**Personal Inquiry**

Before I started this project, I basically was a novice to the inquiry approach. Oh sure, I knew how to search the world wide web. I knew how to find sources through the library, etc. I knew how to evaluate and organize information. After all, I have been inquiring all my life. However, I didn't realize how to inquire about the world. I didn't realize information inquiry was more than just reading, watching tv, listening to the news. I always have questions about everything, but before this project I didn't really take notice of the small things in life. I didn't look at a rose and wander what kinds of roses there are, or what parts of the country does a rose grow in. In other words, I found by doing this project that I was not a true inquirer. I did not know of the multitude of electronic tools there are available to me and to the world. I didn't even know a blog was. I didnt know about online journaling, pathfinders, an all of the numerous tools Dr. Lamb has shown our class.

The project has definitely helped me to evolve into a more experienced inquirer. I have learned to utilize many sources such as Inspiration, pathfinders, guidelines, and checklists.

During this project, I would have to say that my personal way of inquiry approach has changed. In future projects in my life I will know how to utilize all the sources. This will make my projects go smoothly from here on out.

I will also take with me the processes that students struggle through and the methods I can use to help them.

I can honestly say that I have a new approach to information inquiry!!!

As I stated in the webbing phase this project would connect well with both Indiana standards as well as AASL standards.
I previously listed the AASL standards first these would connect with middle and secondary students. They are as follows:
AASL St. 1-the student's ability to find appropriate information
AASL St. 2-the student's ability to weed out false information from factual information
AASL St.3-the student's ability to utilize the found information and organize it accordingly
In other words, these three AASL standards will require the student search out information, make sure it is factual and without bias, be able to decipher the information, and then organize the information in an appropriate manner.
As one can also see, I found Indiana Academic Standards at the middle school level, sixth grade to be exact.
These standards would apply to my project with a little adaptation.
These standards include:
History
St 1 and St 5
St 1 states: Students will examine the key historic movements, events, and figures, that contributed to the development of the modern American and European from early civilizations to early modern times.
St 5 states:Students will examine the role of individuals and groups in societies of Europe and the Americas, identify connections, among cultures, and trace the influence of cultures of the past on present societies.
The topic of Halloween can fit basically several standards dealing with historical, social, cultural, even geographical backdrops.
For example, when looking at standard 5 a teacher can create a unit/lesson plan dealing with the connection of cultures. For example, we see in my project that Romans merged with the Celts in creating one single holiday, (later Halloween), with both cultures traditions.
In ST1, a unit on Halloween is one key development that spanned early Europe and then traveled to the Americas where it is prevalent today. Thus, Halloween can definitely be a lesson plan that a teacher could adapt to standards.

At the high school level, this topic can be fine tuned and also can meet several standards in history and sociology.
Sociology
St 2 Culture
Sutdents will examine the influence of cultureon the individual and the way cultural transmission is accomplished.
St 2.1 Students will define key components of a culture including knowledge, language, communication, customs, values, norms, and physical objects.

Thus, one can see that the Halloween can be used at all grade levels and in several disciplines.

The project that I have completed could be adapted to a lesson plan in the classroom. With Halloween approaching, it could be a planned unit in either a history or sociology class. It also could be a project developed in elementary school. At the higher levels, a teacher could give the students a broad topic of Halloween. Through brainstorming as a class subtopics would be discussed. Staying within the boundaries of the standards of the particular subject, (history), a student could choose a subtopic and possibly discuss either the historical background or if in sociology could discuss how customs of Halloween influence society. To stay in the guidelines of AASL standards, the teacher can give the students options on research by implementing one of the information search process models. Giving the students guidelines and worksheets on the process of these models would be most helpful to the overall process. Also, it would be fun to allow the student a wide range of choices when creating their final projects. For example, the list of choices that Dr. Lamb displayed on the waving page. Some of those were hyper studio, power point, posters, skits,web pages, etc.

Having the students create diverse exciting and fun projects leading up to Halloween would be great. It not only would incorporate necessary standards but would keep the classroom alive and fun.

The teacher and media specialist could collaborate and create a positive learning experience for the student.

Sources:
Indiana Department of Education: C. 2005. Indiana Academic Standards. http://ideanet.doe.st.us/

My project went really well. I was able to choose a topic fairly quickly, narrow that topic, find authentic information, assessthe information, create a final product, and evaluate it. I wished that I had more time. I wished that I had some primary sources. I wished that I could delve into all of the interesting information that I found whe I was researching the origins of Halloween. For example, there is a new movement of Halloween in the adult world. For example, Halloween is big in the gay community. Halloween has taken on a new group of adult party revelers that liken it to mardi gras. This information is something that I never knew about. I don't know if I like that though.
The strengths in my project was the experience of doing research for several years. The weaknesses were many. For one, I was not used to being so heavily involved in the process part. I am used to the basic old fashioned research project. I was not used to recording my process and the thought that goes into it. This, was at times daunting and time consuming. However, I can see the inside of a student's minds now as they work through a project.

