Wrap Up

What was your biggest discovery?

My biggest discovery was that Marvel has changed tremendously. And I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to use it properly. I had tried to use this resource quite a few years ago and ran away from it because it was not kid-friendly, but the new look and feel is much more friendly to kids and adults. Some my favorite databases for school that we viewed were Britannica K-12 and K-2, the Learning Express and the NoveList K-8 Plus. The Britannica series has been very useful so far this year when I teach researching to my third and fourth graders. The younger version is very helpful for my K-2 students because it has more multimedia options for them. The Learning Express was a great option for teachers to use to prepare their students for upcoming tests. I love that they have different regional options for the tests, too. The NoveList K-8 Plus is a great resource for teachers also. This helps them find appropriate books for their students by age, Lexile reading level and genre. What a great tool for teachers and students to use. Personally, I really liked the Health Source and Medline Plus database because I have an autoimmune disease and these two resources offer many different reading options for my researching. I can not only look up my disease and find out the latest news, I can also look up any medicines I am going to try or what homeopathic options are available. I love that resource. I also liked the Newspapers and Maine Newstand database because I don’t always have time to read the newspaper and then I will hear about an article someone has read and I want to read it. This resource gives me that option. I was able to look back about 4 or 5 years and view an article about Bee Venom therapy that I have never read. I found out some real interesting things about it that I did not know.

How will you promote or use the resources with your patrons, colleagues or students?

I have already used the Britannica resources with students at both my elementary schools that I work at since we started this class. I also have shown a few of my colleagues some of the resources available to them for free. I think a good way for me to promote this site is to either have a class on it during a workshop day or spend time showing it off at a staff meeting. The word does need to be spread about this because it is so much easier to use and it is such a valuable, free resource for educators and students. Too many people are unaware of Marvel. I think it is so valuable that more families need to know about this also. This is where promotion becomes more difficult because the connection between home and school is not a real strong one for many schools and many families in my area still do not have internet access. I will definitely have a link to this site from my portaportal site (bookmarking site) so home access can be easier. I will also keep using it as a resource for my students to use during research time and keep telling them that this resource is free and accessible from home for free. Not too many things in this life are free, so we need to take full advantage of things that are free, especially when they are so valuable to many.