INFOhio ICoach

I currently use several 9-12 resources in my classroom. I've had success using Book Nook to create and share book "trailers", Points of View Refernce Center in write essays of argumentation, R4S in teaching research skills, as well as Academic Search Premier. 

After exploring several resources, I think I might like to use the EBSCO Host eBook Collection to give students the option of reading eBooks for independent reading projects or to use as part of research. Additionally, I will encourage students to use the Oxford Research Encyclopedia during research. I also liked the Very Short Introductions to find articles on specific topics; especially for background information. 

Hi Megan- Great insight on some new resources you would like to try. the EBSCO HS eBook collection is fantastic, in my opinion. 

The three resources I use the most, or promote more than others, are: 

Capstone Interactive eBooks

World Book Student

Gale In Context

What do you like about these? What needs did they meet for you and your students?

After looking at the Teach & Learn Flyer, what are three resources you would like to use in your classroom? Why did you choose these three?

Reposting....The Teach & Learn flyer has become a permanent fixture on my board at school!  The three resources I like to use in class would be Fetch, PebbleGo Next, and BookFlix.  Using the link on my school website, students are able to go to Fetch to do a preliminary search for books they would like to read before entering our school library.  PebbleGo Next allows for those students that are not reading on grade level (5th) to experience key vocabulary and concepts that follow our science standards.  BookFlix is used as a station in my ELA classroom to further engage students with fiction vs. non-fiction text on a topic.  They love the extension activities as well for a little down time!  

I chose these three resources from the Teach & Learn Flyer because they incorporate seamlessly into my ELA classroom, they are engaging to students while still providing quality education time when I am working with a small guided reading group.

I chose Bookflix, World Book Kids, and World Book Students. I chose these three digital resources because Bookflix offers engaging stories told in a cartoon format with read along features. Teachers/Librarians can use the lesson plans attached to create engaging lessons that will motivate students to read. It offers a nonfiction companion and games that students will love to play. I have several physical copies of the same books that are featured in my school library. This way a student can access a physical copy to take home as well as a digital copy. I chose World Book Kids and World Book Students because students need to know how to access digital encyclopedias. No longer do school libraries house encyclopedia sets. The nonfiction research information presented in these digital encyclopedias have modern features such as read aloud options, videos, photographs, works cited and games for younger users. I already used these tools this year and presented them to the principal and posted them to our school messanging system to share with parents. I received a lot of positive feedback from students, teachers and parents. 

The Teach and Learn Flyer is what I used to think of as InfOhio's home web page because when we click on InfOhio from our school website, it takes us to the teach and learn flyer with links. The resources I like to use in my classroom are BookFlix, World Book and IWonder. I use BookFlix to help build background on science topics with the read-aloud books/videos- they are very engaging. I especially enjoyed using BookFlix during Black History Month. I could find a lot of books to support the other resources I was using. When students created a book about an anima's life cycle I had them research using World Book because it gives straightforward important information. I stumbled upon IWonder one day when I was browsing around and loved the question "What do I want to be when I grow up?" This school year I used the resources attached to the question during career week at our school. The students had a lot of fun looking around at different professions and I didn't have to go searching for links- everything was there and we worked through/shared together as a class. 

Hi Tara, 

Using INFOhio resources to support the building of background knowledge is a great way to supplement your curriculum. If you haven't already, be sure to check out PebbleGo Next for standards-aligned science and social studies content and the World Almanac for Kids resources, which provide that straightforward information as well. 

I do not have my own classroom, but I do have standing appointments in the Kindergarten classrooms in both buildings. I will for sure be sharing all of the tools in the ages 3-5 but I am I most interested in the Early Learning Portal, Highlights, & BookFlix.

I've choosen Early Learning Portal b/c I see this tool as a huge "win" for both in the classroom and at home. We all know our students are getting screen time at home, and I regularly remind our teachers that they can help parents by giving them possibilities that might be "better" than random things our students are accessing. Early Learning provides such a wide variety of options from colors, to coding, to dancing, and more.

Highlights is another tool I will give specific focus to becuase it allows choice on a wide variety of topics. The activities that join the books are also great! This is a resource that can grow with students as they become more comfortable with their devices. (I also really like the throw back to my childhood - I received these magazines as a kid and LOVED reading the stories and doing the hidden pictures.)

