Jack the Ripper: Motives Behind the Killer's Acts

Curriculum Connection

2007-10-02T11:45:00.000-07:00

Although Jack the Ripper will probably appear as a side note in a world history's course book, or be written as a research paper by a student who is interested in forensic science, the topic of Jack the Ripper and the Victorian Age's political and social unrest are still relevant themes to explore in social studies and science. "Some of the characteristics of skills and inquiry cut across all grades and subjects. Embedded in inquiry are the effective reading and writing skills that cascade down through the grades" (Stripling, 7).

The two age groups I choose include a fifth grade class studying Science, and a high school student studying World History and Civilization.

1) Indiana's Academic Standards and Resources for 5th Grade Science Subject: http://www.indianastandardsresources.org/resources.asp?Subject=sci&Grade=5&Standard=1&Indicator=5.1.2&Resource=12001.

Standard 1: The Nature of Science and Technology

Indicator 5.1.2: Begin to evaluate the validity of claims based on the amount and quality of the evidence cited.

Elementary level students can learn how police and scientists pursued criminals and investigated cases in the late 19th century. Have students compare and contrast what they know today (use "C.S.I." as an example) about forensic testing, including DNA, blood analysis, and finger printing, to what the Victorians had available.

2)Indiana's Academic Standards and Resources for 10th Grade Social Studies Subject: http://www.indianastandardsresources.org/standard.aspSubject=soc&Grade=WH&Standard=8

Standard 8: Students will examine the causes, events, and global consequences of the scientific, political, and industrial revolutions that originated in Western Europe and profoundly influenced the world from 1500 to 1900.

Indicator WH8.8 : Describe the causes and conditions of the Industrial Revolution in England, Europe, and the United States, and explain the global consequences. (Economics; Individuals, Society, and Culture)

High school students can focus on how the Industrial affected and changed England, both politically, socially, and culturally. Explore how the Industrial Revolution introduced dramatic changes to people's lives and structure. Maybe examine how society moved away from agricultural means of living towards industrialization, which meant more people migrated to the cities. This in return resulted in crowed cities, polluted factories, and the growing divide between the wealthy and lower classes.

Overall, I think Jack the Ripper might fit and provide some valuable information about the 19th century and the study of society and political turmoil in England, more than just being a side note on being an "unsolved mystery." And Stripling's wisdom is true: inquiry, no matter what the subject or topic, still involves basic research, assessing, and evaluating skills. Teachers and school librarians can help students learn these skills early in life in order to prepare them for tomorrow's needs and hopefully create life-long learners.

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Works Cited

Indiana's Academic Standards and Resources. http://www.indianastandardsresources.org/index.asp

Stripling, Barbara. "Fostering Literacy and Inquiry." SLJ 49 (2003): 5-7.

Part 8: Wishing and Longing....

2007-10-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

With the big project finally completed, I sat down and contemplated on the various research models, resources, and goals I set up for myself. Virginia Rankin heavily encourages students to reflect on their project both in the pre-search stage to the final end. Some of her key terms included:

Hopefulness: I began feeling worried that I didn't know as much as I thought I did about Jack the Ripper. And I worried as I continued to dig deeper and find more data and research, while developing more and more questions. Yet, I finally arrived at this stage with my final project and I feel positive about all my hard work, time, and effort put into this assignment. As Rankin says, "You know you can be successful" (Callison, 513).

Persistence: Rankin defines this as success that is both "exhilarating and worth the struggle" (513). Again, my anxiety and feeling of being in way over my head gradually subsided as I used graphic organizers and various other research tools to keep on track with my research. Do I think my Jack the Ripper blog and final project was worth it? Yes -- I really enjoyed learning more than I ever knew about royal conspiracies and Freemasons, and I hope my fellow students will also enjoy reading and viewing my blog and project.

Dr. Lamb's "Wishing" lesson also helped me to step back and reflect on the overall project. I feel the strengths of my blog and project included the use of many resources, both print and electronic, and from various viewpoints (Ripperologists, YA authors, and educational experts and professionals.). By using Dr. Lamb's 8 W's as a map, and incorporating different themes and research concepts (graphic organizers, visual literacy resources, charts, and "journaling") from others like Daniel Callison, Virginia Rankin, Barbara Stripling, and Jamie McKenzie, I feel I have a better sense of research and how to go about it...something I thought I already had shown and proved with my M.A. thesis in graduate school.

