|
|
Themes:
Martin Luther King, Holocaust +
Dear %%NAME%%,
Welcome to this month's issue of ProQuest Teachable Moments. This issue focuses on a myriad of topics, including the new year, Martin Luther King, poverty in America, Holocaust Memorial Day, diversity, LEP resources, and much more.
Our monthly enewsletter delivers a set of hands-on learning activities that encourage students to conduct quality research and produce meaningful results to increase their knowledge and understanding of everything from basic math to literature to history and beyond. Keep in mind that these activities are not duplicated in our other monthly newsletters, which also contain ready-made lessons.
Have an idea or feedback concerning this newsletter? Send email to tim.mclain@il.proquest.com today.
SIRS® Researcher
Are we solving the problem of poverty in America?
Grades 6-12
|
Free Product Update Newsletter | Podcast
Training & Educator Resources
| Free 30-Day Trial
January is National Poverty in America Month and a national holiday in celebration of Martin Luther King on January 15.
Poverty is the result of lack of economic, education, and health opportunities that result from discrimination supported directly or indirectly by our system of national and state laws.
Dr. King fought successfully to have the Civil Rights Act become law in 1964. These laws help end segregation and many of the societal situations that deny equal opportunity directly to minorities, especially African-Americans. But there is still much work to be done to actually create the conditions that help the poor move upward from poverty.
The key to economic opportunity for the poor is a good education. Unfortunately, most of the poor are trapped in neighborhood schools that lack the facilities, learning resources, and qualified teachers that are found in successful schools. Without this foundation, poverty becomes a reoccurring cycle that traps these students into the same cycle that affected their parents and grandparents.
Activity: Leading Issues provides teachers and students with the resources to better understand how this ongoing struggle for human and civil rights plays out on a variety of issues that define it on a daily basis. So many human rights and civil rights abuses target people who have neither the financial means nor the education and opportunity to acquire them.
What are the varying opinions on solving poverty in our country and the world? Leading Issues provides a variety of topics/issues that relate directly to implementing the war on poverty: Affirmative Action; Birth Control; Civil Rights; Gangs; Homelessness; Poverty; Racism; and Welfare.
- Click “more issues” in the Pro vs. Con section
- Click the issue of Welfare
- Take one side or the other of the issue
- Prepare to present a reasoned opinion using three of the resources provided
- Use the SIRS models for reporting/presentation that provide a variety of ways for students to express their reasoned opinions
Leading Issues provides students and teachers with unique and specially prepared research guides for four types of reports/presentations: Formal Research Paper; Mini-Research Report; PowerPoint Presentation; and Mini-Debate. Each of these resources is written in a template designed to specifically correlate to the Leading Issues format.
In addition, two teacher guides support the Mini-Research and the Mini-Debate student guides. This makes it easy for teachers and students to work together to manage the analysis, synthesis, and reporting activities inherent in quality research activities. Generally, guidelines for these processes are not included in student research activities, with plagiarism and lack of real understanding as the unintended consequences.
Find out more about SIRS Researcher and SIRS Leading Issues at our K-12 website.
[ TOP ]
|
ExploreLearning® Gizmos
Didn’t the new year begin on January 1st?
Grades 6-10
|
Math & Science Solution Resources
| Free 30-Day Trial
The new year does not begin on January 1st for all societies. The Chinese New Year falls between January 21 and February 19 each year, beginning on the day the new moon appears according to the Chinese lunar calendar.
Every year of this calendar is represented not only by a number but also by an animal of the zodiac.
There are 12 in all: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.
Chinese legend holds that Buddha called all the animals in his kingdom before him; these 12 obeyed and were rewarded for their loyalty with a year named for them.
Activity: ExploreLearning Gizmos provide a way for students to understand more about the phases of the moon that determine the lunar calendar. Each Gizmo is accompanied by activities that reinforce the Gizmo concepts.
Tap into the entire collection on a trial basis today. Keep in mind that each Gizmo is accompanied by teacher lesson plans and student activities and worksheets that help reinforce the concepts highlighted in the Gizmos!
