Personal Inquiry

Ending Thoughts

2009-09-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

As I make my last post I wanted to reflect back on the project with a few things I have learned along the way.

1) It is better to be a lifelong learner, then to have a lifelong checkoff list. The AASL Standards 4.4.1 "Identify own areas of interest", 4.4.3 "Recognize how to focus efforts in personal learning", and 4.4.5 "Develop personal criteria for gauging how effectively own ideas are expressed" help to express what you can do to be a lifelong learner.

2) Make sure that you have narrowed your topic so you can focus all of your attention in one area.

3) Use as many different resources as possible so you can make sure that you are receiving the best information. AASL Standard 2.1.4, "Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information."

May you all be lifelong learners!!

Curriculum and Personal Connections

2009-09-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

As a teacher I know that there are many different lessons that could be planned on the Holocaust. Due to the nature of the topic I feel that it is more appropriate for the older kids, however there are many aspects from the Holocaust that can be taught to all children.

For younger children (grade 4) I would have the children read exerpts from The Diary of Anne Frank. We would have an open class discusion on the story and then I would ask the students to do their own diary entries. Indiana's Academic Reading Standards 4.3.3, 4.3.9, 4.4.2, 4.5.6, 4.5.7, 4.6.4, 4.6.5 are accomplished through this activity.

For the older children (grade 8) I would do more of a project. I would have the children research a specific part of the Holocaust using different types of sources and have them present their findings to the class. Indiana's Academic Social Studies Standards 8.1.27, 8.1.28, 8.1.29, 8.1.30, 8.1.31 are accomplished through this activity.

Before starting this project I thought I am going to find the information I need, put together what needs to be done, and finish the project. I looked more at this project as one more thing to do on my checklist instead of looking at it as a learning experience. I am happy to say that throughout the process of this project I feel that I have grown as a learner. I enjoyed looking for information on this topic and kept thinking of more things that I could be looking for or what else could I do with the information I had found. I hope to share all of my findings with my sister, as she teaches high school history and any other people who are interested in this topic. Thank you for assigning this project Dr. Lamb! It really helped me grow as a student and learner!

Wishing

2009-09-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

I feel that my time with this project has been very fulfilling! I was able to find many different types of resources with excellent information. I used the internet, the library, ask-an-expert, and documentaries. The AASL Standards For the 21st-Century Learner states under 2.1.4 skills, "Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information". I feel that I applied this standard throughout the entirety of my project as well as in my final presentation of my topic. I used four different types of technology throughout this project: a concept map, a web-based tool such as ask-an-expert, a pathfinder, and my final product was a power point presentation. Using different types of technology really enhanced what I was able to do with this project.

Throughout this process I did struggle with what I should do with all of the information I had found. I felt overwhelmed at times and had to change the questions I posed due to the amount of information I found. If I were to do this project again I would make my questions more specific and focus on just one part of the Holocaust. For instance the concentration and death camps. There is more then enough information out there that I could have done my project on that alone!

Thinking back on this project I feel that I will be able to be more open when students come into my media center with a topic they would like information on. They are eager to learn information just like I was. I hope that I will be able to help them narrow their focus down to something managable.

At times students may come in and want to find just enough information to get their project finished. Hopefully, I can help them look at the whole picture and become a little more excited about finding information on their topic. By using different types of resources, including technology, maybe I can show them how interesting learning can be!

new power point URL

2009-09-17T21:15:00.000-07:00

OOPS!!! My power point notes would not show up in the pdf form. I have posted the original power point presentation at this URL:

https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/mscline/The%20Holocaust%20powerpoint.ppt

I hope this one will work for you!!

thanks, Megan

Wrapping and Waving

2009-09-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

With all of the information I have compiled over the last few weeks there are numerous ways I could use it. I could post it as I have and give the blog address to people who are interested in learning more about this topic or I could give the information as well as the resources to my sister who is a world history high school teacher. I know that she teaches about the Holocaust and the information I could provide for her as well as the pictures may really make a difference for her students.

I hope to find something useful to do with this information. I feel that this period in time is a very important piece of our history. As a society we learn from our past. The more that we know and can teach our future generations about our past may keep these events from reoccuring.