My weak points....probably not enough reflection, both from myself and from the above educational professionals. I am a perfectionist and always think I could have used better and more thorough information, even when the project is turned in. If I had it to do over again, I would definitely narrow my topic down even more: maybe focus only on the royal conspiracy; or compare and contrast Ripperologists' arguments with Patricia Cornwell's offering of Walter Sickert as Jack the Ripper. Or maybe even done a visual literacy project and examined the Rippers letters, drawings, and compared and debated whether Sickert could have been the Ripper. Maybe used less text in my PowerPoint presentation -- something I'm new to creating. So many different angles and paths...and now I'm beginning to feel unsure about what I've already accomplished! LOL All these feelings and emotions are also common with today's students. Surrounded by so much information in various formats, controlled assignments that don't allow or encourage free inquiry, and the perplexing issue of how to begin, continue, and end a project are all important concerns for students. And these concerns must be met effectively by both the content teacher and especially, the school librarian.

I think next time for a project like this, I will focus more heavily on narrowing a topic; even though I thought I did by just focusing on theories of who Jack the Ripper was, in the end, I discovered there is still so much research out there to explore and discover. Overall, I hope to become a more mature information literate student and person by better reflecting "on each piece of information gathered, the manner in which information is linked as evidence, and the strength of conclusions derived from the evidence" (Callison, 510).

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Works Cited:

Callison, Daniel. The Blue Book on Information Age Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2006.

Lamb, Annette. "Wishing." http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/wishing.htm

Part 7: Waving

2007-09-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

When I think of "waving" as research phase/step, I have an image of someone trying to get another person's attention -- such as waving their hands. This idea is what I think Dr. Lamb expresses in her "Waving" link, where she defines it as "communicating ideas to others through through presenting, publishing, and sharing." But "waving" is also about sharing ideas. Students might find this particularly helpful when working on assignments or research papers as they might share the same feelings of uncertainty, doubts, and "what's next?" feelings. "Conversing" is critical at this stage of the research model. As Carol Kuhlthau states,

Conversations enable students to identify ideas that do not fit with what they
know and to decide what they need to learn more about...Conversing is an
important form of collaboration. Students can provide a sounding board for each other that challenges them to think more deeply and to engage in thoughtful discourse...."

So, I'm going to "wave" all my inquiry discoveries in a PowerPoint presentation.

First, I considered my audience. For the most part, it will be my fellow classmates, Dr. Lamb, and anyone who happens to discover my blog at http://www.blogger.com/. I want my information to accomplish three things: first, to provide my classmates and Dr. Lamb with something interesting to read, digest, and view as opposed to reading another boring history topic. Second, I want to keep in mind my audience's prior knowledge and background pertaining to Jack the Ripper. This means explaining ideas, events, and evidence as clearly and effectively as possible. And avoiding getting the viewer bogged down by too many facts. Finally, I hope to have identified, addressed, and explored all the required elements for this assignment! :)

Next, maybe I'll email my findings and personal theories, along with my very basic PowerPoint presentation, to the Ripperologist experts at http://www.casebook.org/. See what they think, be open to comments, criticism, and suggestions. Maybe something I've discovered will interest them and lead to a online publication on this famous website... or I could become a Ripperologist myself and create my own website full of primary and secondary sources, photos, and findings.

The purpose of this presentation is to share, inform, instruct, and provide some interesting facts, theories, conspiracies, and other things about Jack the Ripper. I am open to all comments and have include a poll for my classmates to vote on the identity of Jack the Ripper.

Overall, I want my PowerPoint to be more than just a regurgitation of my research. I want it to be an inviting and lively visual resource that hopefully will interest some of my classmates. Since I'm used to doing the dreaded research-end notes style, I think my fellow classmates and Dr. Lamb will find this presentation more stimulating.

I did consult Jamie McKenzie's "Scoring Power Points" online article for some helpful suggestions and tips. What I learned is I need to emphasize key concepts (theories to motives to) and provide sufficient evidence (use quotes and photos from http://www.casebook.org/) that will supplement my project's research, and persuade my audience. This strategy is best summarized by McKenzie's comments: "Those who wish to persuade, those who hope to convince, those who wish to illuminate and those who wish to communicate effectively must pay special attention to the audience who will be watching...." After all, some day students who are using this format for school assignments might some day be required to put together a business PowerPoint presentation to persuade a company to fund certain groups and communities.

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Works Cited

Kuhlthau, Carol. "Learning in Digital Libraries: An Information Search Process Approach." Library Trends 45 (1997). http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.ulib.iupui.edu/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=113&sid=f03a7983-19dd-4e13-93ca-3f9808c79013%40sessionmgr108

McKenzie, Jamie. "Scoring Power Points." The Educational Technology Journal 10 (2006). http://fno.org/sept00/powerpoints.html

Part 6: Wrapping

2007-09-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

As I draw near the end of my note taking, reading, gathering, skimming, and analyzing, I've considered different waves to develop and present my final product. I thought about "wrapping" it as a typical research paper with citations. This is what I've done and know how to do the best since being taught in middle school through graduate school. However, I decided to try something totally new for me -- creating a PowerPoint presentation of my findings. Since more high school students are expected to do this as part of their final project, and visually it stimulates thinking and inquiry appreciation more fully, so "a Power Pointing I shall go!"