The 3rd tool I will give focus to is BookFlix. While our teachers already use BookFlix, I want to encourage the independent use of BookFlix. I believe if we give students choice - on quality tools - they will be able to soak up content. I love the pairing of F-NF, too. I am new to the Lesson Plans that accompany the pairings - this is a gem for teachers!

Sarah - this really stood out to me - "I believe if we give students choice - on quality tools - they will be able to soak up content." Using INFOhio's quality content for supplemental support of the curriculum is the perfect way to integrate them into the classroom!

I currently am transitioning to our secondary curriculum specialist, serving grades 7-12. While I do not have my own classroom, I believe the following resoures would be beneficial: 

1. Science Online - I like the aplication and STEM based activities. I feel both science and math courses could collaborate cross-curricularly.

2. ISearch - valuable for teachers to openly search fro resources and professional needs. 

3. World Book Student - meeting needs of all students through accomodations of read aloud and lexile levels. 

Allan,

Science Online is a great resources for many content areas! Spend some time digging around - so much to love!

The three resources I chose are (1) EBSCO High School Collection eBooks; (2) World Book Student; (3) Points of View Reference Center.

World Book is a resource students may use to review current events, research historical information on scientists and inventors, and access to a wealth of images.

EBSCO High School Collection eBooks is a resource students may use to select eBooks for class related assignments or reding for pleasure.

Points of View Reference Center may be a valuable resource assisting students to develop their position on current events and develop reasoned explanations for their position.

I am hoping to expand my familiarity with early learning resources in order to better serve our early elementary educators, students, and families. To onboard this goal, I plan to begin via exploration of the INFOhio Early Learning Portal as well as World Book Early Learning, both of which will present us with reputable, high-quality literacy learning experiences and methods.

Next, I wish to expose our science team of teachers to Science Online and admittedly I need to explore it more myself. Our students engage in many experiences outside of the regular science classroom such as the Science Olympiad, Invention Convention, and Science Fair. A collection of sound resources is most welcome rather than searching the web.

Career Collection on EBSCOhost is another resource I plan to utilize when planning with the administrative team and preparatory teachers as we look for ways to develop and enrich our career exploration initiatives. While we plan to do this throughout the school, this resource looks like an amazing fit as a starting point.

There is so much to choose. For PK-3, Book Flix is my all-time favorite.  I am a fan of the storybook/info text pairings.  Weston Woods productions always deliver multi-sensory stimulation including lovely art work.  The audio option is a real asset.  The activities can be implemented by educators or parents for simple reflection to construction of new meaning. However, the newer-comer HIGHLIGHTS collection is a treasure chest, too. The recordings are skillfully narrated in expressive voices and the visual cues support fluency development. It is good that young readers can access this material by themselves--but, even better, parents can hop on and share reading with their children. 

Continued...For the intermediate elementary, I am amazed at PEBBLE GO and CAPSTONE interative.  The way a teacher can springboard from PEBBLE GO material selected by topic to CAPSTONE Standards or directly to a book absolutely streamlines the planning process.  The content of both these collections is high quality in all elements of the products' universal design. I can also see these being used with older students who face learning challenges.

For middle school, I am excited to discover Transparent Language Online.  We are initiating Spanish and French for 7th grade, and this could be helpful for teachers and students. Fooled around to learn some Scottish Gaelic and found the process captivating. This resource could supplant some questionable free games our World Language teachers use to encourage vocabulary.  The feature that rates your pronunciation is something included in expensive proprietary systems. Teachers would need to condition the students to slowing down from a blingy gamified app to this. Once they did--I bet everyone would find the interactivity here very compelling.

For high school, it just has to be the tried and true Points of View.  They had me all over again when I opened it for this endeavor and found "election interference," "working remotely" and "drought in the midwestern US."  So timely! The vocabulary for the first topic is copied below.  In addition to the background, each entry includes exemplars of Point and Counterpoing arguments and a topic-specific Guide to Critical Analysis, along with the curated links to additional info in various genres. 
Understanding the Discussion

Bot: An autonomous computer program that can interact with computer systems or can generate communications with users.

Deepfake: An image or video created by merging audio recordings and human behavior from one source with imagery and/or sound from another source to make it appear as though a person or persons did or said things that they did not.

Disinformation: Falsehoods that are intentionally distributed in order to sway opinion or obscure true information.

Fake news: A work of fiction that is presented as a factual news story, often with the intent of deceiving the reader into believing it is factual and enticing them to share it.