[ TOP ]
|
Reading A-Z™ & LearningPage™
How can cold weather be of any interest and fun?
Grades 1-6
|
Reading A-Z Resources
| Free 30-Day Trial
January weather in the U.S. is generally the coldest of the year. Many students have already adapted to the season and are interested in learning more about the unique kinds of experiences that winter provides for nature, recreation, health, and safety.
Here’s a sampling of fiction and nonfiction books that can help students learn more about winter and appreciate its opportunities and challenges.
Each comes with worksheets to guide reading and assess understanding:
Levels aa-L
Winter—nf
We Make a Snowman—f
The Changing Seasons—nf
Places People Live—nf
Hibernation—nf
How Glooskap Found Summer—f
How to Make a Snow Person—nf
The Snowstorm—nf
Levels M-Z
Snow Camping—f
Plight of the Polar Bear—nf
The Igloo—nf
The Mighty Glaciers—nf
Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses—nf
Polar Regions of the Earth—nf
The Inuit: Northern Living—nf
The Nor'easter—nf
You can connect to each RAZ book by clicking the ALL BOOKS tab at www.readinga-z.com.
Learning Page, a Reading A-Z sister site, offers more than 3,200 free educational activity sheets for K-3. Each month new themes are added to the collection.
Learning Page activities to celebrate winter and the holidays can be found online.
[ TOP ]
|
eLibrary®
How do eLibrary tools help Limited English Proficient students achieve?
Grades 7-12
|
Free Product Update Newsletter | Podcast
Training & Educator Resources
| Free 30-Day Trial
During the last decade, a dramatic increase in the number of non-English speaking immigrants has created an enormous challenge and opportunity for teachers and for our education
system.
The No Child Left Behind Act recognizes this challenge especially for schools with a high percentage of students who are recent immigrants and those who come from poverty.
NCLB has made reading literacy improvement the major focus of Title I funding and education reform and provides additional Title III funding to support Limited English Proficient students. The ability to read at grade level and beyond is the key to learning and preventing students from dropping out of school and maintaining their cycle of poverty.
Recognizing that reading support is essential, ProQuest has included several tools and specific content in eLibrary that can support reading improvement for all students and especially Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students.
- Lexile Reading Scores
Lexile reading scores are used in constructing state tests because they are based on scientific methods of determining reading difficulty. eLibrary articles are scored by their Lexile levels so that teachers and students can match search results to a students reading ability, thus ensuring increased understanding of the articles selected.
Students can search by Lexile score and get articles in the range of +50 to -100 points from the score assigned to them by teachers. Or, their search Results lists can be sorted by Lexile reading scores. Teachers can use Lexile scored articles (PDF) to build custom BookCarts for students to ensure that learning resources are both understandable and relevant to the needs of the students in their classes.
- Reference Tool
This tool provides integrated access for students to a dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedias with multiple reading levels. The most valuable of these sources for reading improvement are the dictionary and thesaurus.
Just highlight the target word in any document, click on the Reference tab, and a list of reference resources that apply appears, including the dictionary definition. The new English to Spanish dictionary provides essential support for many immigrant students struggling to learn in English immersion programs.
- Lexile Activity
Teachers and librarians can build multiple BookCarts on the same topic but include articles in each that are limited to the range of Lexile scores that are appropriate for different students in the same class or in similar classes.
For an example of this, open BookCart Editor of the Teacher Edition and compare two ProQuest model BookCarts on Global Warming: “Global Warming—Lexile Elem” or “Global Warming—Lexile MS.”
Or you can copy a ProQuest model BookCart that’s correlated to lower Lexile reading levels for students who are having reading difficulty: “Global Warming—Lexile Elem” or “Global Warming—Lexile MS,” or “Global Warming, Greenhouse Effect, and Climate” that is appropriate for high school reading levels.
- Reference Activity
Students should use one of the BookCarts from My Local Carts collection and select an article of your choice.
