One of the critical elements of the GAME plan is monitoring my work thus far to determine whether I am making sufficient progress toward my goals (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). It would be especially easy to fall into the procrastination trap right now, with both the end of the third quarter and parent conferences approaching. In addition to monitoring, I want to modify my action plan by setting more specific goals regarding GAME Plan 1, the Web quest.
Now that I’ve spent some time researching Web quests, I feel much less apprehensive about creating one. Since the format remains the same despite the purpose of the quest, once I have created a template I can adapt it for reuse easily.
I signed up for a trial account with QuestGarden, since I discovered several Web quests there that I can adapt to my Anne Frank unit. My next step is to experiment with the services the site provides to determine whether continuing the paid account is worthwhile. (The subscription price is quite low, so I imagine the full-access account will be more than worth the cost.) Last week I saw that Anthony uses a Google site to house his Web quests; that is a possibility as well. Hosting my Web quests on either QuestGarden or Google, rather than exclusively on the school server, will mean that they are available to students from home as well as from school, a huge benefit when students are absent or when computer lab time is at a premium. Nonetheless, I will need to ensure that students have adequate computer time during class, since there are students who do not have easy access to the Internet outside of school.
Since my students will begin reading Anne Frank tomorrow, I should have plenty of time to modify a Web quest to use as an end-of unit assessment. I have not yet given myself a specific timeline for accomplishing this goal, so I will set that now: by Sunday, I plan to have analyzed the links on the existing Web quest and noted what changes need to be made. The following week, I will begin modifying the quest to fit my students’ needs. By setting up a specific schedule, I can keep myself on target rather than letting this slip to the bottom of the “to-do” list.
I have made some progress on GAME Plan 2 (ethical use of digital information) as well. I collaborated with the media specialist to create a mini-lesson on how to avoid copyright infringement, and we delivered the lesson to one class today. She created some reference sheets for the students on MLA guidelines for Web sites, music, and images, which are the three digital sources my students will be using on their upcoming Movie Maker commercial. I modified the reference sheets and put an electronic version on the school server where students can access them from any school computer.
A few days ago I received a reply to my email to FreePlayMusic.com. I learned that we can use the music on the site as long as it does not go beyond the school building. This will suit our needs well, as we plan to keep these movies within our school community. The media specialist and I ensured that students understand why we have these limitations; they seemed receptive to the idea of fair use.
Still to be conquered in the coming weeks: Creative Commons and the copyright/fair use articles I referenced last week (Starr, 2010).
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Starr, L. (2010, May 25). Education World. Copyrights and copying wrongs. Retrieved March 14, 2011 from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr280a.shtml
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Kelly,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are off to a great start on your GAME Plan. It is important for us to realize the pitfalls around us and the potential for falling of the wagon and getting behind. You seem to have a real grasp on that reality. It is great that you have set mini-goals within your bigger goals--having your webquest done by Sunday. I hope that next week you will post a link for us to take a look at it.
Laura
Kelly,
ReplyDeleteWOW! You are doing an amazing job and conquering your GAME plan in an orderly fashion. Kudos to you for making a time-line for the remainder of your plan.
What type of music are you planning on including on your Web Quest or were you just reviewing the copyright guidelines for music? I also read about Anthony's Web Quest last week and this week too, and now reading about what your plans are has started me thinking....hmmm. This is exciting. Can I ask what sparked the idea about having your students create a Web Quest on Anne Frank? I believe I will check out the sites that you have mentioned. I have never heard of QuestGarden. What will be your deciding factor on choosing a site for your Web Quest?
Good job,
Kimberly
Kim and Laura,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the words of encouragement. Both of my GAME plan goals were skills I had wanted to work on for some time, but I had kept putting them off. Now that I’ve started, I realize that neither one is as monumental as I had thought. Taking the first step is often all that’s needed.
Kim, I wasn’t planning on including music in my Web quest; I was looking for sources for my students, who just began using Movie Maker to create a commercial promoting a nonprofit organization. I wanted to find music they could use legally. I remembered someone mentioning this site in another Walden class, and it’s turned out to be perfect. One of the ways you can search for tunes is by “feel”—funky, eerie, action, and so on—which will give them an easy way to find appropriate music without extensive previewing. We haven’t started working with the music yet (my students are still working on video and images right now), but I’m excited to see their reaction. It’s turning out to be a fun project, although it may end up taking longer than I anticipated. I think it’s time well spent, though; I feel like I’m exposing them to skills they’ll be able to use—and they are engaged and curious. I’ll keep you posted on the results.
To answer your question about Anne Frank, it was really just timing. When I set the Web quest goal, I was just about to begin a unit on Anne Frank, so the timing was right. What I realized after looking on QuestGarden was that I don’t have to create an entirely new quest (not this time, at least), because I’ve found quests I can modify, including one in particular on creating a memorial (Taylor, n.d.). Actually, there were several I think I could use “as is.” I highly recommend the site; even if you don’t use one of the Web quests, I’m sure you’ll find links that are useful to you.
References
Taylor, I. (n.d.) An Anne Frank memorial. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from http://questgarden.com/116/92/9/110105191326/index.htm
Kelly,
ReplyDeleteYou are one amazing teacher/woman!!! I haven't delved into webquest yet. I teach elementary, but I would love to know what I'm missing. Is there a step-by-step cheat sheet for dummies creating a webquest? (that's what I need) Also, your music source, would it be a good source for adding music to any or other things besides movies? What about webpages or other things?
I completely understand what you were saying about having goals or a to-do list in the back of your mind, and finally being able to catapult these ideas into actions because of our school projects. Then finding out that our ideas are very doable, not as mammoth as we thought.
I would love to know about the music site.
You're doing a fabulous job!