For and Against - December Post

          Ever have one of those days that you think you've completed something only to realize you didn't post it?  Well looking at my list I see that I've posted everything, but this... so now it is out of order... "Best laid plans of mice and men..."

          This month we are working on our "For and Against" projects - students were assigned a topic from the list compiled - they could also give suggestions of topics.  They had to take a survey to see what their stances were before they were assigned.  If a student chose neutral they could be switched to being "For" or "Against" based on their classmates stances and groupings.  

Here was the form for their topics:

-Abortion

-Gay Marriage

-Minimum Wage - Increase

-Raising the Debt Ceiling

-Euthanasia/Physician Assisted Suicide

-Vaccine for Kids

-Gun Control

-Medical Marijuana

-Animal Testing

-Video Games and Violence for Youth

-Death Penalty

-Drinking Age

-Cell Phones

-Illegal Immigration

-Concealed Handgun Permits

-Legalization of Marijuana

-E-Cigarettes

-Social Media in Schools

-Felons and Voting

-The Gold Standard

-Standardized Tests

-Tax Exempt Organizations

-Corporate Tax Rate

-Drones - Domestic

-Drones - International

-Electoral College

-Vocational Education

-Welfare

-Social Security

-Military Spending

-Domestic Violence

-Gambling

-Medicating Children

-Vaccinating Children

-Religion in Schools

-Police Brutality

-Discrimination/Affirmative Action

          Students had to provide a historical overview of their topic in an unbiased faction.  The main bulk of their paper is their persuasive portion where they focused on being for or against the topic and explaining why.  

         Next month, we will have them create short presentations where they introduce their main arguments to their classmates and then have open discussions about the topic.  This project is working on the research component of their standards, group communication, public speaking, and presenting information.

Creating a Web Quest

   I recently polled the faculty at my school to see what type of Professional Development involving technology they'd like and one of the respondents asked about creating a web quest.  I then added that as an option to those who had yet to take the survey, but it had minimal interest so I thought I'd blog about it.  Hope this helps...

Why I Use Webquests?

In Social Studies it is important (at least in my opinion) that students begin to research independently and learn about gathering information.  Yet today online, there's so many different websites that I don't want them going just anywhere to gain their information.  A web quest allows ME to choose the sites that I want them to go to, the topics, and I know what information they are going to gather when going.  When we are doing the web quest I usually also point out what aspects of a site makes that a good and relevant site versus a not so great option.

Before you Begin....

Did you look online for one already done?  I rarely keep someone else's web quest, but I might see something I like and simply take that or if I like the majority I might take the whole thing and then make changes to one already done so it meets my goals for the classroom.  Don't reinvent the wheel if it is an already popular topic.

Let's say you've done that and didn't find anything you are in love with... Here's the steps I do to make my webquests...

1) Start with the CONTENT!  What topic do you want them to learn about?  What standards do you want to address?  Always start with the curriculum and not the technology!!! It's more important about the information than an option in technology and utilizing it.

2)Research - Google, Bing, Yahoo, whatever engine you want type in your topic and see what comes up.  You can do an "Advanced Search" if you are looking for specific things.  I do this to look for .edu, .gov, .org, etc.  for websites.  I also have some "Go To's" for Social Studies.  I always check out PBS sites, the History Channel sites, etc. because I'm very rarely disappointed with what I find at those.

3) Add "Interactive" to my search.  I don't just want my students doing standard research (I mean I do, but they can get bored) so I also want something that can engage them.  Obviously not every website is going to do that, but sometimes I can strike gold just by adding Interactive to my search.  I've had students lay seige to castles, explore Khufu's tomb, attempt to complete the mummification process, and work their way through being an accused witch at the Salem Witch Trials - some lived, some died.  I add an interactive site if I can find it usually half way through or towards the end of my web quest.

4) Set Up.  I decide which sites I'm going to use, what information I want them to get out of it (what questions am I going to ask or what task do I want them to complete) and then set up the hyperlink followed by the questions/task for that website and then so on and so forth.  

5) Post Online - Save Some Trees.  I post mine on Edmodo so my students know what it is and when it is due and my classroom Website after the assignment is past due (sometimes edmodo doesn't want to show it after it's past due without an error or two).  There's more than just an environmental reason for posting it online.  If you do a web quest on paper you are giving the extra step of having to type every slash, underscore, cap, lower, etc. If it's not perfect, it doesn't come up and you will hear about it from the students that something doesn't work.  By posting it online you can hyperlink in the word file so they can go to that website without any typing of the URL.  Explore and get back to you and the questions without issues.    

You can have them type their answers and respond in like a Google Doc or you can go old school and have them write their answers on paper.  I typically  have them do this because I want it to go into their binder so I can test them on it.  

Explore.  Create. Investigate.  Have fun!