- Select five words from each article that they don’t understand, highlight the words, and click the Reference tab to get to the dictionary definition
- Write the definition on a pre-constructed worksheet for this activity
- Create a sentence using each of the new words
- Wxperiment with a few words using the English to Spanish dictionary
- Follow-up assignment:
- Select five words that they already understand, highlight the words and click the Reference tab to access the Thesaurus
- Select a synonym for the word
- Rewrite the sentence in the article, inserting and underlining the new word next to the original word
[ TOP ]
|
eLibrary® Elementary
Why is understanding religious diversity an important goal of education?
Grades 4-7
|
Free Product Update Newsletter | Podcast
Training & Educator Resources
| Free 30-Day Trial
January provides two opportunities for students to study more about diversity in the religious beliefs of citizens in this country and in the world -- Religious Freedom Day on the 16th, and World Religion Day on January 21.
Immigration has resulted in changing a largely Christian Protestant population in the America to a more diverse mix of faiths. Student understanding of the similarities, rather than the differences, among all faiths is the key to peace and harmony in the future.
Activity: Students will need to compare the basic beliefs and religious holidays of major religious groups: several Christian denominations, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam.
Click the Topics search link > Religion and Mythology.
Each student should be assigned two different religions to compare and contrast. The comparisons should include basic beliefs, the major countries that practice this religion, its major celebrations and holidays, and any major religious leaders. Oral reports of about two minutes will provide a chance to students to learn from each other and practice essential communications skills.
[ TOP ]
|
CultureGrams™
How is Martin Luther King Day similar to national holidays in other countries?
Grades 7-10
|
Free Product Update Newsletter | Podcast
Training & Educator Resources
| Free 30-Day Trial
Americans honor Martin Luther King, Jr., each January. Students should realize that people in countries around the world also set aside national holidays to honor their heroes.
For example, India celebrates the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi (Oct. 2), independence leader and advocate of peaceful resistance. On Chulalongkorn Day (Oct. 23), Thailand honors the “beloved monarch” (1868–1910) who abolished slavery and introduced reforms.
And in the small African nation of Lesotho, Moshoeshoe's Day (Mar. 12) honors King Moshoeshoe the Great, who fought against the encroachment of Afrikaaners on Sotho land.
Activity: National holidays can provide excellent opportunities for you to educate students about the countries and cultures of the world. Students gain unique insights into a nation as they learn how it celebrates its important events and heroes.
Using the Holidays sections of the CultureGrams reports, have students identify a national holiday for a particular country and research how it’s celebrated. Or choose a holiday each month to celebrate as a class.
CultureGrams subscribers can access holiday information in the series’ 187 concise, reliable, and up-to-date country reports. Short biographies of national heroes are also available in the CultureGrams series of Famous People. A multimedia demonstration of CultureGrams is available.
[ TOP ]
|
BookCarts™ & QuizCarts™
Did you know that eLibrary is home to 500+ ProQuest BookCarts?
Grades: K-12
|
Free Product Update Newsletter | Podcast
Training & Educator Resources
| Free 30-Day Trial
Your eLibrary subscription now holds more than 500 model BookCarts created for teachers that they can use immediately for assigning student mini-research projects.
These BookCarts provide support for most topics taught in K-12 academic content areas. The BookCarts all contain more than 25 digital articles, visuals, websites, and publications specially selected to save classroom and library time and ensure quality results for students and teachers.
These standards-based models also provide Essential Questions samples to help teachers integrate more critical thinking into topical mini-research activities. Another new feature in each BookCart is the multiple-choice Quiz Template teachers can use to create short quizzes that direct and help review student pre-research knowledge of factual content on the BookCart topic.
To copy and adapt model BookCarts for your My Local Carts collection and students, go to the following link.
Here are some samples of engaging BookCarts that focus on the theme for January:
Family Fitness Lifestyle Month and a great opportunity for Health Educators to have students research the importance and personal value of being physically fit.
- Exercise and Health
- Diets for Optimal Health
- Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention for Teens
- HM06--Obesity in Children (MS/HS)
- Steroids and Athletes
- Tattoos, Body Piercing and Marking Human Anatomy
- STDs--Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Here are some examples of essential questions for critical thinking that are integrated in all ProQuest model BookCarts. These questions serve as models for teachers to use when creating BookCarts for student mini-research activities. Essential questions ensure that students will do critical thinking and use original thought in their reports rather than just copying and pasting facts.
