Here are some final thoughts and additional information as I bring my postings to a close. Thanks for reading.
A standards connection ----
The standards connection that I chose is from the Illinois State Board of Education “Illinois Learning Standards for English Language Arts --- Standard 5.B.3a for Middle/Junior High School.” This standard states that students will “choose and analyze information sources for individual, academic and functional purposes.”
I believe that this standard would be covered and successfully achieved if students were able to demonstrate that they found, analyzed (for quality) and selected a variety of information sources related to the topic of “children, teens and health.” And explained how they found their sources, why they selected the top sources which they did and how they chose to use this information and link it to the next step in the information inquiry process.
The goal of this Illinois Learning Standard 5.B.3a relates to the section in “Curriculum Connections Through The Library” by Barbara Stripling which states, “Inquiry is not a collection of process skills and strategies; it is a relationship between thinking skills and content.” Standard 5.B.3a speaks to this idea of connectivity between thinking strategies and a student’s knowledge base.
Additional information about my personal inquiry ----
In terms of how my experiences with personal inquiry are LIKE those of a child or young adult I would say they are similar in the following ways:
1. Like a child or young adult, I don’t always know where to find the best, most up-to-date resources on a subject and I often have to “search around” a great deal to find them.
2. I don’t always find the “searching” process great fun --- but I do enjoy the “finding” (good stuff) process.
3. I think that narrowing down all the information that is found when searching is time consuming and usually takes more time that I expect. But I do know that it is time well spend (and I appreciate this when I am finished doing it.)
In terms of how my experiences with personal inquiry are NOT LIKE those of a child or young adult I would say they are dissimilar in the following ways:
1. I believe I have a strong idea/rubric for what is considered a quality source/resource.
2. I know that spending to much time on one part of the whole process can sometimes bog down the entire project/assignment and hinder it from getting done in a timely manner.
3. I don’t wait until the last minute like I sometimes used to when I was younger. It is a little easier being an adult because I have more control of my time. In high school I played a lot of sports and would often get home late in the evening after practices and games and not always have the time I needed to spend on my assignments. I did have great fun in high school though!
Something I forgot to mention ----
For one week I participated in the American Sleep Association Forum which can be found at:
http://www.sleepassociation.org/phpbb/viewforum
I found it useful and interesting to read what professionals in the area of “sleep medicine” had to say about sleep and health.
A detailed final reflection ----
I thought the entire personal inquiry project was of great benefit because actually “doing” all of the steps made all the difference. I have a deeper, clearer understanding now of how each of the steps work together and why each step is very important to the whole process. I also know that each step does not need to take an equal amount of time (it can, but it does not have to) and I am now fine with the eight step process of the 8Ws. I can name them and explain them if you asked me about them on the street. I think that I have used many of these steps in the past as I did personal inquiry projects but that I often would skip steps because I did not remember to do them or because I undervalued the step or because I did not have any great tools to help me achieve greater success in a particular step. Overall, I had a great time working on this project and I learned a tremendous amount too.
Specific to the topic of my inquiry ----
I learned a bunch of stuff about “Health and Sleep." And boy am I glad I took the time to research, read and learn about this topic and related information. From what I have learned --- my new topic/presentation in the future maybe “Do Less --- Live More.” The focus being that there are a handful of key things that we each must get done on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and that after these things get accomplished --- training oneself to refrain from filling one’s life with lots and lots of extra unnecessary activities --- is a truly healthy approach to life. But that is a topic for another day . . .
I mentioned this at the beginning of my personal inquiry --- but I think it is worth noting again --- because it is information that came up in almost all of my research sources. It is that people (children, young adults and adults) who consistently get eight quality hours of sleep or more have a greatly/hugely reduced chance of being overweight and/or being obese. And that it is better to sleep eight hours or more than to sleep less and exercise for an hour or two daily. Whoa, I find this awesome information. This is just one “small” bit of the information that I gained from my research --- but it is information that researchers say people often overlook. And yet it is information that can greatly improve people’s lives (of all ages), save individuals and nations tremendous sums of money and overall make the quality of life for the globe --- that much better.
For that information alone, I am glad that I did this personal inquiry project and --- I will no longer feel guilty because I sleep eight hours a night --- and am often kidded by others for doing so! Eight hour sleepers (of all ages) unite for a healthier world. Hooray!