My personal inquiry experiences can easily be like children and young adults who come into the classroom. I had time issues, trouble with synthesizing information, problems at first in narrowing my topic, and trouble with presenting my power point presentation on the web.
I am unlike students in the classroom because I have probably had a lot more years of experience then they do. Thus, it is essential for the teacher to keep this in mind when students are engaged in a project.

Assessing the process and product of the student's project is crucial. The teacher should use assessment tools to check each stage of the project. Personally, I prepared my own rubric and checked off each area as I proceeded through the project. It would be beneficial for the teacher to create a

As I reflect on all that I just accomplished, I can take with me a couple of things. One, is that I will remember what the student goes through with not only the project itself but with the process as well. I will also remember that the process is as important as the project in a world exploding with information.

Sources:
Callison, Daniel. Keywords, Concepts, and Methods for Information Age Instruction:A Guide to Teaching Information Inquiry. Baltimore:LMS Associates. 2002 (270).

According to Dr. Lamb, "Weaving consists of organizing ideas, creating models, and formulating plans. It focuses on the application, analysis, and synthesis of information"(Information Inquiry).
As I began the process of weaving my project together, I never realized how much thought and work can go into the actual process of creating and researching a project. I usually jump into a project without much thought to the process. This is a totally new learning experience for me. It almost seems at times too much work. However, I am finding a wealth of new information as I go through the key steps of the process of my project.
I am tired and at times frustrated in the weaving and wrapping portion of the process. As I continue to analyze and evaluate the information before me, I finally begin to formulate plans in my head to finish this project.
At this point I have finalized my thoughts and ideas into exactly what I wish to project to the audience. From the wondering phase to the weaving phase, I basically started to focus my project on the background of Halloween. As one can see, in the wondering phase, I had questions about the traditions of Halloween, where the pumpkin came from, and the commercialism behind Halloween. However, I realized that this was too broad in the webbing phase and narrowed my topic considerably. Thus, I have weaved my way through key ideas on my topic of past and present day Halloween.
To organize my information into a credible project I attempted to engage the help of transformation scaffolds. According to Dr. Lamb's weaving page, "Transformation scaffolds assist learners in transforming information into new forms"(Information Inquiry). However, I ran short on time and did not find anything, for example, ( a ven diagram, spreadsheet), that would be helpful for my project. This is one factor that the student would probably need guidance. In other words, the student would need to utilize the best methods available to organize and synthesize their particular projects.
I already utilized Inspiration in my wondering phase and found it most helpful. According to Teacher Tap website, Advantages of Graphic Organizers are numerous.
"These organizers are a way to encourage students to think about information in new ways. With graphic organizers, you remove the words and focus on the connections. Second, they are a great tool for activities that ask students to review concepts and demonstrate their understanding. They can easily make changes and take different perspectives. In other words, it helps students clarity their thinking. Third, a huge amount of information can be shared on a single picture to provide the "big view" of a topic. Fourth, it's easy to edit, revise, and quickly add to a visual map. Fifth, graphic organizers can be used as a nice planning tool from information identification to product development. Finally, they are great for visual thinkers or those that need to practice their visual thinking"(Teacher Tap).
I did not use a graphic organizer for the weaving phase but did refer back to my graphic organizer in the wondering phase.
Since my topic involved a timeline of events. I decided the best way for me to organize my information was to record it chronologically. For this, I created my timeline/research guide in the webbing phase. I then moved on to what some consider the hard part and that is analysis and synthesis of the information.
According to Daniel Callison, "Analysis and synthesis differ in application and purpose. We analyze information before us and then we synthesize that information into our own research creating new material"(105).
As I began to weave together information, I found the synthesizing process painful. For students of different learning levels this task can be nerve wracking. To help students in the synthesis process a teacher can aiding the student in organizing their information around their topic questions. A K-W-L chart may be useful in this area s well.
For this part of the process, I reviewed my notes, my inspiration chart, my research guide, and my website. I found that I could put together pertinent information that all areas had in common. In other words, I began to see a repeating pattern. For example, all the information I had gathered from different sources had the same chronological order, discussed the same tradtions, cultures, and peoples. This helped me greatly, because I could see the project beginning to take shape.

As I weave my way in and out of the process I also reviewd and used Dr. Lamb's review questions. I found this useful and this would be a good checklist for students.

