8th Grade Intro To Research Using Chromebooks

For many years, I have taught research skills to high school students. I have always wanted to make it a more interactive experience for learners when teachers bring classes to the library. This year, Mrs. Mari Simmons requested to bring her 8th grade ELA class to the library to begin their World War II research project. She asked if we could teach them about some of our many resources in the library. Mrs. Simmons had recently received a Chromebook cart for her class to use. This was an added bonus since I had been anxious to incorporate devices into such a lesson. In this article, I want to share how we designed a research lesson around the Chromebooks and Google Classroom.


HyperDoc in Google Classroom

I brainstormed during the weekend prior to the lesson. I kept thinking back to the HyperDoc session I attended at the Google Summit during summer 2016. It seemed an interactive document like this might be a nice way to keep Mrs. Simmons' learners engaged all through our research project lessons. I decided to use a HyperDoc that contained links and brief information to the resources the students would be using. Mrs. Simmons also allowed Kaitlyn Price (partner teacher librarian) and myself to join her Google Classroom. I thought this was a great opportunity to become "embedded librarians" so students could message us at any time if they had questions. This is a link to the HyperDoc we used. It seemed very helpful for the learners to see an outline of what we covered in their classes on this document. In addition, if they required explanations, we could insert brief definitions. The document was posted in Google Classroom, so at any point during the project the document was accessible. We also used Padlet.com as an added method for students to ask questions.

These students found the books they needed!

OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog)

I shared the basics of searching in our OPAC. I showed students how to find the call number and also how to tell the difference between fiction/ non-fiction materials. We looked at a few examples of the contents of books while using the OPAC. By having the link to the catalog on the HyperDoc, students were much more engaged than in years past!

Britannica School

I showed them how to login to Britannica School and how to search by using different keywords for their topics. Students seemed to like that Britannica School's cite tool creates a nice MLA citation automatically for them. We also looked at the "Web's Best Sites" tool for websites that have been approved by Britannica editors.

Mrs. Price and Mrs. Simmons introduce citations

EasyBib

On the fourth day of research, Mrs. Price showed students how to access EasyBib. She also showed them how to create their works cited page using the tool. They were highly engaged for this activity since they had already found several sources by this point in the week.

Google Advanced Search

Many students did not know how to utilize Google Advanced Search. I showed them how to access it and also how to specify .edu or .gov domains for more credible sources. One of the things I always like to do is compare the number of sites found between a normal Google search and a Google Advanced search by filtering out the .com and .org. This presents results that showing only the .edu (or .gov) domain links. This always turns up significantly fewer results for students to choose from.

This class took advantage of Padlet for asking questions!

Padlet

Since the students had Chromebooks, we decided to create a Padlet (padlet.com) for each class period. We encouraged students to ask questions on the Padlet. We found that this empowered many students since some may not want to ask a question in front of the entire class. One period filled up the screen with relevant questions. It was a wonderful addition to the lesson!

Student Feedback

We created a short survey using Google Forms to get feedback on the research lessons and tools that were presented all week. Below are some of the student responses:

"Really enjoyed EasyBib, makes citing a whole lot easier."

"It was great! I liked the new question website (Padlet) so you don't have to wait on a teacher."

"This really helped me and made it a lot easier to do my project."

"One of my favorite websites for research is the Britannica School website. BY FAR!!"

"Everything was really good but next time maybe you could do an example of taking notes on a notecard."

"I thought that it helped us find trusted sites to use."

Click on the video above to hear our reflections after the first lessons.

Teacher Reflection (Mrs. Mari Simmons)

This week in the Lakeside High School Media Center, my six 8th English classes have been learning the process of writing a research paper.  The topics are based on people and events during World War II.  Students chose topics in class before meeting in the library.  Mr. Evans snd Mrs. Price introduced the lesson by joining Google Classrooms and posting links to OPAC and Encyclopedia Britannica for finding sources. Mr. Evans and Mrs. Price modeled the information on the big screen for students.  There was also a Padlet posted on Google Classroom which allowed students to ask questions about the lesson or sources.  The questions were answered in a timely fashion, and sometimes addressed to the whole group.  Mrs. Price explained Easybib.com for students to create the Works Cited page.  Once students found sources, she demonstrated how to create citations for books, encyclopedia articles, and websites.  Students then submitted the Google Document to their individual Google Classrooms for me to grade online.  One of the improvements this year was students followed instruction by using an individual Chromebook, which I brought from my room.  Students learned quickly, as it was a hands-on experience instead of a listen and learn lecture.  The expertise of Mr. Evans and Mrs. Price with research greatly added to the student learning experience.  It was an extremely successful week, and a great introduction for writing a research paper!

