Final Portfolio

This is the link to my group's Final Portfolio. 

Shakespeare WebQuest & Reflection

This WebQuest challenges students to pick a stance on the popular debate behind Shakespeare and present their claim creatively using online sources. 



This WebQuest can be considered a "real" WebQuest because students are using essential web tools for educational purposes. "Real WebQuests facilitate meaningful use of the Web for educational ends. Activities that point students only to encyclopedic briefs, textbook digests, or worse—word searches and coloring books—do not take advantage of Internet resources that are interactive, media-rich, contemporary, contextualized, or of varied perspectives."

This helps students not only become more familiar with the resources available to them but prepares them for the future of work. They begin to learn in ways that are fun and creative but also useful. Our WebQuest challenges students to look at news articles as well as scholarly articles to do research for their claim. By creating an attractive and technology-based presentation, students are presenting their findings to their peers in a persuasive manner which will inevitably help them in the future. 

According to the article, WebQuest's should have authentic tasks that motivate students. "Real WebQuests should pass the ARCS filter: Does the activity get students’ Attention? Is it Relevant to their needs, interests, or motives? Does the task inspire learners’ Confidence in achieving success? Finally, would completing the activity leave students with a sense of Satisfaction in their accomplishment?" This WebQuest does have that. Most students are fairly competitive so to make a mock trial allows students to strive to win. Students gain satisfaction in that but also presenting a good case with their peers. 

A good WebQuest should also create, "Open-ended questions [that] activate students’ prior knowledge and create a personal curiosity that inspires investigation and brings about a more robust understanding of the material." The structure of this WebQuest does just that. It makes students investigate the material in a new and creative way. This idea of open-ended questions makes learning less stiff and promotes an atmosphere of new ideas and critical thinking. 

WebQuest Worksheet

WebQuest about WebQuests Worksheet

Your Role

___Efficiency Expert

___Affiliator

___Altitudinist

___Technophile

I was absent from class because I was sick, therefore I was not in a group. 


Your Impressions

WebQuest	Strengths	Weaknesses
Grow School Greens	Everything was clear and theme appropriate.	Almost too much information and questionable age appropriateness.
Where is My Hero?	Interesting and creative ideas.	Not as detailed.
Underground Railroad	Very clear and creative while still being constructive.	I have nothing negative to say.
Ice Cream	Love this idea and theme for this age group.	The choice of colors and presentation was not my favorite.
Ancient Egypt	Assignment is clear.	Not visually appealing.

The two best Webquests in my opinion were Ungerground Railroad and Ice Cream. They were creative, age appropriate, and made learning more fun. 

Best in this case means that I liked it above the others because it was appealing, clear, and I would like to do it. Worst means that it is lacking the those things. 

Collaborative Learning with Technology

 Storybird collaboration between sparrish and brittanyrimmer

ISTE NETS-T Standard 3 for Model Digital Age Work and Learning:

        b. collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.

This Storybird project allows students in different school, that are different ages, and have different ideas to collaborate on one story, then publish it for the community online to see and comment. Teachers can use this method of collaboration with Storybird in multiple approaches to collaboration. Whether a group of students in one class huddle around a computer and create a story, individual students from different classes pair up and work on a story, or students who don't even know each other from different school share the experience of writing a virtual story together.

Since Storybird is online, the community can view and comment on students work. This allows the community to be involved and support the students creating a positive atmosphere of learning and appreciation of hard work. Parents and family members can also make stories with students and view them whenever they are available. Teachers could assign students to create a Storybird story with a family member who does not live close by. If a student does not have a family who could collaborate with them, those students could be paired ith another teacher at the school. This allows the family or another caring adult to be involved and support students.

This form of collaboration is effective because it is online. Writing a story online while collaborating with someone else allows students to experience teamwork, creative thinking, and enjoyment using digital tools, making writing a simple story infinitely more exciting because they are students in technologically savvy generations.