- How does exercise on a regular basis result in better health, energy, and longer life?
- What kinds of exercises are considered the best for overall health and why?
- How does a poor diet affect the quality of life?
- How does the taking of drugs affect the health of the body over time?
[ TOP ]
|
eLibrary® Science
Can we see the birth of galaxies and stars?
Grades 5-12
|
Free Product Update Newsletter | Podcast
Training & Educator Resources
| Free 30-Day Trial
Twenty years ago on January 6, 1987, University of California astronomers first witnessed the birth of a galaxy that contained one billion stars. Two of the finds lend support to current theories about the formation of planets and of galaxies, immense islands of hundreds of billions of stars. Astronomers have been searching for decades for this kind of phenomenon and they finally found it. It is exceedingly faint and had been known for about 30 years, but only as an unseen source of radio waves.
The invisible object piqued the interest of Berkeley astronomer Hyron Spinrad, known for his studies of very dim, faraway galaxies and quasars. Spinrad and his team first aimed New Mexico’s Very Large Array radio telescopes on 3C 326.1's position in the Cosmos. Then they aimed powerful optical telescopes at that spot and discovered a glowing object about 12 billion light-years from earth.
Later analysis of light revealed that it was a newborn galaxy, three times as long as the diameter of the Milky Way. At the time the light left 3C 326.1 about 12 billion years ago, the new galaxy was forming sun-size stars at the rate of about 3,000 to 5,000 a year. But it still consisted largely of ionized hydrogen gas that would eventually condense into billions of additional stars.
Activity: eLibrary Science provides a growing model BookCart collection. But teachers and librarians also have access to eLibrary BookCarts for Earth & Space as well. Any of these BookCarts can be copied and then adapted for eLibrary Science by adding unique eLibrary Science content and publications. This can save teachers and librarians much time by starting with good models and adapting them rather than building new BookCarts at a time when their experience in doing this is very limited.
To copy and adapt model BookCarts for your My Local Carts collection and students, go to the following link.
Click the ProQuest Carts folder “eLibrary Science—BookCarts for the special collection that includes “International Space Station” that supports this month’s theme of space exploration.
Click the ProQuest Carts folder “Science—Earth & Space” that includes six additional space exploration topics.
Each BookCart includes several examples of “essential questions for critical thinking.” These models can help teachers to create additional questions that ensure that student research on these topics results in real learning and development of information literacy and critical thinking skills that are the backbone of scientific inquiry.
Students use these essential questions to guide their selection of resources and their analysis, synthesis, and reporting of the information integrated with their own ideas and original thought.
[ TOP ]
|
ProQuest® Historical Newspapers
If we forget the failures of the past, are we doomed to repeat them?
Grades 5-10
|
Free Product Update Newsletter | Podcast
Training & Educator Resources
| Free 30-Day Trial
Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27th seeks to change the future by learning from and remembering the past. Holocaust Memorial Day provides an opportunity for teachers in all subjects to engage with a historic event that has contemporary relevance for all our lives today.
The scale and actions of the Holocaust and the Nazi persecution of groups and individuals over a number of years provides an insight into many aspects of human behavior. Discussion about the “how’s” and “why’s” allows many complex and emotive issues to be raised and discussed, issues that still affect us today. The human stories from that period help to reduce the scale to an understandable story and provide young people with an insight into the minds and experiences of those who suffered, stood by, took part, and spoke out.
Activity: The issues that can be addressed and explored go beyond the standard curriculum requirement for teaching about the Holocaust as a historical event. Holocaust Memorial Day provides a framework to explore issues of morality, human reactions, individual experiences, responsibilities, and larger questions of the role of governments and democracies. These issues are constantly around us today, but by first looking at them through an episode of the past, a more objective and ultimately deeper understanding may be gained.
Click the Topics tab > World War II (c. 1939 - 1945) > The Holocaust. Use the resources in this topic to answer the following essential questions for critical thinking:
- What are the major events that lead to the scenario of the Holocaust?
- How did Hitler convince the German people to shun and punish the Jews?
