Final Product

Marble PowerpointI have finished my product.  I think sometimes it takes more time to assemble the product than it does to research.  It is nice to see what you have learned and accomplished.  I feel like I found out a lot about marbles and more.  I added in pictures to my powerpoint to make it better for a visual learner and more eye appealing.  I hope everyone is able to understand the history, marble information, and how to play a little better.  I am glad to know how to play marbles now.  Isn’t that sad that I collect marbles and didn’t even know how to play.

Important about finding information

marble think sheetI have run into some problems about finding information.  When I search for the word ‘marbles’, I come up with things refering to marble flooring.  I have to be careful what words I use to search.  Also, I have tried different search engines like google, answer.com, dogpile, and inspire.net.  By the way, here is an example of how I am organizing my information and resources.

Organizing and finding

I have been surfing the web since I couldn’t find anything at my local library.  I have read through some and copy and pasted them to a Word document so I can refer back to them and cite them when I use them.  I am finding that many write ups about the history of marbles vary.  I do not know who to trust or if anyone really knows the history.  I am going to share the different histories in my final product.  I could’ve went to the next town’s library but it really irks me when you have to pay to use their library.  All libraries should be free. 

Questions

I am going to now write my questions that I need to answer so I can organize my thoughts and research process.  I am learning a lot but I feel so bombarded with information, I need to know when I am comfortably satisfied with my findings to stop in order to have a completed project.  I think I am going to create a powerpoint slide show of my findings.  I am not sure still but that is how I am planning to share my information.  Questions:

Who created marbles?

What marbles are the cheapest and why?

Which marbles are rare and why?

What are some of names of the designs in marbles?

How do you play marbles?

I like being able to use my own questions.  Danny Callison (Blue Book) said that creating your own questions is part of the inquiry and some students need help at the elementary age to produce their own questions.  Students are used to answering someone else they sometimes forget how to create something on their own.  When I created my own questions, I felt like I was in charge of my information. 

Webbing and Weaving

I am still having trouble finding enough on my topic.  My biggest resource has been the internet.  I feel like I am getting information but it is all to much.  I am going to write down a few questions I want to know and then add a few things in that I found interesting about my topic.  I just feel like I am being bombarded with information and I don’t know when I need to stop.  I think this is how a student might feel during free inquiry.  They may not know when to stop.  Information is always changing so it is a never-ending process.  They should call free inquiry the never-ending inquiry.   I can understand why it is not a linear process (Stripling).  You have to continue to evaluate and reform questions and thoughts throughout the process.

I am going to go back and write out a few questions I want to know.  Then I will be able to really see how much I am learning and when I feel I have received enough info to comment on.  Next step will be to do more weaving and then wrap it up!

Resources

I am having trouble finding resources.  I know there are many websites I can go to but I would like to have more book resources.  I found one at the local library but it is not very informative.  I am going to keep looking.  I now feel like I am back in high school or college when it was hard to find information that I need.  Right now, I am also working on a portfolio for my teaching license.  I guess after you go to college for 4 years, complete student teaching and pass all the required tests, they don’t believe you are ready to be a teacher.  Now you have to complete a portfolio the second year of your teaching career.  I have decided to do an inquiry assignment much like the one we are doing now.  I have fifth graders and I am going to try to make it a little easier for them by helping them find resources and making sure they are choosing a topic in which they will find many resources.  I do not want them to be frustrated with this assignment.  I would like for them to enjoy themselves by learning more about their topic and not spending time and mind on finding resources.

Topic

My topic is going to be marbles.  I have just started collecting marbles.  I think they are very interesting and love things with color.  They are easy to decorate with.  I just put them in jars around my house.  I am going for the ‘country’ theme.  I am a new homeowner and I am eager to make my house a home.  Even though marbles are neat to look at their history is interesting and each marble is named something different.  Since I am collecting marbles, I would also like to know how much they are worth.  Many times I will go to an antique store and they will be over $20 dollars for a small baggy of marbles.  I want to know what makes them so expensive and the most rare kind.  When you are collecting something, I think it is good to know the history, the present and the future of that item.  I am excited about this project.  I can’t believe I said that!  That rarely happens!  Thanks Annette for letting us do something that means something to us.

Marbles

I hope this goes well.  It is my first time blogging.  If there are any helpful hints I should know, please comment!