EMC News Blog

Friday, October 27, 2006

Bibliographies now online!

Several EMC generated bibliographies have been posted online. These include lists of K-12 textbooks owned by the EMC, resources for researching banned and challenged books, educational software, children's books depicting people with disabilities, videos for children, Hmong resources, and more. Please take a stroll through the bibliographies. You might discover something you'd like to use.
http://www.uwosh.edu/library/emc/bibliographies.html

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Citing Journal Articles Using APA

Students are always interested in how to accurately and quickly cite journal articles. Here are some simple step-by-step procedures on how to do this using the three primary education journal databases.

Generating APA Style Citations for Journal Articles in Education Databases


ERIC via EBSCO
1. from the results list, click the “ADD” icon to the right of the articles wanted

2. click the icon near the upper right hand corner for “Folder has Items”

3. click “Save” near top right

4. choose APA on drop down menu under “Citation Format”

5. click “save” button on left – [also, unclick the box next to the phrase “Remove these items from folder after saving”]

6. to save your citations from one search to the next, even though you discontinue your search for awhile, create a personal folder


ERIC via CAMBRIDGE
1. conduct search

2. select record(s) wanted

3. click: “save, print, email”

4. scroll down and under the phrase “choose a bibliographic style” select APA and click the “create” button


EDUCATION FULL TEXT
1. conduct search

2. select record(s) wanted

3. click: “get marked” (toward bottom of page)

4. click: “exporting/citing” on left

5. click: “printing and citing options”

6. click circle next to “Brief Citation Display,” and click on “HTML” and select “APA” on dropdown menu

7. click: “print”

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

The "Testing Culture"

The Washington Post is running an article about what they refer to as "the testing culture." Seventyone percent of teachers surveyed say that there are too many tests. Surprisingly, this exceeds the number of parents and students who say the same. Below is a link to the article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/09/AR2006100900925.html

Finding Library Materials

Need help finding appropriate books, journal articles or audio-visual materials? Come into the library or contact Stephen Katz at 424-2320 or katz@uwosh.edu. I'll be happy to assist you!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Finding books by grade level

I'm often asked to provide lists of recommended children's books by grade or age. Here are some resources I've used to help with these requests.

1. I've compiled lists of recommended books by grade from various sources and placed these lists in a binder that is available at the EMC Service Desk.

2. TeachersFirst.com
http://www.teachersfirst.com/read-sel.cfm
You can find lists of recommended books by grade.

3. Database of Award Winning Children's Literature
www.dawcl.com/search.asp
This can be searched by age, not grade.

4. Recommended Literature Search
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/rl/ll/ap/litsearch.asp

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Web Resources Added to the EMC Site

TeachableMoment.org
www.teachablemoment.org
The website describes itself as providing "educators with timely teaching ideas to encourage critical thinking on issues of the day and foster a positive classroom environment." Teaching activities include "Israelis vs. Palestinians: New Leaders & Old Problems," "The Spread of Nuclear Weapons," and "Election Troubles: Gerrymandering, DREs & the Money Chase."


Science NetLinks
www.sciencenetlinks.com
"At the heart of ScienceNetLinks are standards-based lesson plans that incorporate reviewed Internet resources, and can be selected according to specific benchmarks and grade ranges. Each lesson is tied to at least one learning goal and uses research-based instructional strategies that support student learning."

Teaching Tolerance
www.tolerance.org/teach/
Produced by the Southern Poverty Law Center, this web resource provides teachers with teaching ideas that promote respect and tolerance for diversity.

A Cleaner EMC

One of the first things you might notice on a visit to the EMC is how clean everything is. For the first time in many years all the shelves in the EMC were vacuumed. Tops of video cases were also vacuumed. Libraries tend to be dust magnets. Someone joked that one could determine the length of time a book or video has not circulated by measuring the dust that has collected on it.

Recently acquired K-12 textbooks


Over the past year the EMC has received over $25,000 worth of K-12 textbooks from various school districts. Most of the textbooks are coprighted 2005 or 2006. Some of the textbooks received include:
Scott Foresman Social Studies: K-6
Holt Biology: grades 6-12
Harcourt Science: grades 1, 2, 3 & 5
Prentice Hall Physical Science: high school
Prentice Hall Earth Science: high school
Prentice Hall Chemistry: high school
Pearson Biology: high school
Prentice Hall Mathematics: middle school
Macmillan McGraw-Hill Science: grades 3 & 4
HRW Algegra One: middle school & high school
Prentice Hall Foundations of Geography: middle school
Holt American Nations: high school
Prentice Hall American Nation: middle school
Globe Fearon American History: grades 6-12
Scott Foresman Science: grades K-6
The World and Its People: middle school