I have decided to put together a power point presentation. It is more of a picture slide show with notes attached to tell about each picture. I feel that I can best communicate all of the things that I have learned using pictures. Pictures speak louder then words at times, and I believe that all of the pictures I have used tell the story of the Holocaust. The notes I have provided give specific information about each picture. All of the information used to compile this power point came from the resources listed on my pathfinder.

I hope you enjoy looking through the power point and gain some insight about the Holocaust.

You can find my final project as a power point saved and posted in pdf form at:
https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/mscline/The%20Holocaust%20powerpoint%20_Compatibility%20Mode_.pdf

Still Weaving...

2009-09-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Throughout this process I have found a number of resources on this topic. Most of them have been very reliable and thought the best way to organize the materials I have used was to put them into a pathfinder. I have found websites, books, and documentaries that capture this historic period. You can view my pathfinder at: https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/mscline/The%20Holocaust%20Pathfinder.pdf

While reading through all of the resources I came up with a few more questions that I wanted information on:
*What are Ghettos?
*How did the deportation of the Jews to concentration camps happen?
*What are the statistics of the atrocities during this period of time?

I have also decided that with the information I have learned from these resources I am going to put together a power point describing this period in time with pictures and notes. Sometimes pictures can speak louder then words. Authors Callison and Preddy define visual literacy as, "the ability to understand and use images, including the ability to think, learn, and express oneself in terms of images [...]" (423) I plan to apply all of the information I have learned by organizing my power point by topic.

Enjoy the pathfinder, I hope you will find the resources helpful!

Works Cited:

Callison, Daniel, and Preddy, Leslie. The Blue Book on Information Age Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited, 2006.

Wiggle and Weave

2009-09-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been very busy with weeding through information and trying to organize it all. I have found answers to all of the questions that I wondered about during my webbing posting. I judged each site that I gathered information from, from the skills I learned in S401. I looked at the end of each URL to make sure that it was a reliable source. I knew that if the URL ended with org., html., or edu that it was a pretty reliable source. I judged the books that I read by looking at the date they were last copyrighted. I wanted to make sure that I used the books that were most up to date.

I first went to the website http://www.ushmm.org to look for information. This site led me to http://isurvived.org/cronolgy.html to find the information I needed about when the Holocaust started. This site gave me information in a timeline manner that started in January of 1933 all the way through the end of May 1945. I found out that in January of 1933 the Nazi party took power in Germany and Hitler became the Chancellor. By March the Concentration Camp at Dachau was established and in May books declared contrary to Nazi beliefs were publicly burned. This was just the start of a 12 year tragedy.

I also learned from this site that in May of 1945 U.S. and Allied forces defeated the Nazis and liberated the remaining concentration camp survivors.

I moved to the site http://frank.mtsu.edu/~baustin/holocamp.html for information on the death and concentration camps. This site is specifically set up for information on death and concentration camps. I learned the answer to my question, What were the main concentration camps? Almost immediately following his rise to power, Hitler began the creation of death camps. Of the approximately 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, more then half were systematically exterminated in the highly rationalized gas chamber/crematorium system of the Nazi Death Camps between 1942 and 1945. 7 of the death camps that are best known are Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dachau, Chelmno, Sobibor, Belzek, and Majdanek. Another site that you can go to for information regarding concentration camps is www.auschwitz.dk .

The last thing that I questioned were what are some documentaries and books that may give personal experiences. I found quite a few books from my public library, Bartholomew County Public Library. Night by Elie Wiesel, Dawn by Elie Wiesel, and Diary of Anny Frank by Anne Frank. These books are all told by first person experiences and offer a real glimpse into the Holocaust period. Many other informational books can be found under a 940 call number. I found documentaries on the www.ushmm.org site. The most known documentary about this time in history is Schindler's List directed by Steven Spielberg.

As it says in the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner "Organize knowledge so that it is useful." (2.1.2) With all of the resources that I have been able to find for this topic I have decided to put together a pathfinder. This follows 2.1.4 from AASL, "Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information." I have listed all of the sources that I have found in order of informational books, fiction books, non-fiction books, websites and documentaries. I hope to finish the pathfinder by tomorrow and will post a blog about where you can find it.

I am feeling a little overwhelmed with all of the resources I have found and trying to gather the information needed. Also putting together the pathfinder and trying to think of a final product all within the next week....wow maybe I should have done a little more last week! Though this process is a little overwhelming I am enjoying finding the information and learning about this very interesting piece of time.

