My Webquest Reflection

Check out my webquest for 5th graders at: http://ia.usu.edu/viewproject.php?project=ia:13237


I think the highlight of my webquest is that it immediately grabs students' interests and they are excited to begin the project. It was really important to me that I design a webquest that was extremely motivating and engaging for students because that allows their learning to be maximized. I wish I had the money to allow each of these students to go on a field trip to areas that the animal they're reporting on actually lives, so they could see its true habitat and observe what it actually does in the wild first-hand.

The planning sheet was very helpful to me. Once I completed it, I knew exactly where my webquest was headed and had a clear direction when it came time to actually putting it together. My peer evaluation was also helpful. It allowed me to make some needed corrections and improvements.

I've learned that when we as teachers put some time into planning technology-based instruction for our students, it can reap big rewards. The biggest reward is how much students enjoy using the projects. By using webquests and other such tools, we can make a significant difference in how motivated they are to learn.

I was very excited to learn about ways I can use digital photography in my classroom. Using digital photography is very motivating for students. It provides another way of using technology in the classroom. I loved the idea of teaching about geometric shapes through the use of photography because it helps students see that the environment all around them contains shapes. It makes learning personal to them. All of a sudden geometric shapes have purpose and are a concrete idea, rather than being an abstract subject they have to learn about.

Geometric Shapes!

Web Applications

Today we explored more into web applications. Web applications are an interactive, extremely engaging and motivating for children to learn various concepts across all the subject areas. The following are some I explored today that I thought I could use in my future classroom.

Science--Build a prairie game--This game went right along with my Webquest idea for 5th graders, in that it addresses Science Standard 5, in which students learn about characteristics that help plants and animals survive in their environments. I think it would be very fun way for students to learn about about this. It's found at the following website:

http://www.bellmuseum.org/distancelearning/prairie/build/

Science--Nasa website--This game would work well in 1st grade where students are learning about the water cycle, it's steps and processes. I think it would provide a wonderful way for students to individually review what we've learned as a class because as they play this game, it asks questions about the water cycle. It's found at the following website:

http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/droplet.html

Social Studies--5th Grade Social Studies Standards address exploration and settling of North America. Completing this activity will help students become motivated about using maps, learn about technology advances that led to an increase in exploration, and also reasons for exploration. All of these are indicators in Standard 1, Objective 1 that students will learn about and explore through this activity.

http://www.bellmuseum.org/distancelearning/prairie/build/

And this is just a note to myself so I don't forget about it. The following is a website that makes math fun and exciting for students: http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/

Webquest Ideas

Today we learned about Webquests. These allow children to gain experience with and exposure to using the information available on the web, without having to get lost in the navigating of the web. I think it provides a very engaging and exciting way for children to learn.

I've been brainstorming a few different topics I could do for my webquest. One is to create a webquest for 3-5 grade students about Endangered Species. I really think they'd enjoy researching about an animal that's endangered. Also, I've considered doing a webquest on natural disasters/safety, including earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc. This is another topic that I believe is always intriguing to students.

Website Evaluation

Today we learned about website evaluations and the importance of ensuring that our future students know how to discern a good website from a bad website. The first website I looked at was the Smithsonian Education website, http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/students/index.html. I loved this website! It was extremely easy to navigate and contained very useful, intriguing information. Using Kathy Schrock's guide for Educators, I observed that this website was very well done because the information was organized, including introductions, title pages, and it even include information (links) that led me to more information on the subject. Additionally, the graphics on the pages facilitated my learning. Plus, contact information was available for the director and editors of the site.

I also used WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) located at http://wave.webaim.org/ to evaluate the accessibility for ALL of my students to the website. I was extremely impressed to discover that the Smithsonian Education website had no accessibility errors! Therefore, my students with visual or hearing impairments should have no problem accessing the information available on that website. How wonderful!

Creating Spreadsheets & Surveys!

Hallelujah! I finally got a little brush-up on on how to create and use spreadsheets. The functions available, such as finding a sum or average, will definitely be extremely useful in my future classroom. I think it could provide a fun way for students to learn about averages and charts, as we could take surveys in the class and talk about the results. Also, spreadsheets will be very helpful in recording, organizing, and evaluating test scores, etc. I was also very excited to learn about creating surveys in google docs. I think that would be a wonderful way to involve parents in the classroom and have their input help me in educating their children. So...about those surveys...you should look at mine posted below here! :)

Let me know what your favorite vacation spot is!

Collaborative Writing

Today in class we learned about collaborative writing and how we can utilize this motivating way of writing in our classrooms. In the 2nd grade core curriculum under standard 7 in language arts, objective 6, indicator b says that students will produce traditional and imaginative stories, narrative and formula poetry as an individual/shared writing activity. Word processing can help me meet this standard. I especially love the idea of having children collaboratively write a story together as a class, either in Word or on a Google Doc. Since 2nd graders are still so young and not experienced on the keyboard, I think I could increase their excitement and motivation for writing by having them dictate a story to me as I type it on the computer in front of the class. We could use bubbl.us to brainstorm together of what we'd like to include in the story. And then each student could have a turn "writing" (dictating out loud) a sentence for the story. Doing this would also help with concepts of print, spelling, grammar, etc. I think using collaborative writing in these younger years would be very helpful in creating enthusiasm for writing amongst the students.

Learning about Copyright

Today in class we individually read articles and watched short video clips on copyright laws, issues, and ways to negotiate this issue appropriately. This information was very helpful to me. Copyright laws have seemed so confusing and ambiguous to me and although it IS a gray area, it helps to research it. After going through the links on blackboard, I started going through the case studies with a few students, comparing opinions and insights. I quickly found out that even though I'd just listened and read a lot of information regarding copyright laws, it was still difficult because of how many different scenarios there can be. But, it's very important that we're aware of these issues and are careful as we use others' material because there are punishments for copyright infringement, such as being sued.

YETC Resources

Today in INST 4010 we visited the YETC lab and were introduced to various resources we can use in our future classrooms. Someday I would love to teach 2nd grade. Therefore, some of the resources that really impressed me because I could envision myself using them in my classroom were the many websites, such as spellingcity.com, that almost acts as a second teacher by providing spelling tests, reviews, and practice games. I also loved receiving the information about Nathan's newsletter each month on the YETC website that reveals many of these sites that are helpful to teachers. Additionally, I was extremely excited to learn about the site polleverywhere.com, which acts as an "i-clicker" device in the classroom. How wonderful! It's amazing the amount of resources that are available to teachers. It's just a question of whether or not you know how to find it!

UEN Resources

I love hearing about all of these wonderful resources that are available to us! For right now, it will be very helpful to use this site so I can plan lessons that involve videos, invite guest speakers through wimba classroom, view the curriculum, and use other technology enhancements that will help my students understand concepts. They'll see how the knowledge is applicable in their lives and be more motivated to learn. Eventually, when I become a teacher, I'll be able to use these lesson plans and continue to create additional lessons involving technology enhancements. Using this technology will be helpful because it speaks to students in their language.

Blogs in the Classroom

I'm so anxious and excited to learn more about using technology in the classroom. I believe it will really help me connect with my students as technology is often their "language" these days. I think that using blogs can be a great help in educational settings. For instance, I'd like to have each student blog about what they've learned that week, what activities they enjoyed/found beneficial, etc. It's extremely important that students have the opportunity to reflect on what they're learning and blogs provide a wonderful way to do that. Blogs could also be a great way to promote unity within the classroom. I'd encourage them to talk about how we can make our classroom environment more positive and uplifting. I'm excited to continue learning about the many ways blogs could help my students learn.