I focused on Dr. Lamb's ideas and pointers from her "Wrapping" link.

Planning tools: For my PowerPoint presentation, I will be using some of my notes, quotes, photos I discovered during my research. By juxtaposing text and quotes with photos and images, I think students or anyone viewing this resource will quickly and effeciently identify the key concepts I'm depicting.

Prompts and Starters: Again, for the PowerPoint, I want to select and consider colors, background designs, clip art, photos, and other information to include. A successful PowerPoint can't have too much text on a slide, while too little will leave the viewer lost and without any guides to help them learn about my topic. I think I'll use a grayish background which should make the text and photos easily visible for viewers. As for quotes, I only want to use short, meaningful ones along side key points to adequately get my ideas across. I'm considering adding statistics in a colorful style -- I found an article that has researched the number of times, certain images and drawings, and handwritting styles used in Jack the Ripper's letters and correspondence to the police. I don't want this chart or graph to become too heavy with data, just need enough to balance and support my findings while providing the viewer with an interesting angle to this topic.

Guidelines: Dr. Lamb suggests providing questions, ideas, or additional information to help guide the viewer to additional research. I'm thinking about creating an annotated bibliography featuring books (nonfiction and fiction, both adult and YA); websites; and DVD's and VHS tapes to view. I know I enjoy finding such additional "guide posts" helpful for obtaining more information on something I found particularly interesting in a presentation, or perhaps to explore a concept further or in a different view.

Also, Jamie McKenzie's "Scoring Power Points" article gave me some other things to consider before creating my visual project. Questions like "how well do the elements (ideas, images...) fit together?"; "Do big ideas appear in larger font than details? Is the size of the graphic appropriate in relationship to the words?"; and "Do the pages seem hastily constructed with a slap-dash, cut-and-paste approach? Or can we see a devotion to thoughtful, intentional design?" These are all important things I want to keep in mind when I begin to "wave" and work on my PowerPoint. Some great pointers that I wouldn't have thought of as I've never done a PowerPoint before -- and since I'm working on becoming a school librarian, I will need to know how to make these for classes, as well as guiding students how to create them for their research assignments. Thanks, Jamie!

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Works Cited

Lamb, Annette. "Wrapping." http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/wrapping.htm

McKenzie, Jamie. "Scoring Power Points." The Educational Technology Journal 10 (2000). http://fno.org/sept00/powerpoints.html

Part 5: Weaving

2007-09-28T07:35:00.000-07:00

This stage is somewhat fun, complicated, and quite like solving a puzzle for me. It's all about gathering the notes you've taken down from sources (encyclopedias, scholarly and popular crime nonfiction, articles, and websites), and deciding just exactly how to "weave" all this stuff into something intelligent. For students, this is probably overwhelming as they have gathered so much stuff (as I've done in the past and I'm sure I've done now) and need to decide what to keep and what to eliminate.

This is where the "big picture" of my findings is organized or "weaved" into some type of chart, outline, or models. For me, I have always processed my information from information recorded on 3x5 index cards. This is how I was taught in high school English courses, and one of my graduate history professors also reinforced this idea. But there are a few steps I take before grabbing these cards.

First, I do some pre-searching and skimming. Then I come up with some general concepts, dates, ideas, events, etc. for an outline. For this project, I would create an outline that looks like this:

I. Introduction to Jack the Ripper

II. White Chapel: Life in East End London

III. The Victims

IV. The Suspects

V. Theories on the identity of Jack the Ripper

VI. Conclusion

With these general headings, I would then write this on the upper left hand corner of each index card for easy and efficient filing and retrieving for a later time. After doing some more research and reading, I would then go back and put some "meat" to the bones of my above outline. For example:

IV. The Suspects
A. George Chapman
B. Prince Albert "Eddy"
C. M.J. Druitt

VI. Theories on Jack the Ripper
A. Royal cover-up
B. Masonic Conspiracy
C. The Misogyny Angle
D. Psychological killer

Again, I would then do further research from my books, articles, and online sources and skim for further names and concepts. Then return to my outline and add some more substance to it.

VI. Theories on Jack the Ripper
A. Royal Cover-up
1. Druitt
2. Prince Albert "Eddy" Victor, Duke of Clarence
3. Sir Dr. William Gull, royal physicican
B. Masonic Cover-up
1. Freemasons and the Royal British Government
2. Freemasons involved in investigation/cover-ups

Eventually, I would have a box full of index cards, broken down by general headings and then subheadings. I find index cards the most effective note taking or "weaving" style for me as it allows me great flexibility in moving my ideas and research around. Sometimes I might put a particular topic too early in my assignment, and then realize later it might fit in better with another heading or argument.