Copyright Video

After watching this video, I learned that they (the copyright business/company/program thing) can identify a match or a copy even if it is just a fragment of a video, if it is in slow motion or fast forward, there are one hundred years worth of video this system knows and when a copy is identified, the owner has the option to allow it which usually in turn allows them to benefit from the publicity.
I agree with allowing the owner to have the right to choose, not just to have the access and republishing automatically denied and that the copyrighting business is very complicated and messy.

One question that I had is... Can the owner(s) see who and how their work is being reproduced and how it could benefit them before making their decision.

When I Become a Teacher

This is my video of when I become a teacher.

Digital storytelling is a really neat way to incorporate media into the classroom while still intellectually stimulating students. This actually allows students to be much more creative, rather than writing a 5 page research paper. They can express themselves, visually, musically, and creatively using the tools that are fun and interesting to them. 

The article entitled "The World of Digital Storytelling" explains, "Through creating electronic personal narratives, students become active creators, rather than passive consumers, or multimedia." Students consume so much media, but most of the time it is never used in a positive way. By assigning students projects using media, like digital storytelling, these students get to hand-craft their own piece of what they are consuming which is infinitely more rewarding. Not only does this allow students to be creative in a way that is modern and fun, but they also are attracted and engaged by the work they are doing. This advances critical thinking and creativity. The article says, "Digital stories need to be used to strengthen students' critical thinking, report writing, and media literacy skills." Media is everywhere in our lives. We are practically forced to use it in the society we live in. Every corner, business, or corporation uses new technology and media products, so why not teach our students how to use these things to their advantage? These things are a hindrance to students' education when they are banded and avoided, but if we can use them to make learning the material not only more exciting, but also fresh and new, students will inevitably broaden their thinking and creativity in ways that are unimaginable. 

As an English teacher this could be really useful in my classroom. Here is an example of performing and creating poetry as a digital story. 

WebQuest Evaluation

WebQuest

Was Shakespeare Really Shakespeare? 

