Shafer Library Research Group

This work on this website is ongoing (by their new librarian, who is the former Archivist at BMS)

Sample Wikispaces site to examine

Parkdale High School 's library is an integral component to student achievement. By providing literature and technology resources together, the library will continue to offer students and staff members the best opportunity to access information,construct knowledge and develop critical thinking skills. We encourage students to appreciate literature and to become responsible digital citizens.

Another way to go

100+ STEM websites ... livebinder

Sample research papers by grade (6-12) from San Diego

While this article focuses on citation analysis and its impact in higher education, it discusses specific databases and the problem of keeping up with the boom in online information sources. It also provides a glimpse of the cutting edge of research about research.

This helped me think a little more about the big picture and what could be beyond college for our students. Summary: Global connectivity, smart machines, and new media are just some of the drivers reshaping how we think about work, what constitutes work, and the skills we will need to be productive contributors in the future. This report analyzes key drivers that will reshape the landscape of work and identifies key work skills needed in the next 10 years.

Here's an article about Ohio's iMatrix from "Teacher Librarian"; I'll also post the link to iMatrix itself. It looks like a fancy version of what we are trying to do with our google site, and it's also searchable by skill or grade level. What keeps you up at night? Educating students to be college and career ready? Incorporating inquiry into your teaching for the very first time? Shifting your instruction to explore topics in greater depth and at more rigorous levels of learning? Or are you struggling to incorporate formative instructional assessment?

The six Dimensions of Inquiry are: Questioning, Locating Information, Evaluating Information, Applying Information, Sharing Knowledge and Reflecting. Together they represent the inquiry process. Standards now require that inquiry be taught across all content areas and all grade levels. The IMatrix System allows you to see the hierarchical scaffolding of skills in these dimensions from early grades through high school...

Rewordify.com is free, online reading comprehension software. It helps people understand difficult English faster, and helps them learn words in new ways. This might be a good tool for students who encounter roadblocks with difficult texts.

Article about the National Council of Social Studies themes and standards.

Maryland State Social studies standards. View by grade on the right of the screen.

Maryland Common Core Standards for Writing in History/Social Studies

eBook ... very short read. Chapters 2 (Finding) and 3 (Analyzing) may be useful for our work.