Not all of the fake news sites originate in Macedonia...

Some of these fake news sites are maintained by Americans.

Read all about it!

Creating a Gold Standard for information sources

With a partner and using the following scenario, create a Gold Standard for a website that you would use to address your cousin's concerns. Publish your Gold Standard on your blog.

"Your cousin has heard that you should not drink bottled water that’s been sitting in a hot car because the plastic bottles leak a toxic substance that increases the drinker’s chance of developing cancer.

As breast cancer runs in your family, this is an issue dear to your heart. What characteristics would you want to see (who, what, when,where, why) in a website you would be willing to use to advise your cousin about whether it’s safe to drink the water."

It's bad, really, really bad, but why?

With a partner, visit this website, read it carefully and make a list of all the reasons your teachers would not want you to use it in a research paper.

Using quality information sources

Read this article about the US election and reflect on your own practice when vetting information for school and personal use.

Grades

I have updated your grades based on the work you have completed and submitted. 

If you wish to improve your grade for the database test, you can work on it in the Secondary Library with me during lunch break or after school over the next few days. 

Concessionaries letter rewrite

Remember what we learnt in class yesterday.

Because it is a letter, you will need to consider formatting and to introduce yourself in the beginning paragraph.

Because you are making an argument, you will need a thesis statement, a paragraph for each point in your thesis statement which contains evidence to support your position and a conclusion.

Because you are writing a formal letter to the board, you will need to avoid using contractions.

Grading criteria:

You will be graded using the following criteria.

Main ideas support/argue the thesis [10 marks]

Main ideas are supported by evidence [10 marks]

Correct citations [20 marks]

(as this is a letter, you could choose to include attribution in your prose)

Argumentation [10 marks]

Scholarly/Academic style [10 marks]

Organization [10 marks]

Reflection on the database test

Remember that your homework from Tuesday was to post a reflection on your blog about the database test. So far, I only see one completed.

Examination practice

For your semester exam you will be writing an essay or letter. In the writing of the letter you will be locating, vetting and using information. These are all the skills we have covered this semester.

To help you prepare, you will be writing a letter over the next two lessons and submitting it to me by the end of the class on Friday. 

Your assignment can be found here.

For homework on Wednesday, reflect on your process so far using the following guide:

Time management

Research tools

Information quality

Notes

Organisation

Learning about academic honesty

This is your assignment for Research Class on Wednesday November 2nd while you are participating in Virtual School. Please publish the evidence required on your blog by the end of our class today. There is no homework.

Whether academic dishonesty is intentional or accidental, often the consequences are the same. To avoid any harsh consequences for accidental academic dishonesty, it is important to know how to protect yourself. This learning is not only useful for Research, but for all of your classes.

Complete two of the following tutorials and post evidence of your completion on your blog. 

In addition, write a reflection of a time when you have been academically dishonest or have been tempted to be academically dishonest on your blog.

NIU Academic Integrity Tutorial - Complete all the sections and quizzes and post the certificate of completion on your blog. Remember to practice online safety when completing the certificate. The name on the certificate should be the same as the display name on your blog.

George Brown College Tutorial - This tutorial has a number of questions for you to answer. Make sure you choose a character to follow that uses MLA citation.

York University Tutorial - When you reach the end of the learning section, you can complete the quiz without logging in. Find the link that allows you to do this. When you have completed the quiz, post a screenshot of your score on your blog.

Virtual Academic Integrity Laboratory - There are a lot of graphics on this tutorial. Make sure you do all the modules then take the quiz. After you submit your name and email address (use your school email for this) you will see a screen with your quiz score. Post a screenshot of this on your blog.

Virtual School Attendance

Well done Researchers, we have a full complement of students in our virtual school class today!

Please email me if you have any problems or questions.

The anatomy of Google's search results

This is your assignment for Research Class on Tuesday November 1st while you are participating in Virtual School. Please publish the post by the end of our class today. There is no homework.

Last week in class we looked at how the Google algorithm works to rank the results you see on Google.

Write a blog post listing and explaining what you learnt about how Google ranks websites in the search results.

Think about how this will affect the results you see and how this might affect your search habits. This might be a suitable time to make mention of the Google SuperPowers we have explored.

Write a paragraph to record your thinking.

Share your learning

You have spent some time exploring Google's SuperPowers, now it's time to share what you have learnt. You can find the assignment sheet here.