Next Steps

Now that we have had a successful integration of these interactive tools in the research lessons, we want to do more. We are already brainstorming what this might look like in upper grades and also other subjects. We hope that students will take advantage of our "embedded librarian" status in their Google Classroom by messaging us if they have research questions. Perhaps we can try embedding ourselves in other teacher's Google Classrooms in a similar way during research projects. This provides excellent evidence to our stakeholders of the value of the library program. We cannot simply wait for students (and teachers) to come to us, we must find them and serve them where they are (even if that means asking to join Google Classrooms)! I can't wait to see Mrs. Simmons' finished student research products!

Other Posts That Might Interest You: 

Connect your library with Skype!

Collaboration sharing research tools with 8th grade English classes in 2015.

My table of contents for the blog is here!

I have a monthly email newsletter for the subscribers of the Library Media Tech Talk blog. If you are interested in exclusive content not appearing on the blog, be sure to subscribe by submitting your email address! Subscribe here!

Contact Me/ Follow Me

Email: stony_evans@lakesidesd.org

Are you on Twitter?

Follow me : @stony12270

Library Orientation Breakout EDU

I was first introduced to Breakout EDU while attending the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Forum in Denver, Colorado this summer. After experiencing a session at the conference, I knew it had lots of potential for library programming. I shared it with Kaitlyn Price, my new partner teacher librarian at Lakeside High School. We couldn’t wait to try it out for 8th grade library orientation! I am grateful she is joining me for this blog post.

Planning (Kaitlyn & Stony)

We actually started talking about this potential early in August. Tiffany Whitehead even brainstormed with us in a webcam session prior to school starting. She gave us many good pointers (she had done several last year with her students). Then school started, and things got very busy.

Brainstorming session with Tiffany Whitehead!

Fast forward to the end of August. Orientation meetings were upon us! We didn’t find any library orientation breakouts that we could easily use in the short time period available to us. Kaitlyn and I both knew we had two days to present library orientation to approximately 300 8th grade learners. We decided to create two separate breakout sessions; one for the fiction side of the library and the other for non-fiction. We brainstormed skills that we wanted the learners to experience. It was decided that we would cover library hours, sign-in/ sign-out procedures, circulation information, makerspace services, LHS library web page, game room guidelines, and our OPAC (online public access catalog). The next step was to decide which locks we would use and build our puzzles around them. I took non-fiction, and Kaitlyn decided to create the fiction breakout. It took us a full day of working to complete our puzzles and set up the event.

The Event (Kaitlyn & Stony)

We brainstormed what the event would look like with classes of up to 28 students in each of our sessions. We decided to have two large and two small breakout boxes in each room. This would make it easier since we could split the class in half to have two teams of 10-14 students. We decided to give a very brief introduction and only give students a hint as to which box to unlock first. It was estimated that the session should take about 30-35 minutes to complete. After that, we would come back together to allow students to share what they had learned. The goal was for them to discover the library orientation content through the puzzles without us having to “stand and deliver” the material.

The Fiction Breakout Design (Kaitlyn)

For the fiction side, I chose locks that made sense with what I wanted our students to learn about the library. In all, I chose the small 3 digit lock box, the 4 digit number lock, the 5 letter word lock, and the 4 direction directional lock, and of course the large Breakout EDU box with the hasp attached to hold the locks.

Items used for the fiction breakout

The fun part of creating your own puzzle is that you can play to your strengths to make this a better experience for the students. Before being a library media specialist, I was a 9th grade ELA teacher. Because of this, I chose to create rhyming riddles/cryptic messages for most of the clues.  Each room was split into 2 groups, so I created some differences in the two boxes. Although I did keep the clues the same if the clue gave vital information that I needed the students to know.

