Reference+Lesson+Plans+LIS+5322

**Directories**: __College Major Research__-High School Students 10th-12th

Using completeplanet.com, Best 376 Colleges book, and the Book of Majors 2012 in the library, have the students select one or several college majors that interest them. Students can also use the Book of Majors 2012 from the Almanacs section. You will need to discuss these in class ahead of any trips to the library. This research is important because some students may not realize that their major is not available at every college. Have the students write out a plan for attending college: technical, four year, private, or trade. Their plan should include the colleges or universities they are interested in; then they should include what majors they are interested in pursuing. The students should pick at least five colleges and five majors to research. Their research should show which school has which majors and what the average cost of attendance is for that specific school. Have the students look at both in state and out of state universities when they are choosing which schools to research.

**Almanacs, Yearbooks, Handbooks**: __Using MLA Handbooks__ 9th-12th

Give the students a list of sources including books, periodicals, encyclopedias, websites, database articles, book series, and any other print or nonprint material suitable for the class. Have the students find the sources in the library; check to make sure all sources listed are available first. The students should use the MLA Handbook to produce correct bibliography citations for a set number of the sources listed. After the students create their own lists have them switch lists with a partner. The partner should proofread the citations using the MLA Handbooks and notate any mistakes found. Have the students then work with their partners after the proofreading to compile a final list of correct citations. This lesson can serve as an introduction to MLA formats and the students should retain their citations as references for other projects needing citations throughout the year.

**Biographic Sources**: __Famous Obituaries__ 7th-10th

Start the lesson by reading an obituary of a famous person, an example could be Elvis, then have the students discuss what kinds of information they heard. The class should make notes about the biographical information included in the famous obituary and then compare the famous one to obituaries found in the local newspaper. Are there differences? Similarities? After discussing both types of obituaries in class each student is assigned a famous historical person. You could pick the person for the student or let them choose the person the would prefer to study. The student will then write an obituary for the famous person using the criteria discussed in class. Resources available in the library for this project include the 100 Most Influential Series. In addition the student will write an additional obituary for themselves pretending they lived a long full life to the age of 99. In the self obituary have them think about certain things like: would they have a family, what kind of work would they have done, where did they live, did they discover something important, did they write a book, did they become famous. Explain to the students that obituaries should describe the who, what, when, and where of their lives. For fun you could have the students dress in black and attend a class "funeral" where they read their obituaries out loud. The same could be done with the famous person's obituary as well. This lesson would give students time to investigate biographical resources to find information on their assigned famous person.

Schichtel, Nan. "The Final Word." //Learning to Give//. LearningtoGive.org, n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2011. []

**Dictionaries**: __Word Journals__ 7th-12th

Students will practice using a dictionary by creating their own personal word journal. The word journal can be used in two ways. One, to introduce words to the entire class. Students can be given a list of words from an upcoming assignment. As they read the assignment, story, poem, or article, they add any unfamiliar words to the list. The second option is to allow students to make their own list of unfamiliar words as they read a story. Students can be encouraged to keep a small piece of paper inside their book to write down unfamiliar words while they read. This will prevent them from ignoring words or jumping to a dictionary right away. The students must then complete a power point presentation of 15 self-selected words from their word journal. The lesson plan states that each slide should include “one word, its definition, and a sentence using that word correctly. Students must also include clip art related to the word.” This project can continue on throughout the year with the word journal. Students should be encouraged to continue the process. To ensure student participation you might want to have the students do multiple presentations at various points throughout the year. Student are not only learning new vocabulary but they are also keeping themselves current on dictionary usage.

McLaughlin, Kristina. “Using a Word Journal to Create a Personal Dictionary- Read Write Think.” //International Reading Association. n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2011.// [|http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/using-word-journal- create-20.html?tab=1#tabs]

**Encyclopedias:** __Class Specific Encyclopedia__ 9th-12th

Students should work together as a class to develop a "class encyclopedia" over a various historical topic, ex the Civil Right movement, the American Revolution. Each Student is responsible for a famous event, person, place, or item crucial to the time period chosen. The students should be educated on encyclopedia format and use any encyclopedias available in the library as examples to show students how to achieve the format that most encyclopedias follow. Brainstorm as a class, what type of information is included, how detailed is the information, who was involved. Once students have a firm grasp on the layout and form of encyclopedia articles they should be assigned to write their own encyclopedia article about the topic they were previously given. Once all the articles have been written they should be arranged alphabetically to create a class encyclopedia.

**Geographic Sources**: __Pirate Routes and Maps__-Jr. High Students 7th-8th

This lesson teaches the students about pirates and the trade routes they used. It also incorporates aspects of the slave trade and slave trade routes. The students brainstorm words that come to mind when they think of pirates and then the class uses the National Geographic article on the ship Whydah at [] to learn about the triangular trade and it's importance. The class can also use encyclopedia articles, Funk & Wagnell's online encyclopedia will be available, to discover more about specific famous pirates. Also, the students will research pictures of pirates, do they look like the words they brainstormed at the beginning of class? Once trade routes and pirate activities have been discussed the students can use their world maps to draw out pirate routes around the world and label countries and ports they frequented. The resources in the library for this part of the activity will again be Funk & Wagnell's as well as the Britannica World Atlas and the Oxford Atlas of World History. Students can also draw their own treasure maps and decide which route they would have taken and plot out where they would have hidden their treasure. Geographic skills focused on during this lesson include acquiring, organizing, and analyzing geographic information.

"Pirate Maps." //Xpeditions Archive Lesson Plans.// National Geographic. 2008. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. <span style="color: #b5260d; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[]

<span style="color: #b5260d; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Government Resources:** __Quarter History__ 7th-9th

<span style="color: #b5260d; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This lesson is from the United States Mint website and deals with teaching students about early American history through state quarters. <span style="color: #b5260d; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Give each student one of the quarters from one of the 50 states. Have them first brainstorm about what they think they symbols on the back of their coin mean. After brainstorming together have each student then research the actual meanings behind their coins using information provided by the U.S. Mint's website and any other sources available in the library. After working on their projects, each student will present their quarter to the class with a description of what's on the quarter, the story behind it, and why they think that that particular design was chosen. If gearing this assignment to Jr. High Students, they could also illustrate what their version of their state's quarter would look like and what should be included on the quarter.

<span style="color: #b5260d; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"Putting It All Together: Early American History." //50 State Quarters Program Lesson Plans.// United States Mint. 2004. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. <span style="color: #b5260d; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[]

<span style="color: #b5260d; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Primary Resources:** __A Day in the Life a Child Worker__ 10th-12th

<span style="color: #b5260d; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Using primary sources from the Library of Congress, Our Documents, and other online primary source websites, the students will take on a semester long project to understand the system, effects, and outcomes of child labor in the United States. Their task will be to discover what types of jobs children under 16 held between 1880 and 1920. Students should create a presentation that shows the type of labor children usually participated in, where the highest concentrations of child labor were, and photos of child laborers. They should also work to find and integrate into their project; a short video, sound clip, or government document. After the initial research project has been completed, each student should be assigned a "job" typical of the time period that a child might have worked. The student will then develop a background story to explain why they have the job they do, what family circumstances forces them to work, how much they get paid, and what the specifics and hazards of the job are. After the auto biographies have be turned in, the class should then turn its attention towards labor reform. Study the government documents available as a class to determine what led to reform and what were some of the defining moments of the labor reform movement.

<span style="color: #b5260d; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"Child Labor and the Building of America." //Library of Congress Lesson Plans//. Library of Congress. n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. <span style="color: #b5260d; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[]