Romeo and Juliet

Romeo & Juliet: A Research Pathfinder   Pathfinders help students find selected resources in a variety of media on specific research topics. They are a great research starting point.   This is not a comprehensive list of all of the information available in the library. Use the pathfinder to find more books, articles, websites and other resources on your topic.   * Don’t forget to check your local public library for additional materials!          PRINT RESOURCES:   You can find books and other library materials by opening the Library Catalog in your Internet Explorer favorites. Search for theme, a specific title, etc. using keyword, title, or author.   Check the reserve shelf to browse books set aside for this project. You can look at reserved books in the library, just like reference books, but you can’t check them out.   Don’t forget to look in the reference section and the nonfiction in the 800s!   RESEARCH DATABASES:   Databases can be accessed from school or from home using the Library Home Page and the appropriate passwords. Passwords are available in the library and are posted on the research bulletin board.   Do an Easy Search for the topic, the person’s name, or broader topics such as Shakespeare in Keyword. Use an Advanced Search to pair a narrow topic with a broad topic, like "Romeo and Juliet" AND Shakespeare.   Literature Resource Center or Opposing Viewpoints from Gale will be most helpful. This is a trial. No password is required.   EBSCO – Literary Reference Center will also be helpful. User ID:portsmouth     Password: patriots   WorldBook Advanced – Contains full text (eBook) of Shakespeare’s play. Login ID: rilink     Password: stars   WEBSITES:   It is important to evaluate the websites you find on your own or through a search engine. The recommended sites below should offer a great start to your research! The information found here is reliable and valid.   Click on any of these sites, or search them all at once using this search engine: Select...Shakespeare ResourcesSearch The Web Criticism: Collections of Articles Offers interesting criticisms of Shakespeare's plays, a collection of journals and articles. Journals include the Renaissance Forum, English Literary History and more. Articles are from current and past dates including dates prior to 1935. http://ise.uvic.ca/Annex/links/Shakespeare_Sites/Criticism.html   Encyclopedia Brittanica's Guide to Shakespeare Terrific images and easy navigation, many articles and special features explore the life of Shakespeare, the theater in which he produced his plays, and, of course, the plays themselves. http://search.eb.com/shakespeare/index2.html   Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet is a complete annotated guide to the scholarly Shakespeare resources available on the Internet: a Shakespeare timeline, links to his works, life and times, theater, criticism, renaissance, sources educational best sites and other sites. http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/   Shakespeare Online Over 100 of Shakespeare’s sonnets and longer poems; explanations, synopses, and analysis of his major plays; several essays on Shakespeare’s plays, poems, and theatre. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/   Shakespeare Resource Center Provides bibliographical information, an overview of his works, links to online editions of his works with commentary, and summaries of his entire collection that are useful to struggling readers. You can also read Shakespeare’s will and about the ongoing debate over authorship. Check out information about the Globe Theatre and Elizabethan times.  http://www.bardweb.net/   Shakespeare, William Five plays (Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, and Richard III) and five sonnets by William Shakespeare are annotated. Each of the entries for these works includes a summary and commentary http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/People?action=view&id=2084   William Shakespeare Dr. Andreas Tuber, associate professor of philosophy at Brandeis University, maintains the course notes and background materials for his course "Coming into One's Own" online. These resources include an ample entry on English playwright, poet, and actor William Shakespeare. The material features an ample biographical and critical essay followed by commentary on each of Shakespeare's works http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/shakespearebio.html

Week 9: Thing 23!

Week 9 or Week 15 or however long it has taken me to complete these 23 things...I definitely took more time on certain things than I thought I would. I also found that I was easily sidetracked and delved much more deeply into some things than was necessary. I only say this because I became overwhelmed by the options.

The creative commons license is genious. Sadly, so much of what our teachers and students want to use is not licensed under creative commons...rather, it has a straight-up all rights reserved copyright. I have definite concerns about fair use, copyright, plagiarism and cheating in using using some of these technologies...but I also believe that Web 2.0 applications are worth these risks and provide many teachable opportunities as long as we stay on top of them!

Here are some final thoughts using the prompts from CSLA:

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? I loved playing with Shelfari (for my RI Teen Book Award reading), LibraryThing (for my children's book collection), and finally getting my NetVibes page together. Zoho also has unlimited potential...
   
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? This program has piqued my interest in many new web applications; but more importantly, because I have been able to play with them, I am comfortable enough to choose a few to focus on in my library for next year.
   