Signing Off ----- Suzanne Ross
Monday, February 9, 2009
Wrapping, Waving and Wishing.
Wrapping, Waving and Wishing ----
During the “Wrapping” process --- I looked at all of the information I had selected “as quality resources” and then directly linked this information to the focus I had chosen for my project “Children, Teens and Sleep ---- Why Sleep is Like a Mega Vitamin You Really Want to Take!”
I chose to create a program on “Children, Teens and Sleep ---- Why Sleep is Like a Mega Vitamin You Really Want to Take!” to be held at a public library and to specifically create a flyer promoting this program. This flyer is my final product and can be found at: Forums / Scouts Cohort Group Discussions / Scouts: Grade 6-Adults: Project 1 / A Million Little Things “About Sleep, Health and You!” / Children, Teens and Sleep --- Why Sleep Is Like A Mega Vitamin You Really Want To Take! Flyer --- Final Product (Suzanne Marie Holba)
In terms of “Waving” ---- I believe that this program and related flyer is a pretty good way to “start” to share this information with children, teens and adults --- combined with a number of other ways such as an article in the local newspaper, newspaper blog, school website, school newspaper, and various social networking sites with the assistance of students themselves (often if students mention information or promote the information --- their friends will at least “consider” looking at the information) so I would look for students to write/create information related to “Children, Teens and Sleep ---- Why Sleep is Like a Mega Vitamin You Really Want to Take!” (with a spin that is of interest to themselves and their friends.) I would also look to connect this information with various child and teen events and other parent events.
“Wishing” ---- I thought that my project went well overall. I had quite a bit of fun doing it. And I feel that I learned a great deal. One of the best things I took away from this whole project was the following. I believe that the whole process of information inquiry is incredibly important and can also be loads of fun too. But I also know that I have in the past made the error of saying how important information inquiry is --- but then placing little value (point wise and grade wise) on the “whole/entire” process of information inquiry. I have given most of the points for the “final product” and guess what? My students saw this disconnect between what I said and what I graded on --- and spend most of their time working/worrying about the final product --- at the expense of the whole information inquiry process. My bad!
Related to myself, a few of the weaknesses of the project on my part were not having the time to work with a lot more of the tools that can be used for: concept maps, questioning maps and various other software than can assist with brainstorming, synthesizing and communicating. The really good news is that I now know a lot more about a large number of tools that --- previously I had no idea existed. I have them bookmarked on a Delicious site and I plan on looking at these tools and working with them a great deal more in the near future. And I think this is going to be a great thing!
I will be back with a final posting --- shortly. The President of the United States is speaking in two minutes and I think this warrants a break from my work.
---- Suzanne Ross
During the “Wrapping” process --- I looked at all of the information I had selected “as quality resources” and then directly linked this information to the focus I had chosen for my project “Children, Teens and Sleep ---- Why Sleep is Like a Mega Vitamin You Really Want to Take!”
I chose to create a program on “Children, Teens and Sleep ---- Why Sleep is Like a Mega Vitamin You Really Want to Take!” to be held at a public library and to specifically create a flyer promoting this program. This flyer is my final product and can be found at: Forums / Scouts Cohort Group Discussions / Scouts: Grade 6-Adults: Project 1 / A Million Little Things “About Sleep, Health and You!” / Children, Teens and Sleep --- Why Sleep Is Like A Mega Vitamin You Really Want To Take! Flyer --- Final Product (Suzanne Marie Holba)
In terms of “Waving” ---- I believe that this program and related flyer is a pretty good way to “start” to share this information with children, teens and adults --- combined with a number of other ways such as an article in the local newspaper, newspaper blog, school website, school newspaper, and various social networking sites with the assistance of students themselves (often if students mention information or promote the information --- their friends will at least “consider” looking at the information) so I would look for students to write/create information related to “Children, Teens and Sleep ---- Why Sleep is Like a Mega Vitamin You Really Want to Take!” (with a spin that is of interest to themselves and their friends.) I would also look to connect this information with various child and teen events and other parent events.