Misinformation: Inaccurate, wrong, or potentially deceptive information.

Ransomware: A type of malicious software program that blocks access to a computer system or its functions, typically used to extract a ransom from the computer owner before access or functionality will be restored.

Social media: Websites and applications that enable users to create and share content as part of social networking activities.

Troll farm: An operation involving multiple, paid computer users working together to generate online activity to influence public opinion or to spread misinformation.

Melanie - I agree that Transparent Language Online caught my eye right away. I think it would be great if teachers could use this to supplement students' learning, rather than the free games students currently play for vocabulary. 

BookFlix: I love sharing books with my students and BookFlix hits all the marks for my library classes. The introduction video will grab their attention from the start. The pairing of fiction and nonfiction books, animations, games, and literacy support tools makes this the perfect resource.

Fetch: I will use Fetch to teach the K-2 students how to search the online catalog. The results pages are eye-appealing and make it easy for the students to know if a copy of the book is available and where it is located in the library.

World Book Early Learning/Kids: students (and teachers) need to be familiar with easy-to-navigate research tools. I would like to support the use of databases rather than websites for learning.

I have already used some of these resources at an introductory level with my students. However, I do not think they are using them independently, just when I show them something specific to use, or to access the games on World Almanac or World Book Kids.  :). These are the ones I would like to guide my students in using in a more integrated and independent way:

World Book Kids/Student: I think these sites would be a good source fo research for my students. My 2nd and 3rd grade students complete class projects that require research on an animal and with biographies. Both of these sites have articles that would support their research.

Capstone and PebbleGo Next: These are my favorite resources! I have created choice boards for my stduents with links to these articles and books, but I do not think any student used this resource to find informaiton on their own this year. 

Explora for Students: Again, I think this would provide access to many great resources fo rstudents to use when conducting research. I just need to teach the students, and the teachers, about this as an option.

I think that educating TEACHERS on these resources would help students use them more often as well. I feel like right now students just type what they want into Google and then use the first thing that pops up. In fact, one of my teachers told me that is how they are teaching them to conduct research, while checking the source of the website that pops up. But many of the resources provide much better quality information, we just need to get the students using them.

I chose Bookflix, World Book Early Learning, and World Book Kids.  Last year was my first year as our Media Specialist and I introduced my K-3 classes to one, some, or all of these resources.  I wanted to learn even more about each resource and polish up on my knowledge.  The kids, no matter the grade level, were geniunely excited when I introduced these resources to them.  I'm excited to share even more with them this coming school year!

Also, as a mom of a now 2nd grader, my son has always been excited to use any technology introduced to him in class.  He couldn't wait to show me and teach me about each of them.  Children are such sponges and the excitement and awe of sharing their new found knowledge is exciting for grown-ups, too!   There is so much to be explored on INFOhio.

Bookflix - I love using this resource with my K-1 students when are learning about the differences of fiction and nonfiction books. I also have Bookflix as a free reading option for all my K-5 students. 

PebbleGo Next - Our school has a subscription to PebbleGo already, so I was thrilled when PebbleGo Next was added to INFOhio. Students are familiar with the product already, but I love that we now have a resource that's more comprehensive for our upper elementary students. 

IWonder - I'm so excited to use this resource with my students. I've been wanting to do a Genius Hour research project with my 4th/5th graders but have felt overwhelmed and unsure of where to start. I will intoruduce the concept of Genius Hour to my students and have them explore IWonder to come up with a research topic. 

Resource #1: Explora for Students - this resource contains so many relevant articles, along with images and videos.  Great for student research projects.

Resource #2: iSearch - this tool allows for the teacher to find a wealth of free resources for schools in Ohio.  Great for ideas when planning a new unit

Resource #3: World Book Advanced - multimedia deepens the learning experience.  This tool is like diving into the old encyclopedias, only with images, audio, and video content!

The three resources I chose are:

Book Nook - it has been a goal of mine for several years to work with a group of students to create a video for Book Nook, but I would also like to have them use it to explore their interests in speicfic books as well.

ISearch - One of the most common requests I get from teachers to assist with research lessons in our library. I would love to work with students to find appropriate resources for their research projects and help them to learn to save them and refer back to them on these assignments.

Fetch - I've been able to work with my old grades to start to learn to locate books themselves within our library and would love to utilize Fetch as a resource to begin teaching this to students in younger grades as well.