Sunday, November 9, 2008

Competency #8: Internet

http://www.rif.org

I chose the site for Reading is Fundamental because it is dedicated to helping adults help kids enjoy reading. The website is broken down to interest areas based on whether you are a parent or teacher. Within each page are areas of information to guide the searcher to pertinent articles, ideas, and activities. RIF also has interactive pages for beginning readers.

This page was found using Google.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Competency 6: Image


This blog is about keeping kids interested in reading and how the adults in their lives can be motivating forces for this. The book they are reading is titled "100 Ways to Keep Us Reading." I did choose a cartoon because I am uncomfortable using pictures of minors, even if they have already been posted to the web.


The picture was found using Google Images and the search terms "kids reading." One of the sites that used it was www.marlborough.k12.ma.us/schools/kane/home.html

Competency 5d: Citation Pearl

Citation Pearl

Search Query: Promoting an interest in reading among elementary students
Database: ASC

Pearl article used: Reading Motivation and Reading Comprehension Growth in the Later Elementary Years By: Guthrie, John T.; Hoa, A. Laurel W.; Wigfield, Allan. Contemporary Educational Psychology, v32 n3 p282-313 Jul 2007. (EJ768355)

Evaluation - The article above uses the term “reading motivation.” I entered this into ASC and 91 results were returned. The Guthrie article was hit #9. This was a useful search. The number of results was not too high to sift through, and many of the results were relevant to the topic.

Other hits included:
Intrinsic reading motivation of Chinese preschoolers and its relationships with home literacy. Preview By: Hui Zhou; Salili, Farideh. International Journal of Psychology, Oct2008, Vol. 43 Issue 5, p912-916, 5p; DOI: 10.1080/00207590701838147; (AN 34115690)

Does Early Reading Failure Decrease Children's Reading Motivation? Preview By: Morgan, Paul L.; Fuchs, Douglas; Compton, Donald L.; Cordray, David S.; Fuchs, Lynn S.. Journal of Learning Disabilities, Sep/Oct2008, Vol. 41 Issue 5, p387-404, 18p, 5 charts, 2 graphs; (AN 33994050)

Booked Conversation: An Eighth Grade Reading Motivation Program. Preview By: Collins, Joan. Library Media Connection, Apr/May2008, Vol. 26 Issue 7, p44-45, 2p; (AN 31853636)

Motivation and comprehension. Preview Reading Today, Apr2008, Vol. 25 Issue 5, p38-38, 1/2p, 1 color; (AN 31859386)

Competency 5c: Successive Fractions

Search Query: Promoting an interest in reading among elementary students
Database: WorldCat
157 hits - student literacy and student reading and elementary students and reading

Based on the results I got with the specific facet method, I started with student literacy and student reading as my broadest topic.
s1 - student literacy and student reading = 1307 hits
s1 and elementary students and reading = 157 hits
Evaluation - Adding the second string of terms narrowed the results significantly, but still gave me a lot to sift through. There were relevant results, but many of the hits were not what I was looking for.

The top three hits were:
The new science literacy : using language skills to help students learn science / Author: Thier, Marlene.; Daviss, Bennett. Publication: Portsmouth, NH : Heinemann, 2002

Perspectives on rescuing urban literacy education spies, saboteurs, and saints / Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts / Author: Flood, James. Publication: Mahwah, N.J. : L. Erlbaum Associates, 2003

Competency 5b: Specific Facet

Specific Facet

Search Query: Promoting an interest in reading among elementary students
Database: ERIC2799– student literacy or student reading
Using the specific facet method, I expected “student literacy” to return the fewest hits.
My results were:
2799– student literacy or student reading
2407 – reading interest or encouraging reading
1761 – elementary students and reading or kids and books

Evaluation - In each case, too many results were returned, although an initial scan of the hits that “elementary students and reading or kids and books” brought up showed a high level of relevance. At this point, I would go back and either narrow the parameters or try the building block or successive fractions methods.