In 3 teams you will be creating a bulletin board to show how to use 3 of the SuperPowers you have learnt about and, most importantly, how they can be used together to generate really powerful searches. You will have today, Wednesday October 19th and Friday October 21st to work on this during class. The bulletin board must be finished and ready for grading by the end of Friday's class.

Individually, you also need to make a video showing how you can use these three SuperPowers to improve the Google results by demonstrating their use. Upload the video to a video sharing site with appropriate tags and embed into your blog. This is due at midnight on October 23rd.

Google SuperPowers!

Google can do more than you think it can. To find out what Google can do for you, investigate Google's super powers and keep a record of your learning here.

Here are some resources to get you started:

Google Tips and Tricks

Get More Out of Google

How to Google it

Reviewing your group presentation video

Today you will receive a copy of the video of your group presentation.

Before you watch the video, remind yourself of the criteria for a good presentation.

As you are watching the video, record your evaluation and consider how you did compared to the last presentation that you did. Remember, you can watch the first video again if you want.

Lastly, consider how successful you were at making the improvements you planned.

Rubric for your presentations

You can find the rubric I will be using to grade your presentations here. This will count as a formative grade in this unit.

Finding resources in the Secondary Library

You have your assignment sheets for this week. You will have the lesson on Friday to check your understanding of your assigned area of the library and to finish putting your presentations together.

Over the weekend you will need to review the video of your logical fallacy presentation and your critical evaluation. Choose two areas to try and improve during your group presentation on Monday and write a blog post detailing your plan for improvement. This must be posted by Saturday evening.

On Sunday or Monday before class make sure that you read the posts of your classmates so that you can support them in their plans for improvement.

Your group presentations will be videoed.

Investigating presentation styles

In order to critically evaluate something, you need to set criteria for what a good 'thing' would look like.

Therefore, before you evaluate your presentation style, you will look at a variety of presenters and decide what they do well, and what they do not do well in order to develop your own criteria for good presentations.

Logical Fallacies

Here is the Logical Fallacy presentation. You will need to be logged into your ISOI Google account in order to access it.

Copyright Summative Assessment

Today we will talk about the summative assessment for our Copyright unit. With a partner, you will be making a video and using the work of others appropriately and legally. You can find the assignment sheet here.

Make sure you read and understand the rubric for this assessment. You can find the rubric here.

Learn and Share!

Create a wall display to teach the secondary students about Creative Commons Licenses so that they know their rights and responsibilities.

You can find the details of this project in our Google Drive

Choose groups to work in and which room you will display your work. Edit the GoogleDoc to show this information.

Follow the instructions.

Figuring out Attribution

Margaret Gould Stewart said some interesting things.

What is Copyright?

In the TED Talks, you watched last class, the speakers mentioned copyright, the Public Domain, Fair Use and Creative Commons.

What are these?

How do they relate to creativity?

Watch the following animation about Copyright:

Copyright and Fair Use Animation

Use this as your starting point to learn more about:

Intellectual Property

Copyright

Fair Use

Creative commons

Public Domain 

Think about:

What protection is offered?
Who benefits from the protection offered?
Who can use the material being protected? Under what conditions?

You have this lesson, your homework time and Wednesday's lesson to complete this investigation. Post your learning on your blog before the beginning of Friday's lesson.

Use subheadings to organise your work and hyperlinks to give attribution as necessary.


This work will be graded using the following criteria:

• Accurate definition of the term (2)
• An example that demonstrates understanding of the protection offered for each term (4)
• A description that demonstrates understanding of who can use the material and the conditions under which it can be used (6)

To avoid confusion! You need to complete the above points for each of the terms listed above.

Revisiting Copyright

You have explored Copyright in Grade 8 and in Grade 9. We will be revisiting this in our first unit.

Using headphones, watch these two TED Talks and think about the implications for yourself and other creators.

Lessons from fashion's free culture

How YouTube thinks about copyright

On your blog, write a reflection on what you have learnt from these talks.

What connected to your existing knowledge? How?

What do you think about the use/purpose of Copyright in the world? In your life?

What questions do you have about Copyright? In life? In school?

You can work on your blog post today during class. It must be posted to your blog before the beginning of our next class together.

Welcome to Research Class 2016-17

Hello all,

This is the space where we will communicate. We will communicate through this blog and through your own blogs. I will often ask you to post your thinking to your blog. Your blog is your 'binder' for this class. It is most important that you 'tag' or 'label' all of your posts for this class with the tag or label Research.