- Why did Hitler create the massive effort to exterminate the Jews?
- Why didn’t the Jews provide more resistance or even revolt during the events that collectively resulted in the Holocaust?
- Why didn’t the US or the international Catholic and Protestant churches protest and take a more active role in opposing the events of the Holocaust?
[ TOP ]
|
eLibrary® Curriculum Edition
Why is there a national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King?
Grades 7-12
|
Free Product Update Newsletter | Podcast
Training & Educator Resources
| Free 30-Day Trial
Martin Luther King Day is a national holiday and is celebrated this year on January 15. Dr. King would have been 78 years old if he had not been assassinated at the height of his influence.
The struggle to change conditions in America, and to win equal protection under the law for citizens of all races, formed the backdrop of Martin Luther King's shortened life. A national memorial site in Washington, D.C., will soon enshrine Dr. King and his legacy of leading the struggle for the equal rights of minorities. It will be located near the Lincoln Memorial, a fitting place for Dr. King. President Lincoln started the process of equal rights under the law by freeing the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation 100 years before Dr. King’s efforts resulted in the Civil Rights Act.
eLibrary Curriculum Edition integrates the History Study Center to provide teachers and students with focused information on historic people and events in the form of Study Units. An especially good study unit has been prepared for the American Civil Rights Movement (1954-68) featuring Martin Luther King, Jr. The study unit contains photos, biographies, speeches, videos, primary source documents, timelines, historiography, maps, references, and websites.
Activity: This Study Unit and many others help to make textbook learning come alive for students.
- In eLibrary CE, click the History icon
- Type “Martin Luther King, Jr.” in the Quick Search box, then Search
- Click The American Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968
- Scroll down to see the list of resources that can be used for this topic
Teachers need to integrate critical thinking skills into all research assignments. Despite the power of the resources in History Study Center, students will flounder unless teachers provide a specific focus for their mini-research reports.
The best way to ensure student focus and critical thinking is for teachers to create engaging Essential Questions. These questions require students to analyze and synthesize multiple resources to create conclusions that include critical thinking and expressions of original thought. These expressions may take shape through written, oral, or PowerPoint reports.
Here are some sample engaging and essential questions for teachers to consider and assign to students:
- How did Dr. King’s parents play a significant role in his philosophy, strategies, and achievements?
- Who are some of Dr. King’s colleagues who later helped carry on his work, and what did they do?
- What were some examples of the specific strategies that Dr. King used to implement his philosophy of civil rights?
- How did Dr. King’s work help to increase civil rights for other minorities as well?
ProQuest Learning: Literature
Dr. King is famous for his many speeches and quotes on human rights. ProQuest Learning: Literature provides a collection of speeches that Dr. King probably read and that may have helped him to write and deliver his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
Activity: Students should read and summarize two of these historic speeches that were the precursors of Dr. King’s speech on equality, human, and civil rights.
- Click the Literature icon
- Type “Martin Luther King” in the Quick Search box and search
- Click “Essays and Speeches”
- Click “Speeches”
- Scroll through the list and select two other African American leaders’ speeches
- Summarize each for its key points
[ TOP ]
|
ProQuest® Platinum
Why does the rise and fall of the value of the euro affect Americans?
Grades 6-12
|
Free Product Update Newsletter | Podcast
Training & Educator Resources
| Free 30-Day Trial
The fifth anniversary of the first issue of euro currency was observed on January 1. The euro is now a part of daily life for more than 300 million Europeans. The euro is the currency of 12 European Union countries, stretching from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle (namely Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, and Finland).
The notable European exception to the use of the euro is the United Kingdom. As of January 1, 2007, the euro will also be the currency of Slovenia. Recently, the euro has risen in value versus the dollar and established a record high (one euro = $1.3277 US).
Activity: Students will want to know more about the impact of the rise in value of the euro and how it will affect them now and in the future. The impact of the growing federal budget deficit caused mostly by the Iraq War, and also the ballooning foreign trade deficit, have caused our foreign creditors to lose confidence in their reliance on dollar-denominated investment in the US.
