Feature Articles
School Library Media Activities Monthly/Volume XXII, Number 1/September 2005
A Focus on Strategies
by Susan Vanneman
"It's in the Bag"
Susan Vanneman is a National Board Certified Teacher in Library Media and is the library media specialist at Robin Mickle Middle School in Lincoln, NE.
Sixth grade voices:
"I learned about the more efficient way of taking notes by using bullets and caveman language."
"Although I learned interesting facts, probably the most important thing I learned was how to take notes. It is important not to copy directly from your source; also, you can't use just one source, you should use at least three."
"It was fun to use the process for our reports because it is easy to use."
"I learned that you have to look at a lot of different places to gather all the information for your report."
"I learned so many things about note taking, gathering information, and how to put things together to write a report."
"The note page really got me organized for the real report."
"Using her methods like [bullets], caveman language, and listing really were great ways to do everything we needed to do for this research project."
"I was excited to keep learning more and more about my topic."
"Mrs. Vanneman taught us a lot of great tips on how to write and take notes for a report."
"It was interesting finding funny or odd things about animals that I didn't even know they could do. For example, giant pandas love to do somersaults!"
"She taught us how to go on the Internet and use appropriate websites to visit."
"Mrs. Vanneman taught us that to do a great report we have to take lots of time and effort."
"The methods she used, like caveman language and bullets, really helped our class."
"I learned how to use proper Internet sites, that is, a website which is not Google."
"I learned a lot of things like how to start a project and find information."
"I also enjoyed learning information I had not even imagined!"
"I learned that there are other ways to find information on the Internet than just going to Google all the time."
"I liked how she even did a report to help us picture what our final project should look like."
"I really liked the way we took notes for our reports. This note taking strategy was the best I've ever used."
"Overall, this project was probably my favorite report I've ever done."
"I wish we could do another project like this one."
"…we had only two weeks to do it. I wish we had at least a month to do it."
These quotations come from student reflections written for portfolios in a sixth grade language arts class. The students had completed ten rigorous class periods in the library media center—reviewing the research path, writing guiding questions to define the task, perusing books and online resources, taking notes, writing reports, preparing bibliographies, and developing cover pages.
Students in the middle school age group have a real enthusiasm for research. Teachers and library media specialists know why information literacy skills are important and working with these students reinforced all the reasons. Students enjoy research projects because they have power over their own learning. They get to make many decisions and direct their course as their investigation unfolds and their product is developed. The learning experience, integrated with the application of reading and writing skills, is thus occurring in an authentic manner. Discovery is fun and exciting. Final completion of the task yields many proud researchers!
Students in this class learned that organization and process are central to the completion of a successful research project. Each student was given a brightly colored folder at the outset of the project. They used the outside of the folder for recording notes during instruction and used the folder to store notes, citation quick sheets, and rough drafts throughout the project.
These sixth graders learned that researchers use a whole "bag" of strategies to ensure a successful project. They learned from the beginning the value of a recursive process (Big6) to guide their efforts. As a class, they discussed the importance of defining the task through the use of guiding questions that would focus and expand their research. Thinking about what might be interesting and important to learn about their topic, they compared broad, open-ended questions with narrow, closed questions. Playing "red light, green light," they tested for appropriate guiding questions. (This game shows that one-answer questions "stop" the flow of information and is a fun way for students to test and select good guiding questions.)
The students were asked to search their memories for all the familiar strategies they could use to be "good readers of information." Through discussion, the class developed an extensive list that included skimming and scanning; looking for keywords; noticing bold, italic, and underlined words; being aware of headlines; using the table of contents, index, glossary, and title page; paying attention to picture captions; and knowing that, sometimes, reading every word is necessary. Students recorded these strategies in bulleted lists on their folder so they could use them for quick reference when researching.
Students especially enjoyed learning note-taking strategies. ABC LOU was introduced as a mnemonic device for effective note-taking tips: Abbreviations, Bullets, Caveman language, Lists, One word for several, and Use your own words (see "Information Skill of the Month," page 25). Students looked at examples of notes from previous student research projects and, as a class, read several paragraphs from which they constructed a set of notes about the information. Sixth graders are good at taking notes after they have been exposed to specific strategies, discussed model notes, and practiced note taking together as a class. They enjoy the humor of calling paraphrasing "caveman language" (Rankin 1999).
Learning how to record citations opens the door for a discussion of honest and ethical researching. Sixth graders easily understand that they will be honest users of information if they paraphrase and use their own words, use two or more sources, and credit their sources. Providing "reference quick sheets" for the collection of source information and developing bibliographies in a systematic way help students develop the organizational skills that make ethical use less problematic. Sixth graders enjoy using noodletools.com as an aid to bibliography development.
After much discussion, the students were more than eager to begin researching. During four one-hour class periods, they delved into exciting, colorful nonfiction books, reference books and online encyclopedias, e-books, and preselected websites. At the end of the period each day, students shared unique discoveries about their topics. These discussions provided motivation and momentum that helped sustain interest from day to day.
After the students completed their notes, the next step was to spend a class
period discussing how to write the reports. Characteristics of paragraphs and
reports were shared. The library media specialist shared examples of notes
and a final report as a model, generating even more discussion about paragraph
and report writing. The researchers went to work becoming writers. Students
wrote, edited, and then word processed their works into a final format. They
learned to insert a picture into a computer document and use text boxes to
create an attractive cover page. The bibliography was created on noodletools.com—and
they were done and proud!
Oh—the topic of the reports was endangered species, but no matter what the
topic, these students now own a process that puts them on the path to lifelong
learning! (See "Endangered or Threatened Animals Research—It's about Strategies," page
14.)
References
- Eisenberg, Michael, and Bob Berkowitz. The New Improved Big6 Workshop Handbook. Worthington, OH: Linworth, 1999.
- Lincoln Public Schools Library Media Services. Guide to Integrated Information Literacy Skills. Lincoln, NE: LPS, 2003.
- Noodletools.com. NoodleTools, 2005.
- Rankin, Virginia. The Thoughtful Researcher. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1999.