Lesson 3- SIRS
1.
When using the SIRS discoverer I was impressed with amount of information provided on the subject of armadillos. I am sure not every subject is this extensive but the variety of reading abilities offered, and photos was impressive. I don't think I saw two of the same photo in all the articles I searched. Some articles even had activities at the end of the article to help with reading comprehension and knowledge of subject matter.

2.
There was a great deal of information in Country Facts as well. I learned how to pronounce the country, its location on a world map, its flag, population size and other interesting facts. As I scrolled down there was also a time lime on the history of the country. The site also provided graphic organizers at easy, intermediate and advance levels to easily organize the information presented. This would be great to use in the classroom as students hear names of unfamiliar countries in current events. They could look up the countries and understand the conflict or situation that may have brought them into the news.

When I first used Maps of the World I expected to see a map of the country I chose, in modern time. I was pleased to discover there was so much more. I was able to see the land expansion of Japan from 1920-1941, the rule of different dynasties 648-1000 circa, maps and photos of several key cities and the impact of the Kobe Earthquake all on the first page. The obvious use of such information is a comparison of a country now to a specified time in history but can also be used as great visual aides for research, gtreat teaching tools for looking at why a certain country has a big fishing industry or why they depend on trade so much. There are many visual learners out there and a map is a great tool for those who like to "see" things.

For my final SIRS Discover challenge, I chose Fiction under the Database feature. It had a wide variety of stories to chose from and it was just that, fiction stories. The story I read was engaging and suited for middle school kids with the age old delima of fitting in or just being yourself. At the end of the story were several activities to engage the reader further. There was critical thinking questions, a writing prompt, questions on theme and character change. What an asset to a teacher, or a parent trying to help their child be successful at reading comprehension. To the right was a key to narrow down your search to a specific genre, whether you were looking for stories of mystery, romance, school or even stories written by kids.

Sirs Issue Researcher
1. I chose the topic "Beauty Pageants" The topic overview gave a good point of reference to why people might find this to ba an issue of debate, sighting the psychological, physical and societal pro's and cons. There was a box breaking down the essential topic of the issue and a list of articles on either side of the debate. Scrollong down the window there was a phenominal amount of articles related to the issue.
 As I looked at the research tools I noticed how well you could narroww the search to focus more on a single issue with in Beauty Pageants. If you didn't know which aspect you wanted to sstick with the "my analysis" tool can help you do that depending on how you answer questions relating to the topic. I believe that students pick a topic and then are overwhelmed with information as each issue can be broken down further. This really helps to gather information when you know what to keep and what to discard. The time line gave a great overview of the history of the issue and how it came about to be controversial.
I wish I had had the note organizer when I was in high school. It makes this part of the research paper easier to edit, more friendly to organize and more fun to make things stand out for the individual.

2. The Cirriculum pathways had  great references to many great subjects. I looked up Language Arts and there was an interactive game of Lord of the Flies, which I failed, but it had been a long time since I had read it. The subject of Language Arts could be narrowed down further, which I looked up drama and fairy tales. There were many references to titles of these genres. You could even narrow down drama from the type of play you wanted to look for.

Lesson 2- Learning Express Library
I was amazed at how many practice categories there were and how easy it was to use. I decided to try the 7th grade math practice test as I have a 7th grader who sometimes struggles with math. My 10th grade son loves a good challenge so he too was behind me answering the questions. When (we) finished the program was very good at explaining how the correct answer was obtained, even if the tester was correct, which is great if you just happened to guess, as I did on some of those questions. (Hey 7th grade math was like 30 years ago). Anyway I am looking forward to becoming more familiar with this program as my son gets ready for the ACT and SAT. This would also be a good daily exercise before the kids hit the not-so-educational games.

The job courses are very helpful and easy to follow. I skimmed through how to make a resume and what you want for your career. This course seems like it would be just what a recent graduate needs when applying for and looking for that next great job, or even someone who wants to change careers.

When looking through the ebooks on a career I kept coming back to my tenth grader and his friends who are very soon going to be entering the work force. These ebooks gave very detailed information regarding the career of their choice, the job duties, the demand, school and work experience choices, it had everything to help a person become more focused on a career choice. I wish I had had this back when I graduated and maybe I wouldn't have changed my major so many times. It is amazing the amount of information the learning express resource provides. I am eager to tell my patrons with HS age kids about it and maybe those who are struggling in school. The number of people who could use this resource is endless. Can't wait to explore it further.