My Contributios to the Webquest Wiki

I contributed to the webuest wiki by adding three great webquests that I could very easily integrate into my classroom, or even just take the tasks and use in a unit. I liked them because they were very real world and they are very important topics to me and the things that I plan to teach about.

• The first webquest that I chose is called Environmental Awareness: Junk Mail Overload. It is analyzing junk mail and how much stuff people throw away. Students have to come up with solutions to an environmental problem. It is a retelling, persuasive and analytical task.
  
  
• The second web quest is called Climate Change: a Hot Topic... Cool Solutions. It is all about students understanding the impact that they can have (good or bad) on their communities by the actions that they take. This webquest is a mystery, persuasive, analytical and scientific task.
  
  
• The last webquest is a very simple study of the Water Cycle and it is just an easy way to introduce the conversation to the class of earth cycles. This webquest is both a scientific and an analytical task.

Enjoy!

Chapter 10. Going Beyond the Classroom

The chapter this passage comes from explains that students can really learn when they are given the opportunity to see things outside of the classroom. Mahogany says, “In ninth-grade science, two times a week we went out to clean up a park with a pond in it. We learned about fish and their environment” page 176.

There is nothing like combining learning with community service. There are so many great things that can come from helping other people, cleaning up the environment that you live in while learning outside of the classroom. I am very passionate about environmental issues/problems and I will enjoy taking my students outside to learn a lot about the environment. There are so many things in science that can be taught outside of the classroom. The value of helping other people can be taught inside and outside the classroom, but the important thing is, that it is taught.

Chapter 9. When Things Go Wrong

“Without giving up their human side, teachers have to put aside their fear and do the job, even as their teenaged students test them again and again.” Then Mika responds with “We’re just gonna crush your hope and pride. Teachers need to get a harder shell. After that, students won’t see that you’re scared” (page 168).

I do not think that teachers need to ‘get a harder shell’ because they are afraid that their students are going to ‘crush their hope and pride’. I think that is a terrible thing to say. You have to make yourself a littler vulnerable to your students, or else why would you want to be a teacher? You do not want to show your students that you are scared to teach, but a teacher should never be in fear of a student. If I have students that are deliberately trying to ‘crush my hope and pride’ I have chosen the wrong career. I think it is important to find the balance between the two extremes of friend and authoritarian, especially in the first few years, but there will be no student allowed in my classroom that makes me fear being there, for any reason.

Chapter 8. Teaching Teenagers Who Are Still Learning English

“My first English teacher in middle school saw me and my friend dancing and she made a class after school for us to teach samba to English-speaking kids. Teachers can make connections for us if they know what we can do” Elaine, page 135.

There are sure to be a handful of English language learners in every class or year of students. It is true with all students, as much as it is English language learners, get to know them, make connections, and allow them show off ‘their stuff’ (what they are good at, things that they like, a unique family tradition, culture difference…etc). If there is a way for your students to teach each other something, give them that outlet. I was able to teach dance in high school, not at school but at my studio and it encouraged me want to become a teacher. I love to dance and that is why this passage caught my eye.

Chapter 7. Teaching Difficult Academic Material

“When things in the textbook seem really boring, do activities that force us to get involved and make connections. In my ninth-grade science class we read about how resources were divided among the world, and he had students act as countries and divide up popcorn in amounts that represented their country’s share of the resources. We have to organize to get enough popcorn for our countries” – Daryl, page 135.

I personally just like this idea. It is an effective way to teach about resources, the problems that this country is facing and the dent that it is making on the world. It gets students up and moving, communicating and visualizing the sharing of resources. Because I am a science concentration, I find that there are not a lot of ‘motivating stories’ about science classes, it catches my eye when I see one, and I use it. Science textbooks are incredibly boring, doing activities like this one can help teach something that is not in the textbook, or can be used to supplement or replace reading for people who are more visual or kinesthetic learners. I also did it in middle school, and it was really fun.

Chapter 6. Motivation and Boredom

Porsche, on page 119, gave a great reason to motivate students to free write or keep a journal (or blog!) “I wanted to write a poem in my English class after I saw that movie American History X. It was so sad that I just had to write about it because it really made me think bad things, so I had to write it down instead of saying something to someone.”

First of all, if you have not seen this film, see it, rent it, borrow it, buy it, Netflix it or steal it. It is a brilliant film and every teacher-to-be should see it, especially if the Freedom Writers Diary touched your heart… at all. Porsche had a great reason to want to write something down. However, if there is nothing that you feel you need to write about in the classes you are teaching, do not expect your students to have anything to say, but if you do, they do, so have them do it. A journal can be a great tool for communication between student and teacher about understanding concepts, or it turn into time consuming busy work.

Chapter 5. Teaching to the Individual, Working with the Group

This passage is a quote by Vance that is on page 88, it is a story about why he lost his motivation to participate. “I never liked chemistry or physics or anything, but one day I brought in a Stephen Hawking book on the history of the universe–I asked the teacher about it. He was talking about light, about how it’s in packets, and how you can use light to turn chemicals into certain things. So I asked: “Couldn’t you theoretically turn something into anything?” And he said: “No. That’s science fiction,” and went on with his class. And I’m thinking: “But Stephen Hawking said that – this is the only thing I have to contribute – I practiced all night to say this–” And so I just put my head back down on the desk.”

I just want to take this opportunity to defend Vance. First of all, Stephen Hawking is a BRILLIANT MAN. He knows more about science theory and math theory than twenty five of Vance’s teacher put together and then some; I would put money on it. Why not dabble in a theory for a second? He would have explained something about theories to students, that they are just that, theories. He could have asked Vance to give a context to his statement and then try to prove it. Open the theory up to the class and play devils advocate, ask questions, get them to think, discuss, debate, fight…anything, make them think for themselves and ask them to explain why. Getting students to think for themselves, believe in something and be able to support what they believe in, is more important to me than anything I could teach them about chemistry or physics.