I began the breakout with the small 3 digit lock box. For this box, the students had a rhyming riddle in which the answer was the media center’s opening time. After the students opened this box, they found a UV flashlight and a flash drive. The students then oftentimes split their groups in half with one half walking around the media center shining the flashlight on everything they could find and the other half finding a computer to insert the flash drive into. The group with the flash drive would then find a document that contained our game room guidelines, and the rest of their group would join. As the students read they would begin to notice that there were many numbers in the game room information (how many students at once, how long they can play, etc). All of these numbers were either blue (3 numbers) or red (4 numbers). Once they realized the number lock had 4 numbers they would use the red numbers.

After the students removed a lock, they were to send 1 team member to me to get the next clue. Once the number lock was off, the students got a clue with a call number on it. After locating the book, the students would find a slip of paper with a riddle that would lead them to use the UV flashlight. On this paper in invisible ink, I wrote “Go ask Mrs. Price for your decoder”. I would give the students the decoder and a code. Once they cracked the code the word they should get was LEARN. This word would unlock the word lock. Some groups really had to work together to figure out how to use the decoder in the first place. Some groups even looked up directions on the internet. I encouraged them to use any resources around them to solve each clue.

With the word lock off, I would give the students a note that sends them to find one of our library assistants. She would be waiting for the students at the circulation desk where she would show them the sign-in/ sign-out process using our iPads. We had previously recorded a quick video of students explaining how to sign-in and sign-out using Aurasma. Then the students would be given their final clue which included the directional lock code in riddle form. The directional lock was the final lock. Once a group broke out, they held up their breakout sign with pride!

The Non-Fiction Breakout Design (Stony)

I decided to use the small 3 digit lock box and the large Breakout EDU box for the non-fiction puzzles. In addition to the 3 digit lock box, I also selected the directional lock and a 4 digit lock (both placed on a hasp locking the large Breakout EDU box).

Items used in the non-fiction breakout

I created minor differences in the two puzzles so both teams wouldn’t be going to the same places solving the same things. I designed it so students first had to solve a word problem that presented our library extended hours closing time on Tuesdays-Thursdays (our library assistant, Peggy Schaeffer, created this for us). When they figured this out, they were able to open the small lock box which provided them with a UV flashlight, a paper revealing our library circulation information, and a flash drive which led them to an online HyperDoc with clues. The circulation information contained numbers that allowed them to open the 4 digit number lock on the large Breakout EDU box.

The flash drive and HyperDoc gave them books to look up in the OPAC. When they went to the shelves and retrieved the books, they found blank sheets with invisible ink (the UV flashlight was used to view the secret messages). These sheets led them to an article in our encyclopedia sets. After they progressed this far, the teams had to come report what they had learned to me. I asked the teams about our hours, the OPAC, and our circulation information (how many materials can be checked out, length of time items are loaned, etc).

After they reported to me, I gave them one last puzzle that would reveal the final lock solution. When students opened the box, there was a celebration breakout sign. We took photos of student groups when they completed all puzzles.

Check out this video to get a snapshot of our Breakouts

Improvements for Next Time

Students suggested that we have more breakout boxes in each room so the participating teams can be smaller. This will allow more students to be engaged instead of 2 boxes in each room. Next time, we want to try 3 or 4 in each. In addition, we had some students experiment with the four digit number locks after they were unlocked. One class actually changed the lock combination after they had unlocked it. The solution to this problem will be for them to give us the locks after they are opened.

Future Possibilities

I hope we can have 8th grade students help us design the orientation Breakout EDU sessions for next year. Perhaps we can have them work on this in April or May after they have used the library for various research projects and have built on their experiences. This could be a wonderful tradition to begin.

It would also be interesting to have small sessions during lunch in the library to introduce breakouts to older students. This might get them asking teachers to incorporate the activity into the classroom. I’m also interested in trying the new digital breakouts that are online. There are many possibilities to explore this year!

Student Survey Highlights

We created a short survey for students to complete the day after our sessions. Here are some of the comments they shared:

“I liked (this) instead of just listening to you talk, you could actually do something fun and learn the rules of the library.”

“It was kind of like solving a crime or a mystery. It was very interesting.”