For this class, I will try some different and more visually stimulating organizing/note taking strategies. For example, I decided to used Dr. Lamb's "What If" chart to interpret my information, identify similarities and differences, and just for the chance to explore alternative solutions and outcomes. I remember sitting in one of my grad history courses and a student asked the professor if we were allowed to do "what ifs" in historical writing. This professor (same one I mentioned in a trailblazer assignment who said there was nothing to gain from watching historical movies) said "Absolutely not. This is a useless tool and only amateur writers who think they are historians adopt this process." Once again, I'm glad to learn and be able to do something I wanted to but was told not to now in my SLIS studies!

The last stage in "weaving" is synthesizing the results. I've look at my notes from my journal, viewed and reread websites such as casebook.org, and examined why some researchers believed a particular subject was responsible for the killings in London. I feel I have addressed my important questions, which seemed to be constantly a recursive issue for me. I would find something new out and then go back and revise my questions. For example, in my KWHL chart, I wanted to know how political, religious, social, and/or psychological factors contributed to the Ripper theories.

First off, I feel I have acquired enough background information for all the above angles to present in a basic introduction lecture/presentation. I learned that the Freemasons controlled the Royal British government, and many key players in this mystery including royal physician Dr. William Gull, and Commissioner of Metropolitan Police force, Inspector Abberline who collected and recorded the evidence, Sir Charles Warren, and artist Walter Sickert were Masons. I also found out from reading that some Ripperologists believe the way Jack the Ripper arranged the victims' bodies and left behind clues depicted Masonic symbolism. Further reading and quotes from sources also talked about Stephen Knight's research which contends that Dr. Gull created the "Jack the Ripper" suspect to kill prostitutes who knew about the royal family's indiscretions (Newton, 78)

I also learned from Patricia Cornwell's book about how forensic science today can be used to solve the mystery of the Ripper. With DNA analysis focusing on saliva and mitochondrial testing from several of Jack the Ripper's letters matched Sickert's DNA. Furthermore, some of Sickert's paintings and drawings contained clues about the Ripper murders, clues and scenes so similar that only the killer would know.

There are some other angles to view this information, as suggested by Dr. Lamb. I could have focused on the artistic and visual angle of the case. For example, I found an that.... Or, I might have spent more time and research on a social and political issues, such as the great divide between the wealthy and poor classes; anti-Jewish attitudes; and the moral issue of prostitution in the Victorian Age. All these angles sound exciting to pursue, but I would definitely need more time, research sources, and background information. Maybe I'll pursue this inquiries later....

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Works Cited

Lamb, Annette. "Weaving." http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/weaving.htm

Newton, Katie Colby. Jack the Ripper: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1990.

Part 4: Wiggling and Uncertainty....

2007-09-23T12:57:00.001-07:00

Okay, I'm now ready to begin my evaluation process or "wiggling." Dr. Lamb cites this stage as "the toughest phase for students. They're often uncertain about what they've found and where they're going with a project" (Lamb). That's how I'm feeling right now after gathering, skimming, reading, searching, graphing, and analyzing the information I have gathered. I think I've recorded too much to be included here, and still way too much to be incorporated into my final product, the PowerPoint. But, I feel spending so much time "pre-searching" and researching was helpful as I did not know as much as I thought about Jack the Ripper. So, much background material was well worth reading and skimming for ideas and important topic points.

I've kept a journal filled with notes from the various resources I've used. In it, I've recorded facts, quotes, evaluations on the work and author, and my own conclusions from all the research. Dr. Lamb suggests students keep a writing guide, which is what I decided to do. Furthermore, by recording my reactions and feelings to my research findings, I feel I have developed a better and richer depth of knowledge regarding Ripper's many theories. My thoughts in my journal allowed me to not only record facts and quotes, but gave me ample space to focus on questions that came about from reading resources, or emotions and feelings prompted by visual resources, such as viewing the Ripper's letters and victims' bodies at http://www.casebook.org/ripper_letters/ and http://www.casebook.org/victims/. These resources reinforced what I learned from my visual literacy trailblazer assignment and allowed me to get a better feel for the environmental, social, and historical time period.

***Mary Kelly as she was found in her bed at 13 Miller's Court (from http://www.casebook.org/victims/mary_jane_kelly.html)

This is photograph of Mary Kelly, the Ripper's supposed last victim. Just examining this visual sparked my "wiggling" with more questions and uncertainties. Did the Ripper leave her in a certain position because he knew her; was the more violent mutilation of Mary Kelly compared to the other victims supposed to be an indicator or clue for who Jack the Ripper was? Other thoughts that came about because of this website and it's visuals started me thinking about forensic science, criminal profiling, and serial killers' motives. I guess I could do another blog on just profiling the Ripper based on the arrangement of the victims' bodies and his handwriting style in his infamous letters. For a high school student, visual literacy can create and foster more curiosities and questions, as I just demonstrated above. As a media specialist, I would encourage students coming to me for research help to consult visual literacy sources such as photos, audio clips, and virtual online activities. This concept, as I discovered and wrote about in my trailblazer assignment, can stir students' interest more than just reading from their course's textbook or taking notes based on the "lecture-chalkboard" syndrome.