Webbing

2009-09-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

I have chosen to do a general overview of the Holocaust.

Since I am a teacher and use the Indiana Department of Education Standards daily I will be using them for this project. I will also try to apply the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner.

The AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner states that you should, "Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts." It goes on to state, "Demonstrate creativity by using multiple resources and formats." With this in mind I have used many different ways of locating information for this subject. I first made a list of questions I wanted more information on:

*When did the Holocaust start and what events led to this?
*What were the main concentration/death camps? What happened to the Jews at their arrival and during their stay?
*Where can I find novels or documentaries recording personal experiences?
*When was liberation day? What was it like?

Following the Five Elements of Information Inquiry, the second element is exploration. "Closely tied to questioning, exploration is the initial action taken to seek answers to a question." (Callison 7) In this exploration step, I first went to the web and went to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum site. http://www.ushmm.org This site is amazing! It is full of information. It has tabs for Holocaust History, The Museum, Education, Research, and Remembrance. I pulled a lot of information from this site. Next I went to my public library's online catalog. www.barth.lib.in.us I looked for fiction and non-fiction books as well as documentaries on the subject. My last source was Ask-an-Expert. I went to www.studentoffortune.com (the link from our class syllabus). I posted a question when did the Holocaust begin?

I believe that I have received quality information from all of these sources, however I consider the USHMM site as my primary source. The information is accurate and up to date and comes from reliable experts, even survivors of the Holocaust. The books from the Library are secondary sources, as some are not up to date. I will use my answer from Ask-An-Expert last. I am not sure who answered the question and if it is a reliable source.

I feel pretty confident at this point in time. I believe I have found some great resources. I am a little apprehensive about how I will fit all of the information in. I hope to have it figured out by my next post, the step of "Wiggling".

Works Cited:
Callison, Daniel and Preddy, Leslie. The Blue Book On Information Age Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited, 2006.

AASL. Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. Chicago: American Association of School Libraries, 2009.

Wondering

2009-09-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

As I have thought more about my topic, The Holocaust, I am trying to narrow down a few questions I would like to find answers to.

How the Holocaust began? As I know the time period ranges from around 1938-1942 and "kristalnact" was one of the first major events, I would like to know more about what led up to this time period.

Ghettos- What were they? How were they used? Who lived there? Did any historically recorded events happen in a ghetto?

Concentration/ Death Camps- Besides Auschwitz and Dachau what other camps were there? My sister visited Auschwitz, maybe I can get her handouts and pictures for information. I think there is probably enough information out there just in this area for me to learn about.

General Overview- I would like to know more information on all of these areas. Maybe I can do a general overview on each area? However my concern is there may be too much information... How will I narrow it all down?

There are still personal experiences that I would like to read about as well as liberation day, when all of the Jews were released. Hopefully I will be able to pick a specific area soon!

I think that I would be most interested in doing a general overview, I just need to figure out how to get it all layed out!

Check the next post on Webbing for my decision!

Topic Exploration

2009-09-07T14:41:00.001-07:00

When I began thinking about what topic I would like to do for my inquiry project I started with literature based learning. I have always been a believer that you can connect any type of learning with a book. After reading a story you can do math problems, science activities, language arts lessons, and social studies activities that go along with the story that you have read. Though I am very interested in this I wondered how much information I would be able to find related to this topic. I searched the web for information related to this topic and found a few good websites and articles that had great information, but felt that I would become frustrated and discouraged as I got further into the project and could not find quality information.

I decided to go with my second interest, the Holocaust. This topic too has always been fascinating to me and I feel that I will be able to find more quality information on this topic then I could on literature based learning. I am excited to learn more about the Holocaust and share it with all of you.

Personal Inquiry Topic

2009-08-29T18:59:00.001-07:00

I would like to do my inquiry on the Holocaust. My sister visitied Auschwitz while she was in college. She came home with pictures and statistics about the camp. I have been fascinated by this subject since her return and would like to learn more about this historic period in time. I hope to find information on important events during the Holocaust including, "kristallnact", ghettos, concentration and death camps, personal experiences, and finally liberation day.

I hope throughout the course of this blog to share the information I find.