Thing Thirteen - Subscription Databases
When I did a poetry unit with my studetns, which I detailed in earlier posts, I itilized some of the subscription databases. I made a handout with instructions for the students regarding how to access the four specific sites (Grolier, EBSCOhost, ProQuest and Gale Group) from on- or off-campus. Unfortunately, none of the passwords I had were current, so I have a hundred and twenty students walking around with useless usernames and passwords. I'm still waiting to hear back from the help desk regarding this issue. Enough complaining though. The sites, especially ProQuest and Grolier, were invaluable for my students. They also loved using the sites for a number of reasons.
First, they loved that the citations were already done for them. Second, many of them actually used the bibliography from Grolier to find more detailed information about their topics. This was completely unexpected by me. Third, I think many of them were surprised that they liked the fact that they could rely on the information found on the sites. Grolier, in particular, breaks its information up into small, workable chunks, which I think was also beneficial to the students.
Fortunately for me, I was already familiar with these sites and a few others (New York Times, for instance), from doing research projects of my own in college. I remember that I didn't know about these sites for the first few years I was in college. When I found out that my school subscribed to them and they would have been available all along, I was quite angry. So, I think I come across as more excited than I should be to the students when telling them about these resources. Plus, I know how to use many of them well (Gale Group still gives me trouble, but most of the rest are fine), which may have contributed to nearly all of my students using these resources for their first research project of the year, and it turned out quite well for them.
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Questions: Do you include writing poetry as well as reading and studying poetry? Have any of the students come up to you after you've finished that unit and offer an unsolicited original poem?
Yes, I do include writing poetry as a part of the unit. The students must write four different kinds of poems (free verse, ode, idyll and villanelle), but have the option of writing more in other parts of the unit. They are ultimately creating a "Poetry Packet," which they are able to customize from several possible assignments. And yes, I have received unsolicited poetry from several students, some of which is quite good.
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