The next important part of "wiggling" is skimming and scanning. As described above, I used the casebook.org web site's links on the side of the page to guide my research process. This provided me with some important background information and helped me develop an outline of how I would arrange my ideas and findings in my final project. In addition, these links provided me with additional sources of information, such as dissertations and discussion/message boards to consult. These links proved helpful and informative in guiding my research and causing me to return back to my previous topic angle to alter my focus. Furthermore, these links are wonderful sources for students to use, much like the bibliographies listed in printed works. Students should be encourage to "wiggle" and roam freely with their inquiries through skimming various online links and bibliographies/webliographies.

"Journaling" is an excellent tool for anyone, including students, to incorporate into their research project. I found I not only had a better grasp of my topic, but I more readily developed questions and issues I had not thought of -- like examining artwork for visual clues to Jack the Ripper's motives. Overall, I agree with Daniel Callison's finding when he commented, "Students begin to generate their own questions in a personal journal and expand this list as they engage in more reading, viewing, and small group discussions" (180).

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Works Cited

Callison, Daniel. The Blue Book On Information Age Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2006.

Lamb, Annette. "Wiggling." http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/wiggling.htm

Part 3: Webbing and Searching

2007-09-17T13:18:00.001-07:00

This phase of the research process is usually my favorite, for a few reasons. First, I get to explore the public library's shelves and databases for information; second, I actually get to start selecting and seeing the books and items I'm going to use (usually entails coming home with two stuffed backpacks of books and things!); and third, setting out what I've "gathered" and begin to decide where and how to "dig in!"

Dr. Lamb describes webbing as the process of locating, searching, and connecting ideas and information after developing a basic grasp or overlay of the topic and its potential. Even though this is my favorite phase, I have never really documented how and where I sought out information; kept a journal of key phrases, subject headings, or unfamiliar terms; nor have I ever done much reflection and analysis of this entire phase. Funny to think since I've done so many history research papers and a thesis -- wish I had known then what I am learning now about inquiry and searching. I think I would have a better "feel of the land", sort to speak, when I was researching the Yugoslavia-Soviet Union of 1948.

This time, I am keeping a journal (3 ring binder) where I record thoughts of things I want to do, things that need to be done, key ideas and terms, and possible sources to check out -- both print and multimedia in addition to 3x5 index cards. The topic/question I am most interested in is what factors (political, social, psychotic, economic, etc.) contributed to the many theories of Jack the Ripper. For example, was his killings motivated by social issues like misogyny (hatred of women); or psychological reasons such as seeking at fame an notoriety in the press and from outwitting the local police force. All these questions and angle are what I'm focusing my blog and final project on.

After completing my searching and locating which took part for three days, I feel very anxious, excited, and overwhelmed. Excited because of all the books, DVDS, websites, and journal articles to read. Anxious as to whether I'll have enough time to find what I'm looking for -- or worse, get lost in my inquiry wondering that I get "off track" of my research topic/question. And overwhelmed -- so much to read, watch, reflect, and then produce some final project with my findings in time for October 8th. This feelings are pretty much identical to what any student feels, regardless or grade level or assignment type. As a media specialist, I would advise the student to try to get a general background of the topic, sketch out a very broad outline of what topics/ideas they want to address, and then start reading and skimming books, articles, websites, and viewing multimedia sources if possible.

From personal experience, this is also the stage where I begin to wonder how much info do I need to gather? "Everything looks great and important" enters my mind whenever I glance over a table of contents or watch a DVD. But it's important to use the table of contents as a guide to identifying key ideas and possibly new questions and areas unthought of before.

So, here's how I approached me webbing stage. I asked myself the four information webbing questions as listed by Dr. Lamb at http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/webbing.htm.

1) What kind of information do I want?

Secondary sources (scholarly, true crime, encyclopedias,
journal articles, Young Adult non-fiction works, educational and entertainment
DVDs and movies, video games, graphic novels, and both adult and YA
fiction.)

Primary sources (letters from Jack the Ripper, police
investigation reports and filings, newspaper clippings, autopsy photos,
etc.)

Facts and opinions, theories and forensic case findings.
A wide range in dates of sources to see the gradual changes in theories, ideas, and concepts.

2) Where can I find this information:

Wikipedia
Allen County Public Library
WorldCat
Universities or special archival collections
Works cited and references
Journal Databases
Internet sites: Professional, amateur, other?
DVDs, movies from video stores, A&E or History Channel
cites

3) What format will the information take?