“Wishing” ---- I thought that my project went well overall. I had quite a bit of fun doing it. And I feel that I learned a great deal. One of the best things I took away from this whole project was the following. I believe that the whole process of information inquiry is incredibly important and can also be loads of fun too. But I also know that I have in the past made the error of saying how important information inquiry is --- but then placing little value (point wise and grade wise) on the “whole/entire” process of information inquiry. I have given most of the points for the “final product” and guess what? My students saw this disconnect between what I said and what I graded on --- and spend most of their time working/worrying about the final product --- at the expense of the whole information inquiry process. My bad!
Related to myself, a few of the weaknesses of the project on my part were not having the time to work with a lot more of the tools that can be used for: concept maps, questioning maps and various other software than can assist with brainstorming, synthesizing and communicating. The really good news is that I now know a lot more about a large number of tools that --- previously I had no idea existed. I have them bookmarked on a Delicious site and I plan on looking at these tools and working with them a great deal more in the near future. And I think this is going to be a great thing!
I will be back with a final posting --- shortly. The President of the United States is speaking in two minutes and I think this warrants a break from my work.
---- Suzanne Ross
A few more things . . .
These are some additional questions I want to touch upon ----
Thanks for taking a look ----
How I organized ideas -----
The information types and resources that I used and why ----
How I chose to evaluate and analyze the information I selected -----
I organized my ideas by making an “Inspiration” type of concept map on my own. My concept map did not have all of the “cool” graphics that Inspiration uses, but it got the job done for me. I initially worked on my concept map without a computer --- I drew it on a piece of paper as I was waiting 30 minutes for a meeting to start. My concept map can be viewed in the Forum area of our class under:
Forums / Scouts Cohort Group Discussions / Scouts: Grade 6-Adults: Project 1 / A Million Little Things “About Sleep, Health and You!” / Children, Teens and Sleep --- A Concept Map --- Sort Of. (Suzanne Marie Holba)
I then took this organization of ideas and pared it with the sources I had looked at (journals, databases, hard copy texts, interviews with professionals etc.) I then selected the resources/information that I thought were of the highest quality. The criteria I used in selecting/evaluating my resources/information was:
1. Who wrote the information?
2. What are their credentials?
3. What else have they written on this topic if anything?
4. Why is the author worthy of being listened to/read etc.?
5. What do reviews or other professionals have to say about the author?
6. Is there some compelling reason that I want to use this information even though it does not meet the “usual” standards for being considered a top quality resource?
I will be back shortly with information about:
Synthesizing my ideas, thinking about how to communicate my ideas, how I decided on a final project and a few other things . . .
---- Suzanne Ross
Thanks for taking a look ----
How I organized ideas -----
The information types and resources that I used and why ----
How I chose to evaluate and analyze the information I selected -----
I organized my ideas by making an “Inspiration” type of concept map on my own. My concept map did not have all of the “cool” graphics that Inspiration uses, but it got the job done for me. I initially worked on my concept map without a computer --- I drew it on a piece of paper as I was waiting 30 minutes for a meeting to start. My concept map can be viewed in the Forum area of our class under:
Forums / Scouts Cohort Group Discussions / Scouts: Grade 6-Adults: Project 1 / A Million Little Things “About Sleep, Health and You!” / Children, Teens and Sleep --- A Concept Map --- Sort Of. (Suzanne Marie Holba)
I then took this organization of ideas and pared it with the sources I had looked at (journals, databases, hard copy texts, interviews with professionals etc.) I then selected the resources/information that I thought were of the highest quality. The criteria I used in selecting/evaluating my resources/information was:
1. Who wrote the information?
2. What are their credentials?
3. What else have they written on this topic if anything?
4. Why is the author worthy of being listened to/read etc.?
5. What do reviews or other professionals have to say about the author?
6. Is there some compelling reason that I want to use this information even though it does not meet the “usual” standards for being considered a top quality resource?
I will be back shortly with information about:
Synthesizing my ideas, thinking about how to communicate my ideas, how I decided on a final project and a few other things . . .
---- Suzanne Ross
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Webbing, Wiggling, Weaving and Other Stuff.
Webbing, Wiggling, Weaving and Other Stuff --- Related to My Topic ---
“Children, Teens and Sleep ---- Why Sleep is Like a Mega Vitamin You Really Want to Take!”
