As of the close of school today, I believe every single student was able to find and print a research study that had been published in an academic journal. Finding the article using the online databases that Mrs. Blessing (librarian) introduced to them in the Media Center just yesterday was a very challenging task that required a lot of trial-and-error with search terms. It is a huge accomplishment that they're all heading home for the weekend with an article in hand! I am very proud of them and very grateful for their perseverance and patience in the computer lab!
Just in case your student didn't retrieve his or her article from the printer or left his or her article at school, please note that he or she should have a link back to the article on NoodleTools, which can be accessed from home and printed again!
The assignment for the weekend is to do their first read-through of the journal article they chose, highlighting and annotating a hard copy of it to bring to class on Monday 9/14. I modeled the highlighting and annotating process for them today in class and am posting a picture of my example at the bottom of this page. Highlighting, circling, underlining, or otherwise marking unfamiliar terms should be one part of this process. Making notes for themselves about the purpose, procedures, results, and applications as well as any questions they have would be a great start.
What I am asking your child to do this weekend will be very, very challenging for them. To be honest, reading journal articles is challenging even for me! Feel free to join in the reading with them to see for yourself. They are reading true scientific research.
Please know that I do not expect your child to understand what they're reading without my help, but I do need all of them to start by working their way through the reading themselves. I will be checking in with them in class in the coming weeks, and they are always welcome to stay with me after school to read through their article together.
I have tried my best to anticipate your kids' complaints and concerns this weekend and respond to them here.
Thank you in advance for your encouragement and support of your student - and me! Good luck this weekend!
Just in case your student didn't retrieve his or her article from the printer or left his or her article at school, please note that he or she should have a link back to the article on NoodleTools, which can be accessed from home and printed again!
The assignment for the weekend is to do their first read-through of the journal article they chose, highlighting and annotating a hard copy of it to bring to class on Monday 9/14. I modeled the highlighting and annotating process for them today in class and am posting a picture of my example at the bottom of this page. Highlighting, circling, underlining, or otherwise marking unfamiliar terms should be one part of this process. Making notes for themselves about the purpose, procedures, results, and applications as well as any questions they have would be a great start.
What I am asking your child to do this weekend will be very, very challenging for them. To be honest, reading journal articles is challenging even for me! Feel free to join in the reading with them to see for yourself. They are reading true scientific research.
Please know that I do not expect your child to understand what they're reading without my help, but I do need all of them to start by working their way through the reading themselves. I will be checking in with them in class in the coming weeks, and they are always welcome to stay with me after school to read through their article together.
I have tried my best to anticipate your kids' complaints and concerns this weekend and respond to them here.
- "This is going to take me forever!" It's not going to take forever, but it is going to take a long time. Rushing through just to get to the end won't give you a good starting point for the conversations you're going to have with me. If it's taking you a long time to read your article, you're doing it right. It means you're processing what you're reading, you're looking up words you don't know, and you're making notes when you find the definitions. You'll get through it, and every time you read it, it will take you less time. Feel free to stop and take a break!
- "I have no idea what these words and symbols mean!" I know. Chances are, I don't either. Maybe I can recognize parts of words, though. Maybe the words are italicized, so they're just scientific names for an animal or a plant. Maybe they're variables used in calculus, and I'm going to have to get my college Physics books out to help you. I recommend having a dictionary (or dictionary.com) open while reading the article, just to get through it. There are also some links to helpful science sites in the Journal Article folder on Schoology. Do the best you can for now, and we'll work through the rest together.
- "You're telling me I'm going to have to explain this to the class?" Yes, but don't panic. You're going to be summarizing the purpose, the procedures, the results, and the applications of your study, but you don't need to know or even be able to explain every single little detail. We're going to work together to figure out the main ideas, and then turn that into a two-minute "share out" for the whole group. Let's just take one thing at a time!
Thank you in advance for your encouragement and support of your student - and me! Good luck this weekend!