Books (adult, YA, fiction and nonfiction)
Print or online journal articles
Graphic novels
Encyclopedias
Multimedia: DVDs, Videocassettes; CD-Roms, PC Games

4) How do I find the specific pieces of information I need:

Key words, subject headings through library
catalogues
Table of Contents
Works Cited
Listservs, special online groups, chat and discussion groups

I first went to the Allen County Public Library website at http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/. Here, I tried using key words, names, geographic places, and phrases/ideas to search for information. Some of the key terms subject headings I found to be the most commonly used in the ACPL included:

Subject Headings: Jack the Ripper -- Fiction
Serial Murder Investigations -- England--London
Jack the Ripper Murders, London, England, 1888-- Comic books, strips,
graphic novels
Jack the Ripper -- In Literature

Personal Headings: Ripper
Druitt, Montague, 1857-1888
Jack the Ripper -- Interactive Multimedia
Jack the Ripper -- In Mass Media
Jack the Ripper -- Poetry

Geographic Headings: White Chapel (London, England) --History -- 19th century

I then proceeded with some of these newly acquire terms and headings and went online. I incorporated Boolean search strategies like "Jack the Ripper AND motives;" "Jack the Ripper AND Theories;" "Jill the Ripper AND Theory;" and"White Chapel AND social conditions AND 19th century." Here are just a few websites I found interesting by applying these terms and key words.

Casebook: Jack the Ripper" at http://www.casebook.org/index.html: Features message boards, access to primary documents like letters, dissertations, and a photo archive. Very fascinating from just a quick browse, and it's potential for information appears deep and rich. Definitely would encourage a student as a school librarian to check this site out.

Court TV's "Crime Library: Jack the Ripper" at http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/ripper/index_1.html. Divided into chapters with each victims' name, this site also contained suspects I've never heard of like Walter Sickert (artist), Francis Tumblety (raised in American); and a discussion board of historical featuring historical killers and serial killers at http://boards.crimelibrary.com/showthread.php?t=282660.

Ripperologist, an electronic journal at http://www.ripperologist.info/. Has access to previous issues with some amazing theories, debates, and discussions between "Ripperologists."

About.com: European History at http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/jacktheripper/Jack_the_Ripper.htm. This site has a lot to browse and read -- more stuff than I have time for this project! Especially interesting is the newspaper archive section at http://europeanhistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=europeanhistory&cdn=education&tm=391&gps=122_919_796_376&f=11&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//members.tripod.com/%7EMagpie_IX/ripper/ where one can read articles from the UK, America, and Canada starting in 1888 and going through the present. Definitely look forward to skimming this site.

According to Jamie McKenzie, this type of "scaffolding" is a useful tool in helping students (and myself) organize and support my findings, in addition to keeping me "from straying too far off the path while seeking 'the truth' about whatever issue, problem or question" I'm working on ("Scaffolding For Success"). Instead of just copying all the facts, quotes, and arguments from various authors and then presenting these findings in an essay format, I used "scaffolding" to generate sorting and sifting of ideas. This included finding subject headings for clues, deciding beforehand what types of resources I want to use (just print, websites, videos, etc.), and helping me keep a my focus on the purpose and exact questions I wanted answers to. I found "scaffolding" to be immensely helpful for me to begin and continue my research until the end. I found myself, as McKenzie describes, "sorting and sifting...combining of new information with previous understandings to construct new ones...extending, refining, and elaborating." Overall, I felt more confident in my research strategies, focus, and had a sense of a deeper and more personalized product than just following older, traditional school research models that taught me gather information first without sitting down and contemplating and reflecting on what I need to know and/or wanted answers to. I'm glad I read McKenzie's other online article "The Research Cycle 2000" as it further addressed and helped me understand the importance of reflecting first, then gathering and examining. I always did my research as McKenzie stated jumping "right into gathering without carefully mapping out the many questions" I needed to examine. Thanks, Mr. McKenzie!

Overall, I have learned there is SO much Jack the Ripper material available for inquiry consumption! From books and journals, to online resources, video games, and discussion boards, I'm beginning to feel so overwhelmed and in over my head with my topic. Of course, I can almost hear Carol Kuhlthau saying "That's normal. You're just starting out on a new topic." Okay. I'm taking a deep breath and jumping in the deep end now with my research and information inquiry, and I must admit, although anxious, I feel somewhat "armed" with some excellent resources and strategies to "tackle" this assignment with!

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Works Cited

Lamb, Annette. "Webbing." http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/webbing.htm.

McKenzie, Jamie. "The Research Cycle 2000." http://questioning.org/rcycle.html

_____. "Scaffolding for Success." http://visalia.k12.ca.us/teachers/dbronzan/fpu/Docs/Scaffolding%20for%20Success.doc.

Part 2 Wondering continued....

2007-09-15T14:24:00.001-07:00

According to Dr. Lamb, a "wondering chart" can help an individual focus on "brainstorming options, discussing ideas, identifying problems, and developing questions." So after doing some preliminary reading, I created the above "Jack the Ripper Wondering Chart." According to Barbara K. Stripling, "Graphic organizers are helpful for any type of inquiry. Virtually any student benefits from attaching new information to a schema."

