indian Leader and Reformer.Also, Americans View Their Dust Bowl Experience By: John R. Wunder.
I found huge amounts of information in these areas and feel that I have barely skimmed the surface.

Marvelous Maine Invitational Week 9 Learning Express

Using Learning Express I first chose the link for Middle School tests, then Social Studies Skills Improvement, then Geography and finally the test for Geography Review in 20 Minutes /Day. I also browsed through Grade 6  Reading Diagnostic 1: Informational Text. I found both to be fairly typical of other Grade 6 type standardized tests that I have seen, but maybe even a bit more challenging. I felt the questions in both subject areas would have been quite difficult for many of the 6th Graders that I teach. I was very impressed with the learning center for Job Search and Workplace Skills. I  explored the course Job Search resumes and Interviews and specifically a course titled Creating a Great Resume.   I was very impressed with how thorough and organized this was. It seemed  to be very helpful for anyone seeking this type of information and was organized to be very user friendly, with the process of writing a resume explained in very clear, concise steps. For the last exercise I searched Small Business Owner.  This yielded many results including 18 tests, 18 courses and 46 eBooks. The eBook I looked through was titled Goof-Proof Business Writing. It contained lessons and information in Spelling, Math, and Business Writing. Most of the book seemed to be aimed at helping prospective business owners sharpen their writing and communication skills in order to be a more professional and skilled communicator in various business situations. Overall I feel the Learning Express Library would be a very valuable resource for a variety of purposes.

Marvelous Maine Invitational Week 8 - Genealogy

I was excited to see what this week's assignment was and then disappointed to learn I could not access it, except in the public library. I did not make it to the library, but am interested in the two week trial offer through my school library. I would love to explore this resource! I did check out the videos/tutorials provided which made me even more anxious to explore the resource! In watching these it made me realize just how much information is out there to find and that it can be very easy to do. I look forward to more exploration of this topic.

Marvelous Maine Invitational Week 7

I used Health Source to search for the condition Tempromandibular Joint Disorder, more commonly known as TMJ. This is a condition of the jaw where there is much pain, clicking and grinding of the jaw. This condition sometimes results in partial locking of the jaw, and can cause frequent and severe headaches and ear pain and discomfort. I have this condition and have recently taken steps to treat it. I was relieved to read in the articles I found that the treatments that were outlined matched very well to the course of treatment outlined by the orthodontist I have seen. Information was very simple to access, user friendly and easy to understand. A resource I would use again for sure. Medline Plus was even better! I found it to also be extremely user friendly, but with many more articles and sources of information. Some of the top searches listed were for asthma, autism, diabetes, shingles and breast cancer.
      The only medication I take is a daily allergy medicine, Claritin. I found it interesting to find the actual name of the effective drug in Claritin is called Loratedine. There was information about why this drug would be prescribed, some possible side effects, how the drug is taken, and some dietary and other precautions while taking it. Under the Videos and Cool Tools I chose a video on Invasive Total Knee Arthroplasty. It was very detailed and a real life operating room surgery that was filmed. Too real for me actually as I found it difficult to watch. I found both of these areas extremely interesting, easy to use and full of beneficial information.

Marvelous Maine Invitational Week 6

This was an assignment that has been the least useful for me so far. I am not business minded and am not a librarian, so do not think this would be something I would use much at all.  First using the Business Source Complete I was successful at completing the exercise as assigned. When searching information for FM radio I was able to find information on Digital Signal, FM Radio Amplifiers and Simulcasting, to name a few. Using the Visual Search option I observed that this narrows the search results to sort in many ways, such as subject, publication, date and relevance. This feature seemed to be very useful. The EconLit  exercise I didn't have much luck with. I found it unclear and difficult to use. Using Regional Business News I was much more successful. I researched one of my favorite stores, Christopher and Banks. There was a lot of information about this nationwide company based in Minnesota, such as the fact that as of October 29, 2012 they had named a new president. Using Value Line I was not extremely clear on the meaning of much of the content, but did observe that the periodical issues were organized by date and subject and did seem to be quite easy to navigate. The Wall Street Journal resource was extremely easy to use. When looking for articles on small business and health care I found articles on health care laws and small business, wellness screening programs and health care benefits for small businesses on a budget. Even though this is not a subject I am very well educated in, I did find most of the resources easy to use, while at the same time not fully understanding some of the content.

Marvelous Maine Invitational Week 5 NoveList

This has been my favorite feature so far in the 5 weeks. There are so many possibilities with this feature. It is incredible. I started by searching The Hunger Games series. I loved the Sort by feature which allows you to narrow the search more specifically by author, popularity, or by dates, ascending and descending.Also very useful was the Read-alike choices feature which gave 9 additional Read-alike titles for The Hunger Games series.  This was excellent. Under the 9-12 age group I specifically searched Historical Fiction which I love to use in my middle school social studies classes. This also allows searching by award winning authors in this genre. I have used historical fiction books by Anna Myers before and was able to find a fairly new book she has written for the age group 9-12. Awesome! Next I searched by authors for those that I enjoy and found titles I didn't realize existed, specifically a novel titled Blockade Billy by Stephen King, that I know my husband would love. Although I spent a lot of time searching through NoveList Plus, I feel there is so much more to explore! I anticipate using this a great deal both personally and professionally.