The top three hits were:
Children's Morphological Knowledge: Links to Literacy Preview. By: McCutchen, Deborah; Green, Laura; Abbott, Robert D.. Reading Psychology, v29 n4 p289-314 Jul 2008. (EJ805379)

Humorous Cartoons Made by Preservice Teachers for Teaching Science Concepts to Elementary Students: Process and ProductPreview . By: Rule, Audrey C.; Sallis, Derek A.; Donaldson, J. Ana. Online Submission, Paper presented at the Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium (1st, Cedar Falls, IA, Apr 7, 2008). 2008 32 pp. (ED501244)

Increasing Reading Comprehension of Elementary Students through Fluency-Based Interventions Preview . By: Neumann, Veda S.; Ross, Dorothy K.; Slaboch, Anita F.. Online Submission. 2008 89 pp. (ED500847)

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Competency 5a: Building Block Search

Topic: Promoting an interest in reading among elementary students

Database: Library Lit

S1: children or students or youth
S2: encourage or promote
S3: reading or literacy
Actual search: children or students or youth and encourage or promote and reading or literacy

Number of hits: 533

First two:
Milliot, J. RC2 Corp. Bullish Toy-Book Connection. Publishers Weekly v. 255 no. 26 (June 30 2008) p. 18
Palmer, T. Reading the Game: Using Sport to Encourage Boys and Men to Read More. Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services v. 21 no. 2 (June 2008) p. 78-83

This search needed more parameters to be set. Next time, I would limit dates, keep it to peer reviewed or full-text articles. As it stands, 533 hits is too broad for results. It would be overwhelming if every result was relevant, and too frustrating to look through if not and the researcher was looking for useful hits.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Competency #4: Tagging

028.5(2) 2007 acq.(1) book lists(3) books(5) books - guides(1) books about books(5) books for kids(1) bw(1) checkout-mcpl-matt(1) Childcare(1) children(3) children's literature(3) children's literature guide(1) Education(13) Favorite(1) favorites(1) homeschool(2) homeschool resource(2) How to Get Your Child to Love(1) how-to(2) in progress(1) kids(2) language arts(1) library(1) Library D2(2) list(1) literacy(1) literature(1) littérature jeunesse(1) LT-inspired(1) non-fiction(7) ok(1) Paperback(1) parenting(3) Pro(1) Professional Collection(1) read aloud(1) Reading(15) reading list(2) recommendations(1) reference(2) teacher resource(2) teaching(2) unfinished(1) writing(1)

Esme Raji Codell. 2003. How to Get Your Child to Love Reading. New York: Algonquin Books.

http://www.librarything.com/work/305169

This is a great book to help give parents a guide to helping their kids learn to love reading. They are such an important example for their children, they cannot be left out of the loop!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Competency #4: RSS Feed

The RSS feed to the left is from the Just One More Book! website. A great place to find information on children's books, the authors and illustrators, it is a wonderful site to keep an eye on. RSS feeds help to do this!

www.justonemorebook.com

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Competency #3: Podcasts

http://www.justonemorebook.com/2008/09/22/interview-with-jon-scieszka/

Just One More Book is a fabulous resource for anyone interested in children's literature! In this podcast, found on the JOMB page, Jon Scieszka is interviewed. He is the author of a number of children's books which are in and of themselves draws for reluctant readers. From writing The Stinky Cheese Man and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, Scieszka's dedication to literacy has expanded to a role as Ambassador at the National Book Festival.

He promotes children's literacy, stating in the podcast that we take the importance of reading for granted, that "To run a government, you should probably be a good reader." He also talks about letting kids read what they choose, referencing websites and comic books and considering it "nutrition guidelines where we can help kids become good reader in the same way we help them become good eaters."

I found the podcast through Google and the extremely organized headings on the Just One More Book website.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Related Bog: Competency #2

Getting Children to Read with Grreat Books: http://www.grreatbooks.blogspot.com/

"Herein lies one of the problems in the reluctant reading field. Not only kids, but now many adults will only read something that is visually based rather than written word based."

My blog has to do with finding books and ideas that get kids reading. Spear's blog lists both ideas and many books on which to draw.

This blog was found using Google Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com/

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Competency 1 - Introduction and Purpose

The purpose of the blog is to fufill the requirements of the ISAR class.

I will be researching effective methods of encouraging interest in reading among school-aged children, which reflects my work in the elementary library.