The second phase of my "wondering" took to me Think Tank 4Teachers. Here, I plugged in some ideas and questions I had and let the program create subtopics and some really research-worthy topics/hypothesis to explore. Here's what I came up with and the link I used to create some possible questions:http://thinktank.4teachers.org/assist/subject.php3?ts=1189977436

Research Topic 1 for Jack The Ripper : How did the era and the time influence Jack The Ripper?

1) What other things were happening in science during the time this person lived? Did these have an influence on him/her/them?

2) What things were happening politically in the country in which this person lived? Did this person fit in with the political climate or was s/he in opposition to it?

3) What religious interests were in power in the country in which this person lived? Did this person fit in with the religious climate or was s/he in opposition to it?

4) Were there crises happening in the country in which the person lived? Did these affect this person's choice of work, interests, or lifestyle?

5) Do you think this person could have done the same thing(s) in a different time period? Why or why not?

6) Why couldn't anyone solve the murders then?

7) What might forensic science tell us today about who Jack the Ripper was?

8) Whose theory on the identity of Jack the Ripper seems logical?

9) What evidence convinces the reader of Patricia Cornwell's theory? And if not, why and how so?

10) Do any of the possible Jack the Ripper suspects share anything in common (viewpoints, politics, religion, etc.)?

Research Topic 2 for Jack the Ripper: How were people affected by Jack the Ripper and His Murders?

1) How were people affected by Jack the Ripper and his murders?

2) Were people of different races affected differently by this event?

3) What people/groups/countries were involved in this event? Why were they involved?

4)What were some of the differences between those who survived and those who did not?

5) What individuals played significant roles in this event and what were some of the things that made them important?

6) What were the backgrounds of individuals who played significant roles in this event.

7) What do you think people "behind the scenes" (e.g. police, newsreporters, politicans, religious figures, etc.) thought of this event and the people in it?

8) How were different groups portrayed when this event is reported? What evidence of prejudice or tolerance can be seen in this reporting?

I absolutely love ThinkTank! It provided me with different angles, approaches, ideas, and further questions I wouldn't have thought of on my own. I would most definitely encourage all students who visit a media center to check this site out, and also to encourage teachers in various content areas to consider adopting this resource too, as well. And using graphic organizers as Stripling discusses is a fantastic strategy to break down one's thinking, ideas, and research needs and questions. I wish I would have know about these strategies when working on my Master's history thesis; from now on, whatever reasearch I do, I will try to implement these concepts and I'm sure Stripling, Lamb, and ThinkTank! would be very excited and inspired to know one very naive student is learning more valuable research strategies than she ever did from her history professors at graduate school! :)

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Works Cited

Lamb, Annette. "8 W's of Information Inquiry." http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/ws.htm

"ThinkTank." http://thinktank.4teachers.org/assist/index.php3?ts=1190397036

Stripling, Barbara K. "Fostering Literacy and Inquiry." School Library Journal 49 (2003): 5-7.

Part 2: Wondering and "Pre-searching" with Virginia Rankin...

2007-09-10T16:20:00.000-07:00

Through writing many, many high school book reports and history research papers, to undergraduate history essays and reports, to finally a graduate thesis on the Tito-Stalin Split following World War II, I realized I had been doing my research wrong! This revelation came to me after reading about Virginia Rankin's "Pre-search" 1999 model and how this critical technique helps students gain "a more sure footing before entering the larger search for information on an assigned topic" (Callison, 38). I never stopped to reflect develop key words and vocabulary names, or even categorize common themes, topics. I just went to the library, checked out every book I could on whatever topic I was working on, and then took the plunge right into the book/journal article.

I fell into the trap most students, as described by Rankin where "Most students do not see research as an occasion for thinking: many feel they are being asked to perform a task that could be better done by a machine -- a photocopy machine" (Rankin). That's how I felt doing history papers: deciding on a topic that somewhat constricted by the course or teacher itself; copying down every background information I thought I needed, pulling out some quotes that looked relevant to what I was writing about, and then sat down at the computer with my index cards. It wasn't until I had typed up the paper that I realized I had "regurgitated" basic textbook material back -- only without my take, argument, view, or hypothesis. This style of research worked through high school and as an undergrad, but looking back, now I can understand why I had some trouble with my thesis because I didn't do much "pre-search" or stop and follow Dr. Lamb's "Watching" and "Wondering" stages. Luckily, my one thesis advisor said to break things down first by ideas, topics, and keep a journal of thoughts, comments, and questions that develop from my readings.

