last meeting

Today, Carolyn and I met for the final time.  We went through the rubric and evaluated our webquest.  We had a great time working together and hope to stay in touch.  I have already shared the url on the discussion board but still need to write and submit my reflection.

Almost finished

Carolyn and I met yesterday do work on our WQ some more.  We changed out our videos so more people will be able to use it.  Most of the videos we originally chose were from United Streaming.  We are now using youtube videos instead.  We will meet again next week to discuss the comments we have received on our WQ.  It is published and ready to view if you'd like to see it.  =) http://questgarden.com/123/11/6/110401102545/

Getting close to the end

Carolyn and I met again this week.  We met on Friday and worked the day away to try and get our WebQuest completed.  In working together, we got the process page completed.  We really did a great job in working together to search for the perfect website to use for our WebQuest.  By the time we had to leave, all we had left to do for our WebQuest was the evaluation page.  We both did our part to put in our thoughts of how the WebQuest should be evaluated.  I am still working on mastering the ability to write a rubric, so luckily Carolyn was able to make up what I lacked.  I shared some of my ideas by placing them into the evaluation page and Carolyn perfect what I wrote, and completed the ones that had not yet been written.  After looking over our WebQuest just now, I have come to the realization that I believe we are ready to publish it.  We will wait until Tuesday to talk about sharing our quest with friends and peers before we publish it.  I am very excited to hear feedback and comments.

I really like this program.  I think it is a great tool to incorporate in learning.  It is a great way to break up the monotony of the everyday class activity.

More WEbQuest fun!!!!

Last week, Carolyn and I met up for a morning of WebQuest fun.  We came up with what we hope is a good "catch" to our WebQuest.  Students will be pretending they are a family from North Dakota, and their parents are geologists.  Their next area of study is on Earthquakes and will be visiting California to study earthquakes.  


Carolyn and I each created a free trial with Quest Garden to develop our WebQuest, and have figured out how to add each other to a webquest so that we can both work on it at the same time.  


Our Tasks page needs a lot of cleaning up, but we have our tasks laid out.  Each group will have to do: definitions, Current Event, KWL, Ask an Expert, and A Challenge Question.  Each group will be assigned a different area to study so that each group can become Masters in one area and share the information with the rest of the class.  The groups students will be given are:  Preparedness, Epicenter, Plotting Earthquakes in last week, Pangaea, Fault Lines, Causes, Positive Effects, and Plate Tectonics.  We will create the terms for the students to define, and give the students a link to USGS terms page.  The students will be given one video from either United Streaming, You tube or Teacher tube to view, and one link to explore (most likely a USGS link) as well as the link to earthquakes terms and a "ask an expert" link to ask a geologist a question relevant to the topic they are researching.  The students will complete the challenge questions last because we want them to apply what they have learned from their research to choose a question and answer the question with a hypothesis and rationale for their answer