As I have been working on webbing, wiggling and weaving I have also sought to use some of the templates and examples from “The Blue Book” by Daniel Callison. One template that I used was from Chapter 14: Middle School Inquiry Research Orientation. The title of the template is “Testing Questions for Interest and Meaning” on page 233. Some of the questions/methods I liked from this template were: 1.) List all the questions that you don’t already have a possible answer for. 2.) At home tonight, discuss these questions with your family and listen to their suggestions and ideas.
I know these are two simple questions/methods, but I liked the idea of students thinking about questions that may have NO answers (sometimes these are the best questions.) Additionally while some questions with no answers initially --- may actually be answerable by the student --- others may remain unanswerable at the conclusion of the inquiry process. This is of interest to me, because I think that some students/people steer clear of questions that might end up having no answers. They fear that it will look like they did not do enough research and/or that it was a flaw on their part to not find the answers to all their questions. I hope that this fear can be dispelled in students/people and in myself, by learning and then remembering that some of the best questions may have no answers initially --- or sometimes --- no answers for a long time to come.
So this evening, I am spending my time thinking about questions that I don’t know the answers to for my topic “Children, Teens and Sleep ---- Why Sleep is Like a Mega Vitamin You Really Want to Take!” I am also trying to find the answers to my questions. If I cannot find the answers myself, I am going to ask some of my colleagues at work for suggestions in the next few days. Because I hope to find lots of answers --- but if I don’t find them all --- I know that this does not mean my inquiry project is a failure.
I’d love to hear your comments on this idea of ~ questions that possibly have no answers and what their value is --- in the inquiry process.
---- Suzanne Ross
“Children, Teens and Sleep ---- Why Sleep is Like a Mega Vitamin You Really Want to Take!”
As I have been working on webbing, wiggling and weaving I have also sought to use some of the templates and examples from “The Blue Book” by Daniel Callison. One template that I used was from Chapter 14: Middle School Inquiry Research Orientation. The title of the template is “Testing Questions for Interest and Meaning” on page 233. Some of the questions/methods I liked from this template were: 1.) List all the questions that you don’t already have a possible answer for. 2.) At home tonight, discuss these questions with your family and listen to their suggestions and ideas.
I know these are two simple questions/methods, but I liked the idea of students thinking about questions that may have NO answers (sometimes these are the best questions.) Additionally while some questions with no answers initially --- may actually be answerable by the student --- others may remain unanswerable at the conclusion of the inquiry process. This is of interest to me, because I think that some students/people steer clear of questions that might end up having no answers. They fear that it will look like they did not do enough research and/or that it was a flaw on their part to not find the answers to all their questions. I hope that this fear can be dispelled in students/people and in myself, by learning and then remembering that some of the best questions may have no answers initially --- or sometimes --- no answers for a long time to come.
So this evening, I am spending my time thinking about questions that I don’t know the answers to for my topic “Children, Teens and Sleep ---- Why Sleep is Like a Mega Vitamin You Really Want to Take!” I am also trying to find the answers to my questions. If I cannot find the answers myself, I am going to ask some of my colleagues at work for suggestions in the next few days. Because I hope to find lots of answers --- but if I don’t find them all --- I know that this does not mean my inquiry project is a failure.
I’d love to hear your comments on this idea of ~ questions that possibly have no answers and what their value is --- in the inquiry process.
---- Suzanne Ross
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Getting Closer To Some Decent Quality "Stuff."
Ah, yes --- time is buzzing by --- my oh my, I can hardly believe that our “Personal Inquiry” project is due in less than a week! On that note, back to work for me.
The following are:
1.) my specific inquiry questions
2.) the focus for my investigation
3.) how I gathered information/materials.
My specific inquiry questions are:
Overall do children and teenagers get enough sleep?
If the answer is yes, then my focus needs to possibly change to --- "Best practices for getting a great night’s sleep."
If the answer is no, then my focus will be on: Why? And more specifically: "Causes, effects and solutions to the sleep problem as well as ways to make getting enough sleep easy to do and fun too!"
The main focus for my investigation will be:
“Children, Teens and Sleep ---- Why Sleep is Like a Mega Vitamin You Really Want to Take!”
---- Suzanne
The following are:
1.) my specific inquiry questions
2.) the focus for my investigation
3.) how I gathered information/materials.
My specific inquiry questions are:
Overall do children and teenagers get enough sleep?
If the answer is yes, then my focus needs to possibly change to --- "Best practices for getting a great night’s sleep."