	Beginning	Developing	Accomplished	Score
Overall Aesthetics (This refers to the WebQuest page itself, not the external resources linked to it.)
Overall Visual Appeal	0 points There are few or no graphic elements. No variation in layout or typography. OR Color is garish and/or typographic variations are overused and legibility suffers. Background interferes with the readability.	2 points Graphic elements sometimes, but not always, contribute to the understanding of concepts, ideas and relationships. There is some variation in type size, color, and layout.	4 points Appropriate and thematic graphic elements are used to make visual connections that contribute to the understanding of concepts, ideas and relationships. Differences in type size and/or color are used well and consistently.  See Fine Points Checklist.	2  Visual appearance  is lacking. A more interesting font with different colors and sizes along with more pictures would make this  more engagin and appealing.
Navigation & Flow	0 points Getting through the lesson is confusing and unconventional. Pages can't be found easily and/or the way back isn't clear.	2 points There are a few places where the learner can get lost and not know where to go next.	4 points Navigation is seamless. It is always clear to the learner what all the pieces are and how to get to them.	4 Navigation is clear and easy to follow.
Mechanical Aspects	0 points There are more than 5 broken links, misplaced or missing images, badly sized tables, misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	1 point There are some broken links, misplaced or missing images, badly sized tables, misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	2 points No mechanical problems noted.  See Fine Points Checklist.	2 There are no mechanical problems indicated.
Introduction
Motivational Effectiveness of Introduction	0 points The introduction is purely factual, with no appeal to relevance or social importance OR The scenario posed is transparently bogus and doesn't respect the media literacy of today's learners.	1 point The introduction relates somewhat to the learner's interests and/or describes a compelling question or problem.	2 points The introduction draws the reader into the lesson by relating to the learner's interests or goals and/or engagingly describing a compelling question or problem.	2  The introduction is clear, interesting, and engaging, therefore making the introduction very effective.
Cognitive Effectiveness of the Introduction	0 points The introduction doesn't prepare the reader for what is to come, or build on what the learner already knows.	1 point The introduction makes some reference to learner's prior knowledge and previews to some extent what the lesson is about.	2 points The introduction builds on learner's prior knowledge and effectively prepares the learner by foreshadowing what the lesson is about.	2 The introduction  does build on former knowledge and initiates an interesting new perspective.
Task (The task is the end result of student efforts... not the steps involved in getting there.)
Connection of Task to Standards	0 points The task is not related to standards.	2 point The task is referenced to standards but is not clearly connected to what students must know and be able to do to achieve proficiency of those standards.	4 points The task is referenced to standards and is clearly connected to what students must know and be able to do to achieve proficiency of those standards.	4 The task is very clear and direct, providing students with a direction and expectations they must meet.
Cognitive Level of the Task	0 points Task requires simply comprehending or retelling of information found on web pages and answering factual questions.	3 points Task is doable but is limited in its significance to students' lives. The task requires analysis of information and/or putting together information from several sources.	6 points Task is doable and engaging, and elicits thinking that goes beyond rote comprehension. The task requires synthesis of multiple sources of information, and/or taking a position, and/or going beyond the data given and making a generalization or creative product. See WebQuest Taskonomy.	6 The Task is doable and engaging, while allowing students to be creative. Students do take a position and use multiple sources to make a claim.
Process (The process is the step-by-step description of how students will accomplish the task.)
Clarity of Process	0 points Process is not clearly stated. Students would not know exactly what they were supposed to do just from reading this.	2 points Some directions are given, but there is missing information. Students might be confused.	4 points Every step is clearly stated. Most students would know exactly where they are at each step of the process and know what to do next.	4  The process is clear and very organized. Students know what thety are to do.
Scaffolding of Process	0 points The process lacks strategies and organizational tools needed for students to gain the knowledge needed to complete the task. Activities are of little significance to one another and/or to the accomplishment of the task.	3 points Strategies and organizational tools embedded in the process are insufficient to ensure that all students will gain the knowledge needed to complete the task. Some of the activities do not relate specifically to the accomplishment of the task.	6 points The process provides students coming in at different entry levels with strategies and organizational tools to access and gain the knowledge needed to complete the task. Activities are clearly related and designed to take the students from basic knowledge to higher level thinking. Checks for understanding are built in to assess whether students are getting it. See: Process Guides A Taxonomy of Information Patterns Language Arts Standards and Technology WebQuest Enhancement Tools Reception, Transformation & Production Scaffolds	6 The process is extremely thorough and allows students to access all the information then need to complete the assignment effectively. The process is organized and challenges students critical thinking.
Richness of Process	0 points Few steps, no separate roles assigned.	1 points Some separate tasks or roles assigned. More complex activities required.	2 points Different roles are assigned to help students understand different perspectives and/or share responsibility in accomplishing the task.	1  The different tasks for each person are not clear.
Resources (Note: you should evaluate all resources linked to the page, even if they are in sections other than the Process block. Also note that books, video and other off-line resources can and should be used where appropriate.)
Relevance & Quantity of Resources	0 points Resources provided are not sufficient for students to accomplish the task. OR There are too many resources for learners to look at in a reasonable time.	2 point There is some connection between the resources and the information needed for students to accomplish the task. Some resources don't add anything new.	4 points There is a clear and meaningful connection between all the resources and the information needed for students to accomplish the task. Every resource carries its weight.	4  There are clear, meaningful, and helpful resources.
Quality of Resources	0 points Links are mundane. They lead to information that could be found in a classroom encyclopedia.	2 points Some links carry information not ordinarily found in a classroom.	4 points Links make excellent use of the Web's timeliness and colorfulness. Varied resources provide enough meaningful information for students to think deeply.	4 The quality of the resources was very well done.
Evaluation
Clarity of Evaluation Criteria	0 points Criteria for success are not described.	3 points Criteria for success are at least partially described.	6 points Criteria for success are clearly stated in the form of a rubric. Criteria include qualitative as well as quantitative descriptors. The evaluation instrument clearly measures what students must know and be able to do to accomplish the task. See Creating a Rubric.	6  The Evaluation was very clear and direct of the expectations and requirements.
Total Score				47/50