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I was surprised at how easy it was to create my own search engine with Rollyo and how timely that week's "thing" was...it coincided perfectly with a literary analysis that all juniors were doing. And I've been able to add a Shakespeare criticism search as well. It's such an issue when students search "Fate in Romeo and Juliet" and the first page of results in Google are all from paper mills.
   
4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I think the format and concept of the program were great. Nine weeks seemed like more than enough time at first, but as I became engrossed in the discovery exercises, I found that the whole thing took more time than I intended. I also explored quite a bit and digested it for a week before posting...perhaps that was just procrastinating. I'm glad the time frame was extended and I obviously took all the time allotted to finish (less one day).
5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate? Absolutely.
6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote CSLA learning activities? Radical.
   

Week 9: Thing 22

I love audio books - especially on our 11 hour drive to the cottage in Canada. Or when I'm on the treadmill - I just can't exercise inside to mindless things like TV or music. And I also find audio books useful for dry nonfiction that I want to read but just can't bring myself to pick up on a regular basis. I often download them from the public library and I've been known to purchase them occasionally, too. I really want to purchase more of them (either through audible.com or maybe playaways) for school because we have so many books on tape that the teachers don't want to use...nobody has tape decks anymore. There seem to be more options for mp3s.

eBooks are a bit of a sticky wicket for me. We have a few reference books available through Gale Virtual Reference Library. The ability to search them like databases is definitely a bonus, but I think they are underutilized. I can see electronic textbooks and I love LibriVox for the classics, but I just don't see sitting down with a computer or a reader for long periods of time. I have concerns that our youth are going to be blind by the time they're 30 because of the amount of time they spend looking at and reading from tiny screens. Enough editorializing (although isn't that what blogging is all about?).

The audio and eBook resources listed on the SLL 2.0 site are fabulous and I added the one (Best Places to Get Free Books) that I didn't already know about to my del.icio.us page. I can't wait for the World eBook Fair this year for free access!

Week 9: Thing 21

As with all of these "things," I find that I spend the most time searching for something great. I get sidetracked and discover new things or get frustrated and just have to step away from the computer. I was all over these different podcast sites but I think I have to stick with my favorite - NPR. I love The Writer's Almanac and I could listen to Garrison Keillor's voice for hours...but alas, I am in school at 9am when it's on WGBH, so the podcast will keep me up to date. My only concern is that it will become yet another thing to do each day...Hopefully adding it to Bloglines will help me keep on top of it!

Week 9: Thing 20

The joys of YouTube! I've seen the video someone posted about Stacy Westfall freestyle horseback riding. It's inspirational, to say the least. There's also Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, which brought me to tears. Or, if you're looking for something just plain entertaining, how about The Evolution of Dance, featuring Judson Laipply. One of my former students performed this little ditty at a talent competition. I was suitably impressed. Anyway, these things generally make the rounds via email...but I'm more interested in TeacherTube for this class because YouTube is blocked at school (of course).

The thing about using technology to teach is that there is still a technology gap and technology still has many bugs and challenges that make teachers shy away from it. Do I whole-heartedly agree with everything in this video? No. But it does make me think about the options we have, how we can better utilize technology in our classrooms, and how we need to explore all of this to reach our students. Today's students, my own generation, my parents' generation...we are all different types of learners with different attention spans. It isn't just our teaching that needs to grow and evolve, but also our standards, our school environment, school hours, school year. Where do we start?

Week 8: Thing 19

Library Thing. The thing that I most looked forward to and also the most daunting of projects for me. I actually want to use it personally to catalog my children's book collection. I'm having a baby in a month and it would be clever if folks knew what books I already own so that I don't end up with 47 copies of Good Night Moon (though it is my favorite, I don't need 47 copies and neither does Baby H). I also want to get my family on board so that I know what books to buy my nephews and nieces. Alas, it has taken me this long to even start my own collection. I can't expect too much from other parents...

As for uses at school...I'm not sure. I need to explore Library Thing for Libraries a little more in depth.

Week 8: Thing 18

Zoho is pretty neat. I've played with it before...but not since all the new applications. I used it to create a pathfinder for a low level Freshman English class. Now I don't have to worry about remembering my flash drive! I think there are great opportunities here for students because of the ability to save as a word doc. They can easily export to Word on their network space or their own computers at home. It would eliminate so many problems!

If I had a dollar for every time a student "saved wrong," or didn't have the document on their flash drive, or had a broken floppy disk, or didn't attach the document correctly to their email...well, my library budget wouldn't be an issue, that's for sure!