They are:
-Have the most important questions been addressed?

Answer: I believe so, I have asked the who, what, when, where questions revolving around the history behind Halloween.
-Have any new questions arisen?

Answer: Yes and no...just curious questions that would not pertain to my project. For example, I debated whether or not to discuss the time period of the Salem witch trials. I realized this would be an entirely new project with too much information.
-Is there extra or repeated information that can be eliminated?

Answer: None that I can see.
-Where are the "holes" in my understanding?

Answer:Not really sure..I think I have a pretty good grasp on my understanding.
-Are there other ways to view the information or perspectives I should be considering?

Answer: Yes, most definitely. This information can be viewed with a religious perspective, through the eyes of children, social perspective, through the eyes of adults only, and acultural perspective. However, I am doing a striclty non-biased factual background on Halloween.
(Information Inquiry).

Sources:

Callison, Daniel A. Key Words, Concepts and Methods for Information Age Instruction:A guide Teaching Information Inquiry. Baltimore:LMS Associates (105).

Lamb, Dr. Annette. C. 2005. Information Inquiry:Weaving.http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic73.htm

After the weaving phase, I began to wrap up my project. I felt the best way to display the findings of my project was by developing a power point presentation. I felt this was the best way to reveal my research on the origins and evolution of Halloween. I also am familiar with power point and immediately felt at ease. In other words, I was not going into something unfamiliar. Providing students with ideas of how to create their projects seems reasonable. Some students would probably be dumbfounded if no direction was given on how to put their information into a final product.
However, a list of possible products would allow the student some leeway. For example, the teacher could provide numerous ways a student could finalize their product. These could include a power point presentation, a video clip, a web page, brochure, or a skit. Whatever the product it is essential to choose the right product for the gathered information.

My final project, Halloween:Origins and Beyond, includes a group of slides providing information spanning from the beginning of Halloween to present day Halloween. I also created a survey asking people what they do to celebrate Halloween today. I used MS word to create my chart. I would have to consider who my audience would be fro this phase. My audience is my peers(adults), so I was able to construct my power point around information that an adult would understand while keeping the project fun. I beleive if I were to post this to the web children could understand my presentation as well. Students in the wrapping phase would have to keep in mind who their audience would be.

According to Dr. LAmb, "Successful products start with a good plan. There are many ways to plan including discussions, outlines, storyboard, and sketches. Some students need more help than others in getting started. It's a good idea to provide guidelines. You may also wish to provide templates or other starting points such as clipart resources.(Information Inquiry).

For my project, I thought and thought on how I could present this information. This information was not a "problem" that I had to figure out, nor something scientific, nor demonstrative. It was just recording historical facts. If I had chosen to research the religious ramifications of Halloween, then I would have had to readjust my thinking, organization and presentation of my product. Additionally, if I researched something like, "how to carve a pumpkin," that would have been presented differently. For example, I would have created a web page showing pictures of the step by step process.

When producing the power point slides, I had to organize my thoughts while reviewing my notes. This is painful for me at times. I wanted to develop each slide in chronological order and place pertinent information on the correct slide. In this process, I found my self rearranging slides several times as I realized that I was stepping out of order, "putting the cart before the horse," if you will.

The teacher and media specialist can aide the student in the wrapping procees by providing tools to get the ball rolling.
For example, Dr. Lamb has indicated there are several tools that can be utilized called production scaffolds.
These are:
Planning Tools. Storyboards, notecards, diagrams, outlines, scripts, and other tools can make planning a product easier. Provide organizational tools to help students plan their products.
Templates. Consider providing students with the basic structure of the project, so they simply need to fill in the information or ideas. Provide templates for Hyperstudio stacks, powerpoint presentations, Inspiration documents, word processing documents, and other publications.
Prompts and Starters. Preselect colors, backgrounds, clipart, quotes, sound clips, statistics, story starters, and other useful resources that might be incorporated into a product. Students can use these to generate ideas or save time while putting the project together.
Guidelines. Provide students with guiding questions or ideas for creating a particular type of production. For example, list hints for sound editing or ideas for writing reports.
Tutorials. Provide step-by-step instructions for simple and complex technology tasks that might be helpful in creating products. For example, you might provide directions for making an imovie or copying a picture from the web.
Samples and Models. Give students some examples and nonexamples that can be used as models for developing their products(Information Inquiry).

As I wrap up this project, I begin to direct my thoughts on who I want to convey my presentation to. This will take me into the waving stage.

Sources: Lamb, Dr. Annette. C. 2005. Information Inquiry for Teachers. Wrapping. http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic73.htm