Literacy Project Lesson Plan-Instructional Choice and Reflection
I chose to use a WebQuest model for my literacy project because I was looking for a tool that would allow me to choose the content while also allowing for opportunities to personalize the lesson for students. The goal of my lesson was not only to teach students about Ellis Island, but to ensure that they were able to develop historical empathy. By using a WebQuest model, I was able to differentiate my instruction for my individual students while still ensuring that all students had access to the same content, which is so important, particularly at the beginning of the school year.
The lesson went well overall. Students were able to stay generally focused and on task and were able to access the content fairly easily. This is one of the benefits of the WebQuest: student frustration is more limited because there are clear instructions about which resources to use which cuts down on the student having to struggle to find the important information. Despite this, I still had some students who were frustrated that they actually had to read and interact with the multimedia in order to successfully complete the assignment. I worked with those students to develop strategies for finding key information on a website without giving them the answer, which I was proud of, because it can be very tempting as a teacher to do the thinking for the students. In the future, I think I will try to explicitly make the point that in developing an assignment like this, I want students to read more than just the answer to the specific question, and that we ask them specific questions to make sure that they are truly reading and understanding the content. I think that by being very explicit about the goals of the instruction with the student, students might be less frustrated with the process.
Another thing that I would improve about my lesson is the pacing. Some students finished before the period ended and some took several days, even though I had differentiated the lesson by simplifying and eliminating some questions for students. I think that in the future I need to really rethink the top tier of my instruction to ensure that all students, including those that are the highest achieving, are being challenged in my classroom. I really think that using a WebQuest format in the future will allow me to make sure that everyone is where they need to be in their own Zones of Proximal Development.
Students enjoyed the layout of the assignment and enjoyed being able to work on their Chromebooks at their own pace. They generally stayed on task and seemed to enjoy finding out new information on the subject of Ellis Island. Almost everyone student that completed the assignment (and more are coming in) was able to successfully understand the content of the lesson. About half of the students demonstrated their ability to empathize with the immigrants who came through Ellis Island. However, many students left the "empathy" questions blank, perhaps because they didn't fully understand that that was a major objective of the lesson (even though we had discussed it). In the future, I think I will bold those questions and make sure students understand that they will be weighted more heavily than the content questions. Overall, I'm happy with the outcomes of my lesson and am looking forward to tweaking it and trying it again next year.
The lesson went well overall. Students were able to stay generally focused and on task and were able to access the content fairly easily. This is one of the benefits of the WebQuest: student frustration is more limited because there are clear instructions about which resources to use which cuts down on the student having to struggle to find the important information. Despite this, I still had some students who were frustrated that they actually had to read and interact with the multimedia in order to successfully complete the assignment. I worked with those students to develop strategies for finding key information on a website without giving them the answer, which I was proud of, because it can be very tempting as a teacher to do the thinking for the students. In the future, I think I will try to explicitly make the point that in developing an assignment like this, I want students to read more than just the answer to the specific question, and that we ask them specific questions to make sure that they are truly reading and understanding the content. I think that by being very explicit about the goals of the instruction with the student, students might be less frustrated with the process.
Another thing that I would improve about my lesson is the pacing. Some students finished before the period ended and some took several days, even though I had differentiated the lesson by simplifying and eliminating some questions for students. I think that in the future I need to really rethink the top tier of my instruction to ensure that all students, including those that are the highest achieving, are being challenged in my classroom. I really think that using a WebQuest format in the future will allow me to make sure that everyone is where they need to be in their own Zones of Proximal Development.
Students enjoyed the layout of the assignment and enjoyed being able to work on their Chromebooks at their own pace. They generally stayed on task and seemed to enjoy finding out new information on the subject of Ellis Island. Almost everyone student that completed the assignment (and more are coming in) was able to successfully understand the content of the lesson. About half of the students demonstrated their ability to empathize with the immigrants who came through Ellis Island. However, many students left the "empathy" questions blank, perhaps because they didn't fully understand that that was a major objective of the lesson (even though we had discussed it). In the future, I think I will bold those questions and make sure students understand that they will be weighted more heavily than the content questions. Overall, I'm happy with the outcomes of my lesson and am looking forward to tweaking it and trying it again next year.
Lani I really enjoyed reading about your WebQuest and how it was implemented in your classroom. I noticed just like my lesson that you also had early finishers who needed something extra to do while the rest of the class finished. Adding an extra activity for early finishers/high achievers would give them an opportunity to be challenged. Maybe having them create an outline for creating a web 2.0 tool to show their learning.
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