WEBQUEST

Webquest: Ancient Rome

http://www.uni.edu/schneidj/webquests/fall04/rome/index.html

This webquest is about ancient Rome. The students are to work with a partner. They have three activities which they have to complete. The story for this project is that the team’s country has become a providence of Ancient Rome. Their country creates a team of researchers to study Rome’s way of life. They will use the information they have gathers to improve their countries way of life and make it similar to the Romans. The students have to create roads, a triumphal arch and pubic bath houses. For each activity there are two roles so that each partner has a job to do. Each role has various websites and activities that they must complete before working with their partner. When each student has finished their separate jobs they come together to combine their work into one project. The last activity the children do is to research the coliseum online and answer questions on a worksheet.

Analysis: This webquest is a good one with easy to hard activities for the students to do. The visual appeal of this webquest is great. The background is a dark blue with yellow font and pictures that catch a person’s eye. For each activity there are pictures that show examples of what the children are supposed to be doing. For example, if you click on building the triumphal arch lesson, there are instructions for what the children are supposed to do and pictures of ancient roman arches so that the children know what they look like. The navigation of the site can be better. The lessons are clearly labeled and it is clear on which lesson goes first but the rest of the site is hard to get around. It is hard to figure out where you are supposed to go and what you are supposed to read before the lessons. As for the mechanical aspects of the site I did not notice any errors or misspellings and everything seemed to be fine.

The motivational aspect of the site is good. A person who loves ancient Rome will love to do this activity but for a person who does not like history this project will seem hard a boring. The task is represented in a great way, where the students are part of a country that is under the Roman Empire and the researchers from this country are sent to Rome to find out about their way of life. The task preps the reader of what the task will be and makes specific hints to what areas of roman culture the students are expected to research. The webquest is on par with the standards for the grade and content area. The task is doable and it is engaging for students. It requires the students to do more that just read websites and take information from them. The students have to think critically and make outlines for building things such as arches and bath houses. They have to come up with the exact measurements and the exact prices for the materials they will be using.

The process of the webquest is very instructional and lets the students know what is to be done in each step of the project. The children know what they have to do and which tasks they have to do next. The activities of the task are related to one another and they go hand in hand with each other. They all have basically similar instructions and aspects of what should be done. There are separate roles assigned for each activity in the task. There are two roles and they go hand in hand with each other. For example, in building the triumphal arch, one role is the architect and one is the engineer. Each role is crucial for the task as a whole to be done. The students have to share information to have the project completed as a whole. The links that the children go to for information on each topic is good. Each source has its own information that helps the students complete the task and activities. The links give information that is usually not found in the classroom or in the student’s textbooks. The information given is more advanced and more detailed. However there is no evaluation for the students to look at in this webquest. There is no rubric or anything that shows the students what they need to do to do well on the projects. The only rubric that is on the site is for teachers, not students. This needs to be corrected because the students need to know what they have to do and how they have to do it in order to get a good grade.

TICI

Name of the software: Microsoft Excel

Cooperating Classroom Grade Level: 5

Curriculum Area: This software could be used for the subject of science and health

Objectives: I would use this software in the curriculum because it has many different uses. The children can learn to use spreadsheets to keep track of how many calories they eat in a day. This program can let the children add number, divide, find averages and create lists. This program can teach children how to be more organized. They could even keep a record book of their own grades if they wanted to.

Summary: The assignment I would assign the children is similar to the one we did in class. I would have them keep a food diary for about a week. They will write the food they ate, the calories, the fat calories, the fat grams, the total of each for the meal and the percent of fat in their meal. I will show them various websites where they will be able to get the information they need for the calories of food. After explaining the assignment I will have explain the software to the children very carefully because this software can be hard and confusing. I will tell them the vocabulary of the program such as cell, A1, B1, and so on. Once I am positive the children know how to use the programs and all its different tools (such as finding the average of things) I will let them start on their project. This program will help them organize their food diaries and help them see the data more clearly so that they can write a report on how they eat, what they eat and how can their diet be healthier. After they acquire all their information I will have them create various graphs to show how many calories were in a meal, how many fat calories and so on. Then I will print each child’s diary, staple it together and hang them around the room.

Differentiated Learning: Since this software is difficult I will have to make myself available to the children who need the extra help. It this software proofs to be too difficult for them, I would have those children hand write a chart and have them put the data in the spreadsheet with me. I will help them as much as I can. I think this program may be a bit of a challenge for the gifted children but I believe they would be able to handle it.