So, after reading about Rankin "pre-search" model at http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/presearch.htm, and Dr.Lamb's "Wondering" lesson at http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/wondering.htm, sat down generating workable questions, possible topics through a concept map, and categorizing terms and important concepts. I first went to Wikipedia and checked out its website at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_ripper and began skimming through for bold-faced words, italicized words, and subheading topics. Examples of some of these include:

Ripperologists

Canonical Five Victims

Ripper Letters

Investigation and the White Chapel Vigilance Committee

Theories on Jack the Ripper suspects

Next, I used both Rankin's and Dr. Lamb's research steps and strategies to narrow my question/topic down further. I wrote down the above items and decided to turn them each into valuable research questions (something that I wanted to know about instead of being assigned). This occurred to me after her comment pertaining to students coming up with their own questions and curiosities instead of being assigned the teacher-controlled type: "There is a world of difference between being given the questions, and coming up with them yourself. My students owned their questions: the questions mattered to them"(Rankin).

What occurred next is my concept chart as shown above. Some questions I'm tossing around including: How and why has this unsolved murder played a pivotal role in today's pop culture and entertainment world? Why are there Ripperologists and what is their "obsession" and cult following? Did the newspapers during this time deliberately sensationalize the unsolved murders to make the White Chapel police look incompetent? Are their any truths behind the various theories, including the Masonic Conspiracy Plot, Anti-Semitic, or Royal cover-up?

I think Rankin would be pleased with my new "pre-search" strategies and approaches. Though I still feel overwhelmed by the topic, and the wealth of information (both print and non print) available, I do "own" this topic and future questions and discoveries I learn through inquiry exploration.

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Sources Cited:

Callison, Daniel and Leslie Preddy. The Blue Book On Information Age, Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2006.

Rankin, Virginia. "Pre-Search: Intellectual Access to Information." School Library Journal 38 (1992): 168-70.

Part 1: Watching...

2007-09-09T13:11:00.000-07:00

After reading more on Dr. Lamb's "8W's" and some of other inquiry/search models described in Appendix B (Callison, 584-596), I have decided I want to incorporate as many different thinking, reflecting, and analyzing models as possible. Such concepts will be intermingled with my own research struggles and process. Some individuals and their information inquiry models I will be consulting throughout my entire blogging process include Dr. Lamb', Virginia Rankin, Carol Kuhlthau, Daniel Callison, and Jamie McKenzie. I will be detailing my own research journey and growth, and also how I would direct/assist a high school student conducting a research paper.

As part of the Watching stage, I went to Barnes and Noble and began browsing through my favorite sections: History, True Crime, and Biographies. Since this state is about being more aware of your environment and personal interests, I decided I wanted to select a history topic. Then I found what I wanted... came across Patricia Cornwall's Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper -- Case Closed and decided I would do my personal inquiry on Jack the Ripper. Specifically, I asked myself some questions from Carol Kuhlthau's Information Searching Process (ISP), including:

What do I know already about this topic and the theories?
What do I know about Cornwell's theory?
What do I want to know and learn? (Kuhlthau)

Next, I sat down with pencil and notebook (as this is my personal research style preference) and wrote down some questions pertaining to what approach or angle do I want to take on this topic. Do I want to explore the social aspects of 18th century England; past and present forensic scientist studies examining who exactly Jack the Ripper was; examine the society of Ripper experts called "Ripperologists"; or focus on the different speculations and debates on who the Ripper was: royalty or average citizen.

This free style of inquiry is so different for me. As a history major who has done many research papers and a thesis (which all entail concentrating on particular themes and formulating your own thesis), I am extremely excited to be able to explore as many or as little of the above angles I mentioned in the above paragraph.

All this watching and exploring has prompted me to once again set down and come up with a list of specific questions, and, sketch out some kind of webbing chart to provide me with a basic road map on inquiry exploration (Callison 40).

Finally, I reflected on how this topic would fit into a high school student's world and wondered how their environment influenced them. Maybe studying world history sparked an interest -- or reading an article in an newspaper or magazine/journal -- or watching a documentary on "The History Channel" or watching Johnny Depp in "From Hell." These are just a few examples of literacies (visual, technological, and media) that surround students today. As a media specialist, I would definitely encourage any student who came to me for more information on anything to consider such literacy sources and to encourage them to just brainstorm some ideas and questions that are sparking this inquiry.

My next step will to begin gathering some basic background information, either through an online encyclopedia like http://www.wikipedia.org/ and some general nonfiction works.

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Sources Cited:

Callison, Daniel and Leslie Preddy. The Blue Book of On Information Age Inquiry, Instruction
and Literacy. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2006.

Cornwell, Patricia. Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper -- Case Closed. New York: Putnam's,
2002.

Kuhlthau, Carol. "Learning in Digital Libraries" An Information Search Process Approach." Library Trends 45 (1997): 7o8-725

Wondering and Thinking...

2007-09-04T22:54:00.000-07:00

Working on a topic...so many to choose from and so little time!

~Julie