For this project, I chose a science webquest, called "A Walk in Space" (http://www.taskstream.com/main/?/oneal4/AWalkinSpace.html). My first impression upon opening this page was...hmm... kinda bland. The borders of the page appeared to be red berries or something; something with planets or stars might have been a better choice. There is an image of planets on the homepage, but it's pretty small. It says it's for 3rd grade, and the authors are listed. Links for teachers and students show where to go. The teaching guide is very thorough. State goals and standards are clearly spelled out, as well as "student experiences." The task and process seem very easy to understand, and the resources and references are listed at the end. An evaluation rubric is listed at the end, as well.
The webquest itself asks learners to decide which planet (other than Earth) they want to live on and how they will survive there. They are to research the websites provided to learn about our solar system and make decisions based on what they learn. The activity is made up of 3 "Missions." The first part is reading a Magic School Bus book and asking, "Do you accept this mission?" (very cute). the next mission involves choosing jobs on the space crew, such as astronomer, space station engineer, etc. Lastly, the space crew is to design a diorama to display their space habitat.
I admit that my first impressions of the site were less than impressive, but as I read the content, I realized that it's a great webquest! Very well thought-out, clear objectives and process. Best of all, I think kids would love it. It's something that could take several days to a week, depending on how much depth you let the kids get into. The resources available to the kids are extensive, but not overwhelming. I think that the authors did a great job, and I'd like to use this one with kids some day.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Reflections on the Process of Creating Benchmark Assignments
Throughout this summer, as we have been doing research for our various and extensive class assignments, my eyes have been opened to some amazing things on the web! It's very exciting to think of the possibilities. There are so many great websites out there that I can't wait to use with kids or as a teacher. This whole webquest concept is really intriguing to me and I think the possibilities are limitless. I have run across some really great ones, and some not so great ones. After completing the process myself, I have a profound appreciation for how difficult it is to put together something that is both (hopefully) valuable, useful, easy to use, and visually interesting. What I came up with is far from what I had envisioned, but I realized at one point that I needed to simplify, just for the sake of time.
The process of creating this project was extremely intimidating and overwhelming. For the longest time I felt really clueless about where to begin. I spoke with my head teacher and asked what we were going to be doing with our second graders this fall, and she mentioned doing an author study on Roald Dahl. Well. that sounded pretty interesting! So, as I began doing research on him, my list of ideas of what to include in the webquest grew and grew. I also realized that there's a lot of things that I'd like to do, but would really be more appropriate for older kids. As it is, I pretty much pushed the envelope as far as what to expect for second graders. It was really hard to narrow down the scope of the project. I would love to add other things like an author tribute, write a newspaper article, more arts, creating a photo gallery that the kids make, more reading of the books, repeating the character meetings, and more. Maybe in the future.
As far as the logistics.... learning to use Dreamweaver has been really frustrating for me. So many things felt counter-intuitive, or I could just not figure things out. Thanks so much to my classmates who helped me over the summer! I could not have done it without you! Now that I am here, the last day, I feel a bit more comfortable with the software, but I am very aware that i am a wee-novice, with lots to learn. I actually bought the suite of software, with the ambitious hope that I will slowly learn to use it, as well.
So, the project was several layers; learning to use the software, coming up with the content and structure, then putting it all together. In the end, it did not turn out as I had planned, but I have clearly run out of time. My other responsibilities this summer needed attention as well, so .... here it is, for better or worse. The process of doing this whole thing, however, has been invaluable. I now feel that I have a basis of experience that I can draw from in the future. I look forward to future projects, though probably less intensive!
The process of creating this project was extremely intimidating and overwhelming. For the longest time I felt really clueless about where to begin. I spoke with my head teacher and asked what we were going to be doing with our second graders this fall, and she mentioned doing an author study on Roald Dahl. Well. that sounded pretty interesting! So, as I began doing research on him, my list of ideas of what to include in the webquest grew and grew. I also realized that there's a lot of things that I'd like to do, but would really be more appropriate for older kids. As it is, I pretty much pushed the envelope as far as what to expect for second graders. It was really hard to narrow down the scope of the project. I would love to add other things like an author tribute, write a newspaper article, more arts, creating a photo gallery that the kids make, more reading of the books, repeating the character meetings, and more. Maybe in the future.
As far as the logistics.... learning to use Dreamweaver has been really frustrating for me. So many things felt counter-intuitive, or I could just not figure things out. Thanks so much to my classmates who helped me over the summer! I could not have done it without you! Now that I am here, the last day, I feel a bit more comfortable with the software, but I am very aware that i am a wee-novice, with lots to learn. I actually bought the suite of software, with the ambitious hope that I will slowly learn to use it, as well.
So, the project was several layers; learning to use the software, coming up with the content and structure, then putting it all together. In the end, it did not turn out as I had planned, but I have clearly run out of time. My other responsibilities this summer needed attention as well, so .... here it is, for better or worse. The process of doing this whole thing, however, has been invaluable. I now feel that I have a basis of experience that I can draw from in the future. I look forward to future projects, though probably less intensive!
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