Teresa Wells

I had already used my novel writing and researching as a good example of how Google is not always the best gathering tool in their bucket of available resources.  I told them that I was researching a time period I knew nothing about (1838), a place I'd never lived (North Carolina), and a culture I knew very little about (the Cherokees).  Through my research I was able to get to know more about all three, and Google had been a great asset -- until I came across what I called a "wacky website" -- where I read information contrary to everything else I'd learned.  In fact, this stuff was way out there, even though the sponsoring organization had a trustworthy kind of name. I had them guess whether or not I actually used this information.  And of course they had to back up their answers!

We went on to discuss how Google is great for some things, but not when you're researching the Civil War in a week, especially when your grade depends on how your note taking skills are!  Instead,  NetTrekker (offered through our district) can narrow down that huge topic into several great websites, making their hunt lots faster and more satisfying.

When we looked at my blog, they already knew my topic from the Google discussion.  But it was very cool to share with them what I work on in my "spare" time, outside of school.  We were able to talk about things like blog titles,  posts, how to upload pictures and post links.  We discussed what makes a quality blog -- then we actually wrote one together on a topic they'd just learned about: the Underground Railroad.  We collaborated on what made a good sentence, what should be capitalized, what was important information to include or leave out, what should be defined . . .  It was every teacher/librarian's dream.  Integration of several subjects in one high interest lesson.  Bliss.

Now if we can just get our server to keep from throwing us off every five minutes . . .