If the answer is no, then my focus will be on: Why? And more specifically: "Causes, effects and solutions to the sleep problem as well as ways to make getting enough sleep easy to do and fun too!"
The main focus for my investigation will be:
“Children, Teens and Sleep ---- Why Sleep is Like a Mega Vitamin You Really Want to Take!”
How I gathered information/materials is:
I looked for quality sources and information on the web. I have bookmarked what I have found on the social bookmarking site Delicious. My site is called “information inferno” and can be found at http://delicious.com/informationinferno
I also went “old school” and looked at books, yes books I tell you! (Just kidding --- well I actually did!) I selected the following two books from a variety of choices because I believe Harvard Medical School and The Cleveland Clinic are both well respected, high quality sources.
Epstein, Lawrence J., and Steven Mardon. The Harvard Medical School Guide to: A Good Night's Sleep. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2007.
Foldvary-Schaefer, Nancy. Getting a Good Night's Sleep: A Cleveland Clinic Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Clinic Press, 2006.
I also looked for additional articles in journals (hardcopy and digital) and am still paring them down before I make some final selections.
Oh no --- again --- I am up past midnight --- it is nice and quiet this late at night though because most people are sleeping!
OK --- no longer writing intelligent stuff here --- so I am signing off for the evening.
Cheerio!
---- Suzanne
Monday, February 2, 2009
My "Process of Questioning."
I chose the following questions from the “Module Maker” site by Jamie McKenzie which can be accessed here: http://questioning.org/module/module.html
The “Why, How and Which is best?” questions came from Jamie McKenzie. The words/questions after these terms are of my own making.
Some Questions
Why?
Why do so many people get so little sleep, not enough sleep . . . or do people really get enough sleep and there really is no problem?
How?
How can the amount and quality of sleep be improved? Does it need to be improved? Why does any of this matter to people individually or to our nation as a whole and/or to the world?
Which is best?
Given the choices that I hopefully will find . . . which is most likely to do the most good in terms of helping individual people and/or groups of people? Which plan is best? Which solution will work the best and why?
I hope to have more (and possibly even better) inquiry questions tomorrow.
----- Suzanne Ross
The “Why, How and Which is best?” questions came from Jamie McKenzie. The words/questions after these terms are of my own making.
Some Questions
Why?
Why do so many people get so little sleep, not enough sleep . . . or do people really get enough sleep and there really is no problem?
How?
How can the amount and quality of sleep be improved? Does it need to be improved? Why does any of this matter to people individually or to our nation as a whole and/or to the world?
Which is best?
Given the choices that I hopefully will find . . . which is most likely to do the most good in terms of helping individual people and/or groups of people? Which plan is best? Which solution will work the best and why?
I hope to have more (and possibly even better) inquiry questions tomorrow.
----- Suzanne Ross
Sunday, February 1, 2009
My "Topic Exploration."
My topic exploration ---
I thought about various topics that I might like to research/learn more about. Here are some of the topics I considered:
1. Leadership Skills
2. The Future of the U.S. Economy
3. The Connection Between Sleep and Health
4. Best Practices in Marketing
5. Character Building
I chose “The Connection Between Sleep and Health” because it is a topic that has interested me for a long time and which I have not taken the time to explore in great detail. I have read a number of articles about sleep and health but I have never pulled together a cohesive body of knowledge about this subject. I want to remain open to what I find --- while also focusing on specific aspects of this topic. I look forward to seeing what I will discover in the coming weeks and to creating a quality body of work/resources/etc. regarding “sleep and health.”
Thanks for reading!
----- Suzanne
I thought about various topics that I might like to research/learn more about. Here are some of the topics I considered:
1. Leadership Skills
2. The Future of the U.S. Economy
3. The Connection Between Sleep and Health
4. Best Practices in Marketing
5. Character Building
I chose “The Connection Between Sleep and Health” because it is a topic that has interested me for a long time and which I have not taken the time to explore in great detail. I have read a number of articles about sleep and health but I have never pulled together a cohesive body of knowledge about this subject. I want to remain open to what I find --- while also focusing on specific aspects of this topic. I look forward to seeing what I will discover in the coming weeks and to creating a quality body of work/resources/etc. regarding “sleep and health.”
Thanks for reading!
----- Suzanne
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