I chose to research a place where I plan on moving to and hopefully getting a teaching job sometime soon, North Carolina. I have heard that it is a great state full of teaching opportunities, but I have never been there, so I chose to search information about the state, and North Carolina public schools. The first website that was listed after searching "North Carolina" in Google search was the official North Carolina website. This site had information on information on moving to North Carolina, taxes, events, weather, education, as well as government business. I know that this site is credible because it is a government website due to the .gov in the address. The second website was more of a travel guide with some basic North Carolina facts and events. It has information on each of the regions: the Appalachian Mountains, the piedmont, and the coast. It also has links to places to stay and dine so if I ever want to go visit. This site did have an RSS feed that I subscribed to so that I can be updated and get a feel for whats happening in North Carolina. From what I learned in my CEP 416 class, this site looks credible, despite the fact that it does not have stated authors and is a commercial website. It is updated frequently and may even be created by the Department of Commerce.
To search for information about North Carolina Schools, I searched using the "+" operator, typing in North Carolina + schools to find websites that had to do with North Carolina schools. The first website I found was the website for North Carolina Public Schools. This site was very useful because it has the K-12 Curriculum posted, information about becoming a teacher in NC, statistics, the school calendar, testing, etc. I know that this is a credible source by looking at the "About Us" page. This is an organization called North Carolina Department of Instruction, which is responsible for "implementing the State's public school laws and the State Board of Education's policies and procedures governing pre-kindergarten through 12th grade public education."
I have learned how to more effectively search for topics after learning some useful search operators in class. Usually, researching a topic takes a long time for me to find exactly what I need, but after learning these, I was able to find useful, credible information in no time. I also learned what counts as a credible source after reading a website on evaluating webpages in class.
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5 comments:
That is so exciting that you want to move to North Carolina! I love how you were able to find a website and automatically know that its credible since it ended in a .gov address. Its also nice that you were able to subscribe to that RSS feed so that you will keep getting information that you need to know. I really like how you used the search tools to help you with your search, and how you knew which sites you could trust. Good luck with everything!
What a great research idea for you! One of my major concerns was the same as yours when doing my Google search this week - credibility. It sounds though like you found some really reliable sites to help you become more educated on teaching in North Carolina! What an exciting thing!
What a great idea! Moving to North Carolina would be so much fun. It's such a beautiful state. I think the site you found on North Carolina Public Schools will prove to be very useful in your preparation to apply for a job there. Since your teacher prep is here at MSU, knowing information about the North Carolina schools and the curriculum they implement will give you a boost in the interview process. Putting in the work ahead of time shows principals that you are willing to put forth the effort ahead of time to do the best job possible.
Your post was very interesting to read. It really seemed like you were able to find a lot of good sources. I've been doing a lot of searches like this myself because I am planning to move to Colorado. So I can definitely relate to frustrations with finding useful information. It can be hard to find sites that provide credible information and are relatively easy to navigate. I think knowing the special functions on google will definitely help with finding useful information. Good luck with your research!
This is a great state to move to to become a teacher! There are so many opportunities there, it will be a great move. I really liked the site called Explore North Carolina. They had an RSS feed feature, which was something we talked about in class before, so you could stay up to date on things going on in NC. I also agree with Meredith on North Carolina's Public Schools website. It is key to be informed on the school and district you are interviewing with. It will also be useful to find out the steps to become a certified teacher in North Carolina, as it varies from state to state.
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