Earth Day Resources

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." – Dr. Seuss.

Today is Earth Day--celebrate Earth Day in your classroom today and every day. Take a look at some of these resources:

Earth Day Canada Official Website

EcoKids (Earth Day Canada)

Some great resources here: from colouring pages to activities.

Also, check out Celebrating Earth Day with EcoKids for some more background on Earth Day and links to activity ideas.

Free Educational Resources for Educators (Environment Canada)

Lesson plans and teacher resources for ages 5 through 18 on topics such as nature and wildlife, water conservation, climate change and more.

Ready, Set, Green! Tips, Techniques and Resources from Ontario's Educators (PDF)

Prepared by the Ontario Ministry of Education to support effective environmental education and environmentally sound practices in Ontario schools.

For great books, e-books and other resources in our libary, try searching using keywords like sustainable, environmental education, environment, conservation, etc.

Some to try:

Character and environment : a virtue-oriented approach to environmental ethics / Ronald L. Sandler.

9TH FLOOR OF LIBRARY
GE 42 S26 2007

Understanding sustainable development / John Blewitt

9TH FLOOR OF LIBRARY
HC 79 E5 B58 2008

The David Suzuki reader / David Suzuki

9TH FLOOR OF LIBRARY
GF 50 S89 2003

Go green, live rich : 50 simple ways to save the Earth and get rich trying / David Bach
POPULAR READING 2ND FLOOR
Shelved alphabetically by author

50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice

From The Chronicle of Higher Education, Geoffrey K. Pullum writes, "April 16 is the 50th anniversary of the publication of a little book that is loved and admired throughout American academe. Celebrations, readings, and toasts are being held, and a commemorative edition has been released.

I won't be celebrating.

The Elements of Style does not deserve the enormous esteem in which it is held by American college graduates. Its advice ranges from limp platitudes to inconsistent nonsense. Its enormous influence has not improved American students' grasp of English grammar; it has significantly degraded it."

Read more

do you twitter?

I first read about Twitter in a discarded newspaper I was reading on a shuttle bus to the Baltimore airport after a conference. I remember turning to my colleague and saying "Have you heard about this twitter thing? I can't imagine how this could be of any use to me!" And well, I'm still not sure, but it seems I hear about twitter almost every day.

Briefly put, twitter is a social messaging service that lets others see your short updates in real-time. The Brock Library has at twitter account, and you can follow along here: http://twitter.com/brock_library.

Twitter is even being used in education circles--some links that explore this:

See this post on using twitter in academia.

50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Education

Twitter Tweets for Higher Education

I just signed up for my twitter account today (jen_thiessen), so I will hopefully learn something and continue sharing with you my twitter discoveries.

I'm back!

Just a short post to let everyone know that I am back from my maternity leave. I have reduced my workload by a bit, so I will be on campus Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, although I will likely be around on other days as well. You can always reach me by email--I check it an awful lot and it is probably the best way to get in touch with me.

I will be looking after most areas of Education, but Karen Bordonaro will be the contact person for the M.Ed. ISP and the PMPCP. Karen can be reached at ext. 4423 or kbordonaro@brocku.ca.

Please contact me if you have any questions about Library resources, if you need any help with your Library research, or if you have any suggestions for the collection. I can be reached at ext. 3573 or by email jthiessen@brocku.ca. You can also chat with me through Meebo if I am online.

Cheers!

where the wild things came from

From slate.com: a slideshow on the history of children's book illustration in the U.S. Click here to view.

black-focused schools

There has been some controversy recently over plans to open a black-focused school in the Toronto District School Board. For more info:

NEWS ARTICLES:
Black-focused school debate set (Toronto Star, Nov. 7, 2007)
Black only, but don't use the 'S' word (Toronto Star, Nov. 10, 2007)
Community turns out to discuss black-focused schools (CBC, Nov. 9, 2007)

ARTICLES:
George J Sefa Dei (2006, July). BLACK-FOCUSED SCHOOLS: A CALL FOR RE-VISIONING. Education Canada, 46(3), 27-31.

BOOKS:
Reconstructing 'dropout' : a critical ethnography of the dynamics of Black students' disengagement from school / George J. Sefa Dei (9th floor, LC 145 C2 R42 1997)

Black education : a transformative research and action agenda for the new century / edited by Joyce E. King (9th floor, LC 2699 B53 2005)

Black Canadians : history, experience, social conditions / Joseph Mensah (9th floor, FC 106 B6 M45 2002 )

library workshops for faculty (staff, grad students, RAs and TAs welcome, too!)

Interested in learning more about library resources and services? Attend one of our Workshops for Faculty! These 80-minute, hands-on sessions are held on Wednesdays throughout November and December. We’ll bring the coffee!

Register at: http://www.library.brocku.ca/faculty_workshops/

Impact Factors and Journal Citation Reports
Wednesday, November 14, 10am
Are you choosing a vessel for publication? Do you want to know how often a particular journal is cited compared to other journals in the field or which are the "hottest journals"? In this hands-on session geared towards all disciplines, learn how ISI’s Journal Citation Reports, Cited Reference searches, and Google Scholar can provide you with some very useful information for grants and publishing.
Location: e-classroom (TH 253)
Instructors: Marcie Jacklin, Jennifer Thiessen

ARTstor
Wednesday, November 21, 10am
ARTstor is a repository for over 500, 000 digital images, including photographs, paintings, architecture, and sculpture and more. Come to this session to learn how to use images with lectures or enhance presentations.
Location: e-classroom (TH 253)
Instructors: Laurie Morrison, Keri Cronin

Government e- Documents
Wednesday, November 28, 10am
This workshop will provide an overview of how to access Canadian federal and Ontario provincial electronic documents. Areas to be covered include parliamentary, departmental and justice related web resources. Come and improve your skills in using digital government documents!
Location: e-classroom (TH 253)
Instructor: Kevin Manuel

Special Collections
Wednesday, December 5, 10am
Looking for primary records or rare books for your research? Discover strategies and databases that can help you find these unique resources and learn what materials are available at Brock University. (Coffee will not be served at this session).
Location: Special Collections, 10th floor (Library)
Instructor: David Sharron, Head of Special Collections and Archives

Search Alerts and Journal Alerts
Wednesday, December 12, 2pm
Do your research while you sleep! Keep up with journal articles in your research area by having your favourite searches and table of contents of journals sent to your inbox or feed reader.
Location: e-classroom (TH 253)
Instructors: Justine Cotton, Jennifer Thiessen