This could mean that creditor countries will demand higher interest rates to maintain their investment in the US and this could result in inflation and a decrease in our standard of living.
Teachers need to create essential questions for critical thinking to ensure that student research reports do not focus exclusively on facts but result in original thought and reasoned opinion. This type of research increases essential literacy skills and also results in the learning of academic content. Here are some examples of essential questions that can get teachers and students engaged in researching the euro:
- Why was the euro created and by what countries?
- What are the benefits of the euro currency and monetary systems?
- Why does the UK not participate in the euro monetary system and currency?
- Why has the euro risen in value in the last year?
- What implications does the rise in the value of the euro have for the US?
- How does the decrease in the value of the dollar affect the average American?
To locate relevant resources quickly, use this procedure:
- Click the Topics search tab
- Type “Euro Currency” in the Search box
- Scroll down to Euro and Currency and click View Documents
[ TOP ]
|
SIRS® Decades
Why is it important to remember the life and works of Martin Luther King?
Grades 7-12
|
Free Product Update Newsletter | Podcast
Training & Educator Resources
| Free 30-Day Trial
Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 15, 1929. His birthday is now celebrated as a national holiday.
His philosophy of non-violence and his strategies of leadership resulted in significant advances in equality for African-Americans and other minority groups. The fruits of his work are embodied in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and his vision for equality is embodied in his famous “I have a dream” speech. A national memorial is being built to honor Dr. King.
Impressively, Dr. King’s monument will be located among the memorials that honor the giants of American democracy, and will stand near the Lincoln Memorial. More than 100 years separated the freeing of the slaves through Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Now the two emancipators will be together for all visitors to Washington D.C. to honor and remember.
Activity: Dr. King was famous for his philosophy of non-violence which he used in achieving his goal of getting universal support for the civil rights of African-Americans. Students need to explore what happened then and why it matters now.
- Click the 1960 icon
- Click the Civil Rights Topic
- Answer at least one of the Essential Questions below
- Cite three resources that were used to answer the Essential Questions
Here are some examples of the Essential Questions that teachers may assign to students to help them integrate critical thinking and reasoned opinion into their study Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s:
- What are some examples of Dr. King’s strategies of non-violence?
- Who were some of the non-African-American groups in the country who supported Dr. King and why did they?
- How did Presidents Kennedy and Johnson lend support to the Civil Rights Movement?
- What are some of the reforms that were written into the Civil Rights Law?
- To what extent has the Civil Rights Law been disappointing to this day?
- What provisions of the Civil Rights Act have had the greatest success to date?
[ TOP ]
|
SIRS Discoverer®
Why study the Holocaust?
Grades 4-7
|
Free Product Update Newsletter | Podcast
Training & Educator Resources
| Free 30-Day Trial
January 27th is National Holocaust Memorial Day. It seems almost impossible that there are still millions of people who either deny the Holocaust or simply know nothing about it.
The Holocaust is a universal lesson about how civilized countries and their leaders can create propaganda that generates ethnic hatred to justify genocide. So, civilized countries can be manipulated as well as more recent examples of third-world countries such as Darfur.
Activity: Teachers should use Holocaust Memorial Day to create learning activities that teach the lessons of the Holocaust:
- Click the Subject Headings option
- Type “Holocaust” in the Search box and Search
- Note the list of 14 Subjects in the Results listing
- Assign different topics to different students
- Students will use at least two resources in reporting their topics
The report should summarize the following types of information: (a) significant people, (b) significant events, and (c) the most important idea about this subject.
[ TOP ]
|
Email Service Information
Forward to a Friend
|
Increase the usage of your ProQuest digital learning solutions! Our forward-to-a-friend service makes it easy to instantly send this product bulletin -- and all the great ideas and information it contains -- to others in your subscribing institution with a click of your mouse.
Also, be sure to encourage them to sign up for our SIRS, CultureGrams, ProQuest, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, eLibrary, eLibrary Curriculum Edition, and additional enewsletters as appropriate.
To change your email address, sign up for additional newsletter titles, or modify your subscription settings, click here.
Cordially,
Your ProQuest I&L Team
|
|
|
