Learn-nov2014
Research tips from the Librarian in Green
Helping your kids with homework?
Imagine it is Sunday night, and your son and daughter just said to you, ‘Oh yeah, I have to do research for a project for school tomorrow’. The library is long closed. The books on your shelves don’t cover the latest in Ontario Curriculum. The teacher suggested to students to just ‘Google it’. Great.
Now we all love Google, but really, we know it has its limits. So what are you to do? Instead of your child wandering aimlessly online, the Librarian in Green has some suggestions for you!
First, ask your child about the school library
Does your son or daughter have a good school library, which is available online? It is ok if they left the homework to the last minutes, as many school libraries subscribe to online resources they can use from home!
For instance, Nepean High School library has a whole section of helpful information: http://www.nepeanhighschool.com/index.php/library
In most cases, students in high school will have access to these resources, and just need to get the password from their library.
The school does have a library!
Terrific! Then you’re home free.
But which one of the confusing sounding names do I want? It may depend on your topic. Many of the school assignments your son or daughter receive can be found in their general search or “Power Search” or something called “Gale” or “Ebsco”. These are vendors of different types of academic journal articles. It may also be called “Infotrac”. These are all good!
Other databases are more specialized.
The Literature Resource Center is great for projects for their English class, and provides information about novels, authors, reviews and literary criticism.
The Canadian Points of View database is terrific for any controversial topics they might be researching, and bonus, it is Canadian!
The Access Science database is great for science assignments and a good starting point for topics, like climate change, solar system, energy and matter and more.
Help with their bibliographies!
The great thing about using one of these online databases, as opposed to doing a Google search, is that most of these tools will provide the citation for the articles they find, in the format of their choice, such as APA or MLA style.
Look for something that says “Citation Tools” or “Cite” next to the article that you are reading. They can copy and paste these citations right into their Word documents!
But Wait!
If your son or daughter does not have a great school library or doesn’t know their password, you can still help them, by showing the Ottawa Public Library! All you need is a library card to access a whole bunch of databases online for free! Your pin is the last four digits of your phone number.
Go to the Ottawa Public Library website and click on “Online Resources”. Some great choices there are “Academic OneFile” and Canadian Business and Current Affairs for high school students, and Kids InfoBits for children in K-6.
See the website for lots of more choices: http://biblioottawalibrary.ca/en/databases/search-all
Plus there’s more!
The Librarian in Green has discovered some great websites too, that help with school related assignments such as:
EdSelect http://edselect.com/
Both Canadian and US content, organized around educational themes, grades, and curriculum units.
AlloProf! http://www.alloprof.qc.ca/
Great for supporting your French immersion student! Click on, especially, the “Bibliotheque virtuelle” (the Virtual library) The Librarian in Green always recommends libraries! Nice graphical interface that almost makes homework fun!
The Virtual Reference Library at the Toronto Public Library http://www.virtualreferencelibrary.ca/vrl/
Click on Recommended websites, for great suggestions, also helpful for finding French resources. The Homework Help link is especially useful and you can pick the appropriate grade that your child is in, to narrow down the choices of websites.
The Internet Public Library www.ipl.org
Massive collection of great web sites, with short descriptions to help you choose which one you want. Click on, Resources by Subject. This is mostly US content, but does have some Canadian and International content.
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The Librarian in green is otherwise known as Helena Merriam, Coordinator of the Library and Information Technician program, and promoter of Algonquin Reads. The Librarian in green is sorry, but she can’t help you with those ‘build a bridge from recycled materials’ or a ‘create a diorama representing the Galapagos Islands’ type assignments…
MAKING STRONG CONNECTIONS WITH CHILDREN
Tricia Kassotis
Brain Research has found that enriched adult-child interactions have a dramatic impact on brain development, in all areas of development, and happiness.
Research also tells that those who are impoverished in anyway: mentally, financially, physically, emotionally; if they have one person in their life that they can turn to, that makes them feel secure and safe, that they can draw strength from and trust, they can overcome these adversities and have a better outcome in life.