Please visit this Google Sheet called Blogs for Research Class 2016-17 to give me your blog details. I will change the blog roll on the right hand side of this blog so that there are links to your blogs here. I will use these all the time when I am grading your work.

I am looking forward to teaching you this year.

Mini EE Summative Submission

This essay is due at 11:59 tonight! Please submit your work here.

Some of you may have noticed that your grades in PlusPortals are not updated. I am waiting for you to hand in your feedback sheet from the first formative submission. When I have that, I will update your grades.

Digital supplement summative submission

Some of you have been having trouble submitting your summative spreads for the digital supplement. You need to submit the .INDD and evidence of your folder organisation here.

You also need to save your .INDD and the assets to the server. Please make time to see Mr. Romail today to do this.

Digital Supplement submission

Place the InDesign file and evidence of your file organisation for your spread for the digital supplement in this folder.

A link to the Five Paragraph Essay we constructed with Ms. Fossum

I have mentioned that you need to go and look at the 'concessionary essay' several times. Here is a link to that model.

The introduction on the model consists of only the thesis statement, your introduction should be more fleshed out and end with your own relevant thesis statement.

We ran out of time when we constructed the model so it does not have a conclusion. The most important thing to remember about the conclusion is that you should not introduce any new information in it.

Second Formative Assessment of the MIni EE

Please submit your essay here.

Make sure you have given me the feedback sheet from your last submission.

Semester Exams

Publication Design - Your spreads for the digital supplement will be graded as your semester exam, using the rubric we have been using all year.

Research - As decided today, your summative submission for the Mini EE will be graded as your semester exam.

How does it feel?

You have written and submitted a 2000 word essay, or there about. How did it go?

Next year, reflection will be a graded part of the EE. To practice, write a blogpost reflecting on the experience with this essay to date.

What did you learn about researching and writing an essay?
How will this experience help you if you decide to write an EE next year?

Were you prepared to write the essay? Was it easy to write? Did you have gaps in your knowledge/evidence?
What do you need to do between now and submitting the essay again?

Mini EE first formative assessment

Please submit your Mini EE here.

Managing projects

You are working collaboratively on the video project and managing it yourselves. What part are you playing in the project management? What are you learning from working with others?

Write a blogpost to share your learning about managing a collaborative project.

Due by the next class

A word of advice...

Well done for all your work on Saturday. We are ready to print a draft to go to our editorial team.

DO NOT work on any of the spreads unless directed by Mr. Letkeman or Mr. Romail.

Let's be very clear, DO NOT work on any of the spreads unless directed by Mr. Letkeman or Mr. Romail.

Now that you have nearly completed the Yearbook, take time to reflect on the process.

Write a blog post for the students in next year's Publication Design class offering advice for them.

Consider the IT skills you have learnt, time management, working with an editor, covering events, and anything else you think the new students might need.

Use headings in your blog post and make sure it is completed and posted by the end of today's lesson.

Timeline for printing the yearbook

The yearbook must be delivered to school for distribution by May 24th and there is a lot of work to do before then, so here are our deadlines for the next 5 weeks.

April 19th - all spread for the the yearbook must be finished because it will be printed entirely and given to the editing team (Ms. Fossum, Mrs. Abassi and Mrs. Puffer).

April 20th - hand over of printed copy of yearbook for final editing

April 23rd - work day to fix edits from the editing team

April 25th - book goes to the printer so we can get a rough draft and see what it will look like as a printed, bound book

May 1st - start presales of the book to the ISOI community

May 12th - all final edits completed and approved by editing team.

May 13th - final files delivered to the printer for printing

May 24th - delivery of printed books from printer

The year that was...

The Yearbook must have two spreads the look at what has happened in the world since August 2015.

Yesterday you selected an event for which you will be responsible.

Write a short article (in your own words!) about your event and find an image to accompany it (the image must be labelled for reuse).

Post your article, the image and attribution for the image on your blog (Fahd, share yours with me in a Google Doc) by 4pm Friday.

These articles will be used to create the two spreads about the world this year.

Digital tools to assist active reading and notetaking

Hello, you can find the videos of your presentations in the Research 10 Student folder in Google Drive.

Your homework tonight is to write a two paragraph blogpost about the three tools we learnt about today.

The first paragraph should cover the tools as a group. Do you see any value in using these kinds of tools in your academic life? Why or why not?

The second paragraph should cover one tool in detail. Consider how you would incorporate the features of your chosen tool into your research or notetaking process.

