By: Amy Dye-ReevesRush Strong SchoolJefferson County Schools

TEACHING MIDDLE SCHOOL RESEARCH

IntroductionMy name is Amy Dye-ReevesI am the Library Media Specialist at Rush Strong School. Located in Strawberry Plains, Tennessee. The school system is Jefferson County Schools.

Goals for the Year• Conduct Short Research Projects and more sustained research projects.• Gather relevant information from multiple including digital and print.• Demonstrate understanding of the subject matter in connection with the classroom teacher• Integrate information while avoiding plagiarism• Draw evidence to support anaylsis, reflection and research.• Using fiction and non-fictional pairings

Research Ideas• One of the lessons that I love to work with my middle school is a Mystery Lesson.• You are given a crime to solve and the students need to figure out “Who Did It”• Students are given clues about the suspect and they have to research if suspect is telling the truth or lying completely. • You can create your own mysteries but making up people names and including real life people that lived during that time period. • Ex: World War II. You can create historical fictional characters and create a whole mystery around that person.• This hits many different common core standards.

Focus on Research Writing Project Steps• Project Summary•Writer’s Purpose•Writer’s Role• Audience• Form• Focus Correction Areas• Procedure• Conclusion

Pairing Fiction and Non-Fiction• First, you have the student select a historical fictional book. They can search the OPAC or mynextread.com• They select the book and it read it through for content. • Next step is to find information in the book that is questionable whether it could be true or not. • They will take that information and find a non-fictional book to pair with it. • Example: “Chains” and “American Revolutionary War book. Focusing on the theme of slavery.

Career Research Project• First, the students will be select a career they are most interested in perusing. They have career books to select and can also look up information on TEL. They also have a career section as well. • They will need to use both print and online resources. • Collaborate with teachers, surrounding community and guidance counselors. • Students explore companies that they never knew existed. Ex: Virgin Galactic. This a company that is planning to launch commercial space travel next year. This allow them to look into a BA in engineering (mechanical, aerospace) or related field.

Debating Topics• First, students select an issue that they are passionate and excited to answer. • A great example is School Uniforms or Year Around School.• Students will need to divide into groups. You will need to students to draw which side they will be debating on.• Students will need to each do their own individual research using the book in the library or online.

Learning About Genres• From experience, students had very little knowledge of genres. Specifically with fair tales, tall tales, fables, etc.• I focus on fair tales because students often get this one mixed up with fables. • Students are asked to select a story. Ex: Grimm Brothers: “Cinderella”.• Question: “Why is the magical element a hazel tree and not the fairy godmother. “What is a hazel tree”. • They need research what a hazel tree is and what it stands for within the story. • You can do this with any genres. I normally do not select fiction or non-fiction unless it’s for the younger grades.

Conclusion..Staying with the Themes of Common Core• Focus on Science, Social Studies, Mathematics, and all core subjects.• I love collaborating with all teachers in the school. Including other special areas such as art, music and pe basics. • Learning more about the standards through the Common Core website and the Crosswalk.

Questions

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Thank You!!• Amy Dye-Reeves• Rush Strong School• Jefferson County School• adyereeves@k12tn.net• amydyereeves@gmail.com