Lesson 10: Wrap-Up

Basic Discovery and Common Core Connections Discovery Exercise:

1.  I think my biggest discovery is the wealth of information offered in the SDSL databases.  I have been recommending the databases to friends and family since I started the Electronic Resources Challenge.  Some I had not used before were CAMIO, AncestryLibrary, HeritageQuest, Mango Languages, and Sanborn Maps.  I have not done any family history searches myself, so the genealogy sites were particularly interesting to me.

2.  Some databases I would like to share with teachers at our weekly staff meetings are CAMIO, Sanborn Maps, EBooks on EbscoHost, and Learning Express Library.  I like the primary source documents and pictures in CAMIO and Sanborn Maps for use in social studies lessons with our K-5 students.  I think teachers could use EBooks for reading professional development books on a large variety of topics.  With the online testing that is now required of our students, I think teachers would also be interested in Learning Express Library to give their students more practice with online test taking.  I think the Guides are nice with the screen shots, and these would be helpful to use in training others about the databases.  A face-to-face training with SDSL staff would be a good idea for an inservice professional development activity for librarians and teachers.

For students, I used Mango Languages to do a project with 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, where they studied a foreign language and went through the steps of a research paper.  I also like them to be able to use World Book Kids, SIRS Discoverer, GALE Kids InfoBits, and Learning Express Library.  These are particularly good for students to find research that is on their reading level and not too overwhelming.

Taking the challenge allows me to be able to offer more resources to my students and staff and allows me to offer more knowledgeable assistance to those using these databases.  Thank you!