Thing #3 Questions:
1. What is easy for you about teaching research?

I like students to do independent research. It gives them a chance to focus to delve deeper into issues of interest that I do not have time to teach (I speak specifically about U.S. History. A very crowded curriculum.) I always go into it thinking this is just what the students want and need: time to work independently and learn something on their own.

But I come away from it (Q. #2: What are the challenges) many times frustrated. My biggest disappointment is that so many have no intellectual curiosity. Internet tools such as Wikpedia, Infoplease, etc. have made it too easy to find information on a person or topic. They do not care to check for accuracy of information, because they believe whatever is said over the internet.

3. How might the RPC Teacher Guide help you plan and manage research projects?
I think it will help a great deal. I am working on a project for U.S. History where a group of students research a decade in the 20th century and prepare a presentation on it. I want to use the RPC to help students develop a unique thesis question on the decade they have chosen, so as to make the final product more authentic. I think that I will also use other tools offered by the RPC to guide them in the 5 steps of the rsearch process. I haven't finished this yet, but I am working on it and will report other tools I use.

4. How can you keep the planning, teaching, and managing of research projects sane for you as a teacher?
That is a good question. When students are given researh projects, I used to think that it would be great for me, because I would be free to do other work as they researched. Of course I was sooooo wrong! I think the best way to keep it sane is to plan the project well. I need to have timelines for student work to be completed, provide more oversight into the work they are doing to ensure that quality research is being done, and provide more clearly articulated expectations from the beginning. Students need to know what is expected of them and how they are going to be able to access the information and other tools necessary to complete the project. I think this will help me a lot.

5. What additional support or resources do you need to be successful in this area of information literacy?
I need to talk more to the media specialist about my plans and see what she has to offer. As a result of this class, I can see that there is a wealth of resources; now the trick is to identify which resources are best to help me in this project.