This will receive a grade and is due at the beginning of next lesson.

Spreads due Apri 12th

The formative assessment for the new spreads is due April 12th, place them here.

The summative assessment is due on April 18th, place them here.

Active reading and note taking strategies

This week we will look at different note taking tools to help us record information during the research process. Firstly we will be exploring digital tools.

In groups you will investigate one of the following online tools and present your findings to the rest of the class.

Evernote
Diigo
Yawas

Your presentation should include the what, where, and why of the tool with specific reference to keeping track of information and sources while conducting research.

Writing and submitting a research proposal

Research Proposal

Due by 4pm April 5th 2016 via your blog

Your Research Proposal will be submitted via your blog. Include information on the following:

• Your research question and how you developed the question;
• Other potential research questions you might find interesting;
• A description of how you will approach the research;
• Some sources you have found that will help you in your investigation (a description of the content, a citation and a URL if applicable for each source).

This information will help me make a decision about the feasibility of your proposal.

Pakistan Day - After the event

Pakistan Day was a success, well done.

Now we need to thank all the people who helped us by sending letters.

Today we will assign students to speakers who will write a thank you letter to their assigned speaker.

Consider what the letter should include. It should be 2-3 paragraphs.

The formative folder is here.

The summative folder is here.

Assessments coming up March 13th

March 13th will be a big day for Publication Design. You have three items that need to be submitted:

The summative assessment for the March 7th spread is due on March 13th in this folder

All the edits to the spreads viewed by Ms. Fossum are due on March 13th. Make sure you upload your .INDD files here so that Mr. Arthur can print them.

ALL of the spreads that you have completed should have the final text on them by March 13th, written by you or by someone else. 

Spreads due March 7th

Choose the next spread you will be working on for Yearbook. You all have access to the Google Sheet where you signed up for these spreads. Highlight in blue the one you choose to work on next.

You will need to submit the completed spread for formative assessment into this folder on Monday March 7th

Academic Honesty

Whether academic dishonesty is intentional or accidental, often the consequences are the same. To avoid any harsh consequences for accidental academic dishonesty, it is important to know how to protect yourself. This learning is not only useful for Research, but for all of your classes.

Complete two of the following tutorials and post evidence of your completion on your blog. If you complete the two tutorials before the end of the lesson, write a reflection of a time when you have been academically dishonest or have been tempted to be academically dishonest on your blog.

NIU Academic Integrity Tutorial - Complete all the sections and quizzes and post the certificate of completion on your blog. Remember to practice online safety when completing the certificate. The name on the certificate should be the same as the display name on your blog.

George Brown College Tutorial - This tutorial has a number of questions for you to answer. Make sure you choose a character to follow that uses MLA citation.

York University Tutorial - When you reach the end of the learning section, you can complete the quiz without logging in. Find the link that allows you to do this. When you have completed the quiz, post a screenshot of your score on your blog.

Virtual Academic Integrity Laboratory - There are a lot of graphics on this tutorial. Make sure you do all the modules then take the quiz. After you submit your name and email address (use your school email for this) you will see a screen with your quiz score. Post a screenshot of this on your blog.

Preparing for the second round of editing

The edits to the spreads Ms. Fossum has checked must be placed in the applicable Summative folder by noon on Friday February 26th. Please put them in the relevant folder as soon as you think they are ready to go. You can let Mr. Arthur know today that you are done so that he can go ahead and print it ready for Ms. Fossum.

Remember that Mr. Arthur will also be printing all of the new Summative spreads that you have submitted. Make sure that you have made edits to these based on my feedback.

You also have a Summative spread due on Monday February 29th. If you are finished making the changes the spreads edited by Ms. Fossum’s, then continue working on this.

Logisitics Letters

We need to communicate additional information to our guests and also get information from them for Security and the Tech Team.

Use this scaffold prepared by last year's Grade 10 students to help you write your logistics letter.

Gold Standard Video Redo

As I am still working on viewing and commenting on your videos, I have extended the deadline for the formative redo for this assessment until Sunday evening.

Make sure you leave the post with your videos up along with all the associated comments. Make a new post on your blog with your revised video.

Summative Assessment now due Sunday 14th

Please place the spread for summative assessment in this folder by Sunday evening.

Your next spread will be due for formative assessment on Friday February 19th, here.

Using the Golden Standard - Practice makes perfect

We are going to imagine that we have been told to write a research essay so that we can practice designing a Golden Standard.

