Student artifact

Final adaptations to Webquest.

Enjoy! You can view the final adaptations at http://sites.google.com/site/staceypattersonswebquest/ or click here.

Would Socrates approve of Webquests?

I would think that Socrates would indeed approve of Webquests. According to the article "What Would Socrates Say?", "Socrates believed that we learn best by asking essential questions and testing tentative answers against reason and fact in a continual and virtuous circle of honest debate." Webquests are designed for the learner to ask questions of themselves as well as they are prompted with questions throughout the quest. Secondly, they encourage interaction with a group to come up with an answer/solution to the task by following a process. Finally, I believe that he would approve of Webquests because they embrace the idea of learning beyond the specific task at hand. Webquests initiate sharing and discussion as part of the requirements for success. Socrates believed that both of these things must be present for learning to take place.

My webquest is centered around the Retelling Task. It states that "skills of summarizing, distilling, and elaborating are required and supported." Students are encouraged to share with their family and encouraged to engage in group communication to summarize their ideas about how a pumpkin grows. They are, also, encouraged to engage in carving a real pumpkin with the help of an adult after they complete the webquest.

Webquest adaptations (Part three)

Check out the adaptations I made to the webquest I chose at
http://sites.google.com/site/staceypattersonswebquest/home
or click here

Please feel free to post comments and let me know what I can do to improve it! Thanks!

Webquest adaptations (part deux)

The webquest, I chose to adapt was about 'The Great Pumpkin'. Being that autumn is only a few days away, I just couldn't resist learning a little more about pumpkins. The lesson is intended for learners in kindergarten through second grade. Initially, I picked this webquest because of the theme being presented and thought that I could incorporate it into my second grade power hour at the afterschool program however, after a closer look I feel that some adaptations could be made to improve the overall presentation of the lesson.

Overall Aesthetics: Because this site is intended for primary students, I believe that adding some additional graphics and variation to the typography would benefit its projected learners. The overall visual appeal should be used to hook or engage the learner right off the bat. The navigation and flow of the quest was seamless and I feel that most students would be able to complete the task by following the step by step process. There are a few mechanical aspects that would lead to a few problems along the way (i.e. the carve me link is no longer working and produces an error).

Introduction: The motivational effectiveness of the introduction is headed in the right direction by drawing the reader into the lesson by relating to the learner's interest.

Fall has arrived and so has the great pumpkin, let's pick the best one from the pumpkin patch!!!
How does a pumpkin grow?

However, I do believe that the use of graphics and the typography chosen in this instance could do more to engage the learner visually. The cognitive effectiveness of the introduction does build on the learner's prior knowledge and it,also, prepares the learner by foreshadowing(most students know what a pumpkin is, but many probably aren't aware of how one grows).

Task: The connection of task to standards is clearly connected to what students must know and be able to do to achieve proficiency of those standards. Again, I believe that because this quest is intended for a variety of age levels it would be important to add graphics that would make it easier to understand for younger students. Perhaps, a simple addition such as a picture of a pumpkin over the word pumpkin would help them eventually learn to recognize the word. I think that if the task page is left as it is it would be something that is looked over rather quickly and the learner would suffer because of the lack of visual cues that could be provided to help the learner understand. However, I believe the cognitive level of the task is completely doable, engaging and elicits thinking that goes beyond rote comprehension. The pumpkin is something that most learners will recognize and probably will even remember a time that they had one however, they may never have taken the time to understand where it came from or what they could do with it once they do have one.

Process: Although every step is clearly stated the clarity of the process suffers because the process is rich in text and does not provide enough visual clues to stimulate every level of reader K-2. The activities are related specifically to the task, but I believe it is lacking in strategies and organizational tools that would ensure the success needed from every learner. Again, I can't stress enough the importance of visual clues to aide early readers. Color, cut and assemble....the crayon, and the scissor above the word would be helpful. The links used in the process are interesting however, I think step 2 in the process would be better if it required more of the learner than simply clicking a mouse. Because the site that was suggested in this step of the process no longer was working, I would suggest something like http://www.starfall.com/n/holiday/halloween/play.htm?f to engage the learner and provide them with skills to gain further knowledge. I would, also, change the activity in step 3 because it doesn't really do anything, but provide the learner with a bizillion choices with words they are probably not all going to understand. I may provide the learner with one recipe for roasting pumpkin seeds to print off, but I think that it would be more appropriate for them to learn about planting the seeds to reiterate what we learned about the life cycle in step 1. I would probably embed the following video into step 3 and include a recipe for them to print or write in a journal.

Overall, I enjoyed the webquest, but I believe that a few tweaks would improve the overall presentation of this lesson providing a deeper understanding and engaging the learner beyond the webquest.