“I liked that we didn't have to sit for an hour and watch someone talk. I liked that the different teams had different puzzles, so we couldn't cheat off of each other.”

“I loved that this was a hands-on learning experience. There were clues we had to figure out, and they all had to do with the library. If I am involved, then I retain information easier and faster. I also liked how the answer wasn't laid out for you. My team had to explore the library and really think about it to find out what the answer was.”

“Having smaller teams and more boxes would make the Breakout program more efficient and interesting.”

“Let us students be able to use more devices to discover clues/hints and learn more about the devices that can be used in the library.”

Conclusion

It was a lot of work to prepare for these breakout sessions, but it was totally worth it after seeing how engaged our learners were in the library. Breakout EDU was a priceless first impression of the library for our 8th grade students. We encourage you to investigate the resources available on the Breakout EDU website. We believe we have only just scratched the surface on the future potential for content delivery with the escape room theme.

This is a link to the September 2016 newsletter I created that contains all our Breakout EDU puzzle materials mentioned above.

I have started a monthly email newsletter for the subscribers of the Library Media Tech Talk blog. If you are interested in exclusive content not appearing on the blog, be sure to subscribe by submitting your email address! Subscribe here!

How we "Brokeout" from normal professional development!

How I connected to an educator in Spain with Skype Translator.

Contact Us/ Follow Us

Email: stony_evans@lakesidesd.org

Are you on Twitter?

Follow me : @stony12270

Email: kaitlyn_price@lakesidesd.org

Follow Kaitlyn: @Kait_Price11

Collaboration Sharing Research Tools With 8th Grade English

I'm in my 5th year as a library media specialist (LMS) at Lakeside High School. I am so fortunate to have great working relationships with our faculty. Both Misti Bell (also a LMS at Lakeside High) and I are frequently asked to present sessions on research tools and technology. It is exactly what I envisioned when I entered this career field! I hope the school library will always be a place teachers and students come to seek assistance with research and tech tools!

Recently, I had the opportunity to do a full day of sessions to one section of our 8th grade English classes. Mrs. Mari Simmons requested that I share Britannica School and EasyBib as preparation for a small research project on poets that her students will complete using Prezi. I enjoy sharing these tools with all ages, but especially 8th graders because it is their first taste of the research process at the high school level. If we can get them comfortable with this process at the beginning, it will make a huge difference in their journey as life long learners.

I used this opportunity to remind them how to access our library website (Mrs. Misti Bell did a wonderful job building this website using Google tools). I then showed them how to access Britannica School and how to access the articles they need. I demonstrated how they can email documents to themselves and how to create an MLA citation. Most online encyclopedias and databases now have this wonderful feature! It is a much better experience than when I was in high school!

I also shared some tactics for finding credible websites. Britannica School has a feature called "The Web's Best Sites". Their staff have reviewed the websites listed in this area, so it saves students time since the site evaluation has been done! I also encourage them to start with .edu and .gov sites. If they find sites within the .com or .org domains, I remind them to investigate who the author(s) might be and what credentials they hold.

Mrs. Simmons and I then showed them how to use EasyBib to create an MLA citation for a website (outside of Britannica School). After this instruction, they are ready to begin researching their poets. When they are finished finding facts, they will jump into Prezi to begin their presentation.

These students will return in preparation for their major research paper in a few weeks. At that time, I will share databases like EBSCO's Student Research Center. This is also a great time to remind them about the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) to help them find relevant print materials. Even though I have presented this material many times to almost every grade in the building, it is still one of my favorite things to do.

In the next entry, I'll share how I used Twitter in this particular session to show students how to reach out to organizations like Britannica School. It was the first time I had tried using Twitter in this way, and it worked great! Go here for the story!

Are you new to Twitter? Me too! Check out my intro to Twitter article here.

Interested in Common Core collaboration in the school library? Here is one of our first programs with 8th grade back in 2012 that led to many, many more!

Please Subscribe if you are enjoying this blog. Please, put your email address in the box on the right side of the page. You will receive notifications when I post new blog entries!

Contact Me/ Follow Me

Email: stony_evans@lakesidesd.org

Are you on Twitter?

Follow me : @stony12270

Follow our library (LHS_Library): @LHS_Library1