Choose two questions from the list of questions in this document, make sure that no one sitting next to you, or in front/behind, has chosen the same questions as you have.

Start with one of your questions, consider the possible lines of inquiry. Make a list/ graphic organiser for these.

Now design a Golden Standard for this inquiry.

Publish both the lines of inquiry and the Golden Standard on your blog.

Once you have done this... repeat for your second research question.

Invitation letters

If you would like feedback on your invitation letters before you submit the summative, make sure you make them available in the folder before 4pm on Friday.

There is a folder for your final version. Make sure you submit your letter there for summative assessment by 4pm on Sunday.

Gold Standard Video Project

Some of the class have come by to beg for an extension for this project.

I am concerned that you are not using your time in class wisely.

As a result, if you all use your time efficiently in class for the rest of the week as we finish up the invitation letters for Pakistan Day, I will extend the due date for the Gold Standard Video until Sunday at 4pm.

If you do choose to waste time, then the current due date stands for everyone. This is similar to the social responsibility that was a part of the database quiz.

Candid Pages Summative Submission

Please submit your spreads for the candid pages into this folder.

Remember to include evidence of your folder structure along with your best efforts for the summative assessment.

Three spreads for February

Choose the next spread you will be working on for Yearbook. You all have access to the Google Sheet where you signed up for these spreads. Highlight in green the one you choose to work on next.

In order to get the Yearbook completed on time, we need to complete 3 spreads each this month. Keep this in mind when you make your choice of spread to complete.

You will need to submit the completed spread for formative assessment into this folder on Friday February 5th.

Using your Gold Standard

Using the Gold Standard that you developed last week and posted on your blog, find the best website to answer ‘your cousin’s’ worries about plastic bottles and cancer. The website should meet all of the criteria you set up in your Gold Standard.

You will work with the partner that was assigned to you last week.

When you have found the best website, create a video to show how this website meets the criteria in your Gold Standard. To do this well you will need to refer to the information need, your Gold Standard and the website itself.

When you are done, upload the video to a video sharing website and embed it in your blog using the embed code available on the video sharing website.

The video will be graded. I will be looking for your ability to apply the Gold Standard and your analysis of your chosen website.

The video must be embedded in a post on your blog by Wednesday February 3rd.

Creating a Gold Standard for information sources

With a partner and using the following scenario, create a Gold Standard for a website that you would use to address your cousin's concerns. Publish your Gold Standard on your blog.

"Your cousin has heard that you should not drink bottled water that’s been sitting in a hot car because the plastic bottles leak a toxic substance that increases the drinker’s chance of developing cancer.

As breast cancer runs in your family, this is an issue dear to your heart. What characteristics would you want to see (who, what, when,where, why) in a website you would be willing to use to advise your cousin about whether it’s safe to drink the water."

Interested in the IB Diploma next year?

You might like to attend an IB Summer School in the USA this summer. 

You can see the flyer here.

It's bad, really, really bad. But why?

With a partner, visit this website, read it carefully and make a list of all the reasons your teachers would not want you to use it in a research paper.

Summative Assessments due January 20th

Please submit your improved spreads in this folder.

Inviting Speakers for Pakistan Day

Today we will work on writing an invitation letter for our Pakistan Day speakers.

All potential speakers need to be approved by Ms. Fossum before an invitation can be sent. Complete this form with the speaker's details and include the link to the post on your blog that you completed for homework. Ms. Fossum will use this information to make her decision.

All invitation letters will be sent on ISOI letterhead via email (mine) or can be printed for hand delivery (by you).

Today we are going to be working on writing a draft of your letter of invitation. Here is an outline prepared by last year's hosts that you may find useful.

Remember to paragraph appropriately, use formal language and proofread your work.

This is due for submission on Friday January 22nd at 4pm. Place your letter in this folder. Make sure that it is appropriately named so I can identify it as yours.

You are a journalist writing for the Yearbook

Write an article for the Grade 10 page in this year's Yearbook. Describe what it is like to be a student in Grade 10 at ISOI this year. 

What have been the highs and lows? What are the interesting events that you and your classmates will remember because you experienced them together?

Remember that your audience is everyone who reads the yearbook, all students in the school, teachers and parents.

• Write at least two paragraphs.
• Use descriptive language to describe your grade's experiences.
• Use language appropriate for your audience.

The students in the Publication Design class will use your articles as a basis for writing the Grade 10 page in this year's Yearbook.