Webquest adaptation.

The webquest that I have chosen to adapt can be found at the following address : http://questgarden.com/73/05/5/081112074250/evaluation.htm or click here.

Without a doubt....

Jason Ohler, author of "Orchestrating the Media Collage", "Being able to read and write multiple forms of media and integrate them into a meaningful whole is the new hallmark of literacy." I agree completely that the creation of a photo story, with an assigned topic, could and most absolutely should replace or at least complement the outdated method of paper writing. This archaic approach to education is only hindering students that are living in the 21st century.

According to ISTE's Educational Technology Standards for teachers: 1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity - d. promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify student's conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes. A photo story, such as "The power of one", reflects that with careful planning and thinking on the assigned topic the student is able to present a creative project that unveils the students conceptual understanding of the subject matter.

Students in the 21st century, according to the ISTE's standards, should 2. Design and Develop Digital-age Learning Experiences and Assessments: d. provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching. Using a photo story is a unique assessment tool that prepares and teaches today's student that paper and pen is not the only way to validate learning. This type of media form allows students to use new media collectively as well as individually. This is modern literacy and it is only advantageous for students to learn it because these days it is hard to avoid.

Webquest about webquest.

Collectively, we decided that webquests are an intriguing and resourceful tool. The majority of or group thought that Creative Encounters was the best webquest. It was extremely descriptive and provided applications that provoked critical thinking. The group agreed that Creative Encounters was great because of the group collaboration involved in solving the problems. A close second would have to be the one on John Wilkes Booth. This webquest promoted creativity and was very task- oriented.
The one that we decided was the worst webquest was the one for Ancient Egypt. The site contained links that weren't working properly and the domain had expired. Because site administrators failed to update the links the site provided a detour. It gave a lot of information on more than one topic making it more difficult for the student to stay on task.

You may, also, view my video at:

http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=127467&title=My_BEST_teacher_&ref=Spatterson24 or just click here

Please click here to see my resume.

Endless possibilities!

Let me be extremely honest and tell you that when I first began this assignment - I wasn't exactly sure how a blog could be incorporated into a classroom. However, after viewing several examples of different blogs, I have found that blogs can be very useful in a classroom. There is an endless amount of possibility with blogging and many advantages in utilizing them in education.

I viewed blogs that displayed everything from rules and procedures to a song that was taught in class that day. The blog that I chose to take a closer look at was called A Duck with a Blog. I found this to be particularly fascinating because the creator of this blog took advantage of an extraordinary situation that happened on their playground to engage the members of their school community. The blog is about a duck that decided to build its nest on the playground of their K-8 school. The information contained in my blog is based on the information found within the duck diaries and you can view it at http://duckdiaries.edublogs.org/.

This blog does an excellent job of incorporating a natural occurrence in the environment and bringing into the classroom. This blog promotes the NETS Standards for Teaching in that it facilitates and inspires student learning and creativity. The blog contains information on the duck's condition as well as how they incorporated the duck's arrival into their curriculum. In 1a. of the ISTE's Educational Technology Standards for Teachers it states that teachers should "promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness." It displays children's artwork, songs and writing activities that were about Mrs. Daisy the mallard as well as reports on the current status of the duck. This model of creativity, won an award and because it was such a success the school now has a trout blog attracting some attention. This blog involves the entire school community at Marin by "modeling and facilitating effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate and use information resources to support research and learning." This education tool was used to promote learning inside the classroom as well as inspire learning beyond the classroom. I believe that is the job of every teacher to inspire or spark interest that expands beyond the classroom. This blog encouraged students to think about what would happen next, research general information about different types of ducks and promoted other concepts being taught such as life cycles, etc.
Not only was this particular blog inspiring to the students, parents and staff at the school, but I found it to be an excellent example and plan on incorporating it into power hour at the Boys and Girls Club. Providing that we would have access to a computer lab, each club member would be able to blog after they finished their homework. The possibilities seem endless. This is only my second blogging experience and I have learned so much already! I still have so much more to learn, but wouldn't my tech-savy teens be impressed!

Truly an Introduction....

Hi and welcome to my blog! My name is Stacey and I am a senior at FSU majoring in Elementary Education. This is my very first blog. I am very excited about this class because I am hoping to learn something more than my teenagers. At this point, they are my teachers when it comes to most of the new technology. I am, currently, working for the Marion County Board of Education with the Boys and Girls Club after school at East Park Elementary. We are always looking for volunteers or individuals in becoming a mentor to one of our students, so if you are interested let me know. If I am not on campus - I am usually off and running to some sort of practice, competition or match with one of the kids. So..stay tuned and through my blog I will keep you updated on my progress toward reaching my goal.