Shelfari

toc Shelfari link here ===Users organize "virtual bookshelves." Great site to help students organize books they are reading and thoughts and wondering they may be having about these books. Could be very useful to help teachers track students' reading. Students can also use the site to help study for quizzes, tests, and essays.===



=About= The site is a developed by Amazon. This is useful because it contains on information on the many books that Amazon sells.

=Specific Tools=

Track Students' Reading
How to Use: The image below shows how many books students have read and what percent of their goal this is. Every time the student marks a boom as "read" it is noted in their goal meeter. I think this is very useful for both the teachers and students. I know in many classrooms students will be assigned a reading goal and I think this would be a quick way for students and teachers to keep track of their goal and visualize it.

Group Discussion
How To Use: There is an option to join groups and start your own group. For the classroom setting I would suggest only using the "start your own group" feature. This allows the teacher to add who they want to the group and have class discussions in a forum type environment about the readings through the site. I would advise against recommending students to use the already made groups because they are open to the public and there would be no way to censor them.

Summaries and other Resources
How to Use: As you can see in the image below the site offers summaries, character lists, quotes, and other information about the books. There is an option for users to look at this information with or without "spoilers." I think that is a very cool aspect of these resources. The downside to this is that students can look at this information instead of reading but as long as the instructor knows the information the site provides they can be on the lookout for those who did not read. This page will also provide a list of books that have been referenced in the selected book, books that the selected book referenced, and suggested reading based off the selected book. I think that this information could be useful to both the teacher and the students.

Different Shelves
How to Use: The image below shows "My Shelf." Here all my read, plan to read, and reading books are together. This shelf is just my "reading" shelf.

I think that these different shelves are helpful because the teacher and the student can easily see the student's past books, current books, and what they plan to read. It helps keep these in an organized manner without having to constantly flip through a notebook or search for their copies of the books.

Account Settings
How to Use: One of the things that I love about the site is the account settings. This would be vital especially when wanting to keep students information private. I would be wary about not having students account setting on the most private settings possible. The image below shows the different settings that could be set for your profile.

=Implementation Ideas=

English
I have listed most of the ways that this site could be used in class above. I think one of the biggest ways it could be used is by helping students keep track of what they are reading. The site offers them the option to make notes about the books or edit the notes that the book already may have. I know that when I was in school I would constantly have to flip through notebooks when it came time to study for finals and term papers.

Mathematics
The site contains some math related books as well as math textbooks. I do not think this would be the most practical way to help with math education but the option is available.

Science
There are some cool science books on the site. It may be hard to relate them to class but they would be cool for the students to look at them on their own time.

Social Studies
There are many books related to history on the site. I think a cool way to use the site would be to have students look into historical fiction novels and read one that relates to what they are learning in class. They would be able to keep track of main points and similarities between what they are learning through the site.

=Opinions & Feedback=
 * General**
 * English**
 * Mathematics**
 * Science**
 * Mathematics**
 * Science**
 * Science**


 * Social Studies**