In other words: AN ATTENTIVE ADULT IS THE BEST EDUCATIONAL TOOL!
SIMPLE STEPS TO CONNECT WITH CHILDREN
- HONOUR a child’s worth by speaking to them at eye level
- PLAY! On the floor and let them lead you into their exciting discoveries; with older ones games/activities that they enjoy
- CREATE SPECIAL TIME: reading and snuggling are favourite special time with kids at home or school
- VALUE their efforts – “I saw you really try to get that shoe on.” “You stayed with that puzzle along time trying to it figure out!” “That was so kind of you to give that chair to your friend.”
- FOSTER their special talents, strengths and likes. Be alert to see what turns them on and fascinates them. Some of us are musical, technical, creative, or empathetic, helpful and kind. Find the beauty in them and draw it out.
When we take the time to be mindful and intentional towards a child’s interests and actions, we are setting the stage for a life of happiness.
“What will you do today that will matter tomorrow?” Ralph Marston
Adapted from Childlife…Solutions 4Life with Kids!
Take Our Kids to Work Day
On Wednesday November 5, you may have noticed some students who appeared younger than our usual students wandering the halls. It was the “Take Our Kids to Work” Day, and a number of Algonquin faculty and staff brought their grade nine children, and some friends, to the college. There were approximately 20 high school students attending.
My daughter, Maija, was one of the participants, and she also brought along her best friend. Maija already knows how great Algonquin College is. “Do you have a bake there every day?!” she asks me when she visits on professional development days or other such events. Pretty much every day, is my reply. She is in awe.
The recruitment team had a full morning of activities planned for the grade niners. Greeting us, surprisingly, was my very own first year student, Stephanie, who is also a Student Ambassador. She took the students of on a tour of the college, from ACCE building to H and beyond. They stopped in Connections and were treated to free candy and chips! They then went to the P building, and met with Mario in the Pre-Service Firefighter program. From Mario, they got to see what a ‘jaws of life’ really looks like, and more surprisingly, they got to spray water from an actual fire hose! My daughter was amazed at how heavy it was!
Grade nine fire fighters!
Next on the agenda, was a visit to the CKDJ radio station and there they met with Dan Mellon (one of the two Dans), and were able to see the radio show being produced live. They also got to speak into the mic on live radio. Wow, they’re famous now!
Their activities ended at noon, and I treated my daughter and her friend to lunch in the Marketplace cafeteria. They love all the selection! Other kids got taken to Restaurant International, a nice treat.
Then, while I went to a budget meeting, my colleague Michael in the Applied Museum Studies program kindly agreed to teach the girls about using vinyl sign material and they were able to cut out their names in an animal font and mounted it on a board, to use as a sign for their doors.
Some sample letters cut out of vinyl sign material
After this, they came to my afternoon class, which I teach as a flipped class in a computer lab. The in-class session is quite hands-on and interactive. I set up the girls to find information, and catalogue it using an Open Source software, DSpace. They pretended to be editors and approve or reject submissions from others in the class. My daughter actually said “This is fun”. I hope my students heard that too!
By 5:30, they were exhausted, but happy and we trudged home.
A warm thank you, to my colleagues, for giving my daughter, her friend, and all the other grade nine students this wonderful experience. If you have a son or daughter in grade nine next November, you should definitely bring them to Algonquin College.
Thank you especially to:
The Organizers:
Anne Kalil, Manager, Recruitment
Janna Dally, Inside Sales Coordinator and Student Recruitment
The Tour Guide
Stéphanie Latour, Student Ambassador and first year student, Library and Information Technician program
The Faculty
Mario D’Angelo, Coordinator, Pre-Service Firefighter Education and Training Service
Dan Mellon, Professor, Broadcasting- Radio
Michael Wheatley, Coordinator, Applied Museum Studies Program
Helena Merriam is the Coordinator of the Library and Information Technician program and a parent of a teenager and another child who will be a teenager in 2 years.