- Easy to navigate (great visuals, bold headings, white space, etc.)
- Theme and task were presented with clarity
- Real-life application
I would like to share three of my favorites out of eleven that I viewed. Maureen Hallihan's "Folktales for Second Graders" is to be commended for its great visuals, use of bold key words, and easy navigation. I really enjoyed the creativity of the role as a reporter and she included some great extension activities to challenge those high end learners. It also connects to a variety of learning styles: auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic learners. Check it out here:
For the webquest that includes all aspects of literacy, which include reading, writing, speaking, and viewing, I would recommend Michelle St. Amand's "2012 Iditarod Webquest" geared towards 7th grade ELA. Michelle did a great job connecting reading and writing to an authenic experience. In this case the students adopt a musher, follow their experience, and then write to the musher. I also like how the assignments are tiered. Michelle also includes all the pdf sheets at the bottom of the webquest page for easy assess to students. Finally, there are extensions at the end for students to explore more, and trust me, with a webquest this engaging--they will exploring more on their own! Great multi-discipline unit for years to come. Make sure you add it to your unit or tell a friend. Review it here and see what I mean:
Finally, with spring right around the corner, I would like to highlight Karena Allen's webquest "A Frog's Life Cycle" focused at 1st and 2nd graders. The focusing question engage students to think about what frogs need to survive--I wish I new this when I was a second grader, so my pet frog would have survived! I am kidding, but there is nothing to joke about this quality webquest. Karena includes many valid resources for the students to do research and again, this is practical real-life situations for students to explore. I can hear the peepers now:
Thank you for looking at my webquest and the nice things you said about it. I enjoyed building this for my students.
ReplyDeleteKarena
Dawn,
ReplyDeleteThank you for viewing my screencast and having such nice things to say :) Im glad it fit your criteria:
1. Easy to navigate (great visuals, bold headings, white space, etc.)
2. Theme and task were presented with clarity
3. Real-life application
Those criteria are great to keep in mind when designing WebQuests. I was very cognizant of this because of the age group I was appealing to. It is important to keep the format direct, clear and easy to navigate. Real life application, as we have discussed, is a great engagement piece and answers the question of "why do I have to learn this?" in a round about way. The goal is to make learning and fun synonymous....Everyone has done a great job with that! :)
Check out my blog when you get the chance. I commented on your screencast :)