Watching Phase Model Connections

I can relate to both Lamb's first 8W's information inquiry stage as well as Kuhlthaus Model of the Information Search Process.  I believe I was observant of my surroundings at home as well as in the world when I was initially exploring (WATCHING) a topic to investigate further for my class project.
In addition, I can definitely relate to Kuhlthaus Model of the Information Search Process (ISP).  The first stage is Initiating a Research Assignment.  According to Carol Kuhlthau in her book entitled, "Guided Inquiry- Learning in the 21st Century", "The task of the first stage is to prepare for the decision of selecting a topic.  Students often feel apprenhensive and uncertain about what is expected of them.  Some students...described feeling depressed and bogged down and overwhelmned at the amount of work ahead." (Caspari, Kuhlthau, & Maniotes, p. 18).  I did feel alittle lost and worried about this assignment because I am not sure what to expect and also because I have high standards for myself.  The second stage is Selection.  Once again , I can relate to what Kuhlthau said about this stage, "During the period when students are uncertain about what topic to choose, they may become somewhat anxious.  After they decide on a research topic, they often experience a brief sense of elation, followed by apprenhension att he extent of the task ahead" (Caspari, Kuhlthau, & Maniotes, p. 18).  I definitely was anxious when I couldn't  figure out what topic to choose for my blog.  I ws relieved (or so I thought) after I picked my topic but then after I finished my first entry, I became stressed and 'apprenhensive' once again.

Watching Phase...

Okay, I am here.  It is better late than never, right? A topic!!  I had to think long and hard to find an issue and/or subject I was interested in and hadn’t pursued further information on as yet.  Well, I am interested in a lot of different things so I had to dig deep to think about the topics/subjects that I have been interested in but for a variety of reasons, I have never fully investigated. 

Well, I am interested in going vegan for myself and eventually for the whole family.  Also I am interested in recycling, raising chickens, environmental issues such as reducing waste, living off the land, creating my own power grid, using environmental friendly ingredients to clean my house and  making my own laundry detergent.  Also making compost in my back yard.  Then I have been interested in making a birthday cake for one of my children.  Another one is Karen Blixen’s “Out of Africa” because I have always wanted to go there to see her home and experience the country and culture of the region.  Then I have wanted to teach my three year old the German language.  The last one is finding out the pros and cons of owning a hybrid vehicle.

Well, I had to decide and I initially didn’t know which one to choose for this assignment.  Once again I had to ‘peel back’ another layer to figure out what direction I needed to go for this assignment.

I started thinking about my children and their home environment because they have recently been sick.  All of my children have allergies, and are asthmatic.  They all have sensitive skin ranging from hives to eczema.  It is due to these health concerns that I have been wanting to investigate alternatives to using harsh chemicals to clean in the house which I constantly have to do because I have two toddlers in the house.  Whenever toxic chemicals is used in the house it has to either be done during the night when the children are sleeping or the windows  have to be open which isn’t practically when it is cold outside.  I need to add that I have the same health issues as my children do which has made it difficult at times to clean using those toxic ingredients.  The smell of Lysol has triggered more than one asthma attack even when I have worn a mask and gloves!  Therefore, I have decided to pursue using environmental friendly ingredients to clean my house topic for my blog.  My goal is to locate resources that will give me recipes for non- toxic household cleaners as well as to explain how and why they work, and so forth.  In addition, I would like to document how to make the cleaning products by photographing myself making them and then creating before and after photos of how well the cleaners worked in my house.