Thing 6 - Tchr Guide to Resrch Pro Calc

Teaching research is harder than doing it for myself; I already know how to narrow a topic and love finding the answers to questions. For students, however, there are some problems - they don't know how to narrow topics enough, or sometimes what they're interested in. This teacher's guide gives me the resources to have students think and plan about what they are looking for.

I don't use research on a formal basis much in Spanish class; we work primarily on vocabulary and usage by listening, speaking, reading and writing skills at a level where the only research done is to find sites that reinforce what we do in class. Students are not to the point where they are finding answers to detailed questions that are found in history, science or other classes. We use contemporary sources such as newspapers, holiday sites, audio, video, etc. that do not require a narrowing down to a specific question. It is, however, valuable to know that these sources exist, and I am now able to help students whom I discover have questions from another class about how to do their research.

As for keeping sane to do the planning, etc of research projects - the sanity comes after the first time a research project is attempted with students. Keeping detailed records and notes on the topics used, where resources are, etc are essential to managing the project for the following years.

Support from other members of the department and the media specialist are essential to be successful in research.