TICI

Name of the software: Newspaper Software

Cooperating Classroom Grade Level: 5

Curriculum Area: This software could be used for a social studies arts project, which is to make a class newspaper or letter.

Objectives: I would use this software in the curriculum because it has many purposes that can be used for any subject. The children can create news letters for any subject and write articles using information that they learned in class and that they researched. This program also gives the children a good lesson in how to create a newspaper and they learn things such as editing and where to put the most important article where and so on. This can also be used to create a class newsletter that can be sent home to the parents telling them of the important events in the school and what the children are learning in the class.

Summary:

Project One: History newspaper

The first thing I would do would be to show the children how to work the program and get up a news letter/news paper template. The assignment would be for the children to pick a time in history (for example the American revolution period) then they would research the period and create a small one to three page newspaper with articles for that specific time. For example, the newspaper for the American Revolution period can have articles that speak about the war, specific battles; people win the war and what the normal populations of people were doing to help. I will show the children where to place the main and most important article as well as where to put the rest of the articles. The children will learn how to proof read their articles and check for editing before they print. They will learn how to decorate the newspaper sides and add information such as phone numbers, addresses and slogans. I will also teach them how to use clip art and pictures to decorate their newspapers.

Project Two: Class Newspaper

Just like project number one, I will teach the children how to use the software. The assignment for this project will be to create a class newsletter for the parents of the student in the class. We will all come up with a name for the paper together. It will be something like “Class 503’s Weekly News” or something like that. Then as a class I will partner up the children into groups of three and each group will write an article on what we are learning in the class in the different subjects and what important events are happening in the school. Each group will be able to type their articles in the newsletter as well as write their names in for the article they wrote. Each group will check and edit their work before the newsletter prints. Then I will take the original copy and make copies for all their parents. I will keep the original copy in a folder for this specific class so I can use their newsletter as an example to other classes I have.

Differentiated Learning: Because this software can be difficult to use I will have someone, either a student or myself, help the children who need it or who need extra help. I will keep explaining the steps until the students understand. The children who need help will get it because they will be in a group with capable peers. I will also be available to help any child who needs it.

TICI October 20, 2008

TICI

Name of the software: Appleworks (Databases)

Cooperating Classroom Grade Level: 4-6

Curriculum Area: This software could be used for the subject of social studies to make a database on important people in history.

Objectives: I would use this software in the curriculum because they have many different tools that can be used. The children can create a list of important people in the area they are studying and make an important facts sheet about the person. The children can use different colors, fonts and clip arts to make their projects more personal. As a teacher I can use this software to make a list of the children in my class with their phone numbers, addresses, medical things I should know, birthdates and so on. This can be a way for me as well as other people to keep records of things. The children can do this too. They could create a kind of phone book for their family and friends as another project.

Summary: The first thing I would do is introduce the software to the children and show them how to use it on a projector. I would explain all the tools and steps on how to make project because this software is very complicated. I would not use this software for the younger grades because of its difficulty. The minimum grade I would use this with is fourth grade.

Project 1- Important people in history

For this project I would again introduce and remind the children how to use the software. I will show them, on a projector, how to create a kind of profile for each person they want. The profile would have the following: Name, Birthday, place of birth, place where they lived, what they did to make them important, major events they played in and death (if it applies). For example for George Washington, his name would be there, his birthday, his place of birth, where he lived (in the U.S. colonies), his importance (was a general in the American Revolution), Major events in his life (the American Revolution) and the date of his death. After the students complete the profile (before they fill it out) I will show them how to duplicate the form so they can have as many as they need. I will go through each step with them on how to change the colors, the font, the size of the font and how to use the clip art to personalize their database.

Project 2- Address Book

I will introduce and/or remind the children how to use the software. I will show and help them to create a profile for their won computer phone book. They can choose what subtitles they want in their profile. They should have: name, phone number, cell phone number, address, birthday and relationship of that person to themselves. They will also be told to add any other category that was not mentioned that they would like. I will show them how to duplicate the profiles so that they have enough. After they fill out the profiles I will show them how to use the color, font and clip art tools to personalize their data bases.

Differentiated Learning: Because this software can be difficult to use I will have someone, either a student or myself, help the children who need it or who need extra help. I will keep explaining the steps until the students understand. This program should not be that difficult for the gifted children. If any child has too much trouble with this program I can have them write it up on paper and then spend one on one time with that child and show them how to use the software

TICI 2 10/7

TICI

Name of the software: Kidpix

Cooperating Classroom Grade Level: 1-6

Curriculum Area: This software could be used for mostly all subjects. It can be used for English, writing, reading, social studies, and art

Objectives: I would use this software in the curriculum because they have many different tools that can be used. The children can create many different pictures. The software has backgrounds, animations, and all the regular art tools such as stamps, paint brushes, pencils, a text box for typing and so on. This software can be effective even for a first grade class. The children can be asked to draw anything on this program. They can draw themselves, their family, their house, their room, their pets, their school or anything they want to. Then they save it in a folder with their name on it. They can make s slideshow of their pictures as well. The children can be asked to make a slideshow of the book they were reading by drawing the major events and the main characters. This software can be used for art by letting the children just have fun and letting them create anything they want. It can be used for drawing a social studies project, using the text as well and making a slideshow of events of a particular time. There are endless possibilities.

Summary: the first thing I would do is introduce the software to the children and show them how to use it on a projector. I would explain all the tools because this software has a lot and I would show them how to make a slideshow. Then I would give them an assignment to do. For example I would tell them to draw the book they are reading. They would draw the main characters on one page, at least 3 events on 3 different pages and the conclusion. The children would also have to use the text tools to write down what is happening in a sentence or two. After explaining the assignment if the children are not already at the computers I would tell them to go to one and start using the software. After they finish this, I would again show them how to make a slideshow in case they forgot. Finally I would tell them to save their work and perhaps print it out for them. I’m not sure if printing out a slideshow would be a good idea. If the printer doesn’t print in color then I wouldn’t do it.

Differentiated Learning: This software can accommodate all students because it is very easy to use. Even if all the tools can be taught the children still know the basics such as the pencil, paint brush, color and eraser. They do not have to use the advanced tools to complete a project. If a child is challenged in anyway then they could work with a partner or with me. All children should be able to use this software because it is a simple one to use that is a lot of fun

TICI 1

TICI

Name of the software: Kidspiration and Inspiration

Cooperating Classroom Grade Level: 2-6

Curriculum Area: These softwares could be used for anything. It can be used for English, writing, reading, social studies, math and basically any subject.

Objectives: I would use these softwares in these curriculums because they have many different tools that can be used. For example both softwares have idea bubbles with a main idea and sub-ideas. These can be used for brainstorming about history, math facts or ideas for writing an essay. There are activities that can be done especilaay for little children such as dressing up paper dolls according to the directions. This can be for testing their instruction skills. There are also outline formats for older kids to use so they could plan how to write a report, paper or essay. There is also a nice activity to use in the kidspiration that is called “my life” and they children can write bubbles for their family, what schools they went to, their hobbies and so on. Then this graph can be printed and hung up in the classroom so the children can get to know about each other.

Objectives: 1. Children will be able to brainstorm ideas for an essay by using the main idea bubbles

2. Children will be able to list math facts by using the main idea bubbles

3. The children will be able to list the major events of the revolutionary war using the idea bubbles.

4. Children will be able to write an outline for their paper by using the outline formats on the software.

Summary: First I would introduce the softwares to the children and show them how to use it on a projector. Then I would give them an assignment whether it be in history, writing, reading or math. I would show them how to use the main idea bubbles and how to make the sub-idea bubbles for brainstorming. I would also show them how to use the outline formats. Then I would allow the children to go on the computers and use the software. Finally I would tell them to save their work and print it out for them.

Differentiated Learning: These softwares can accommodate all students because they are easy to use. Some kids can use the inspiration software while others can use the easier kidspiration software. I could group student together in pairs and have them help each other if one doesn’t understand how to use the software so that all the children benefit. I can also help the children who need it or who don’t understand by working one on one with the child.

First day of Class

Today was the first day of EECE 220 class. Right now I'm a little bit worried about the class because I am not so good with computers. I only know the basics and I am kind of limited only to the programs I know. If any thing goes wrong I can't fix it because i wouldn't even know where to begin. I was amazed that I was able to get the blog up without any trouble. I guess these simple things i can do. I expect that at the end of this class I will have more computer knowledge for myself as well as for designing lessons for my education career. This class doesn't seem to be too hard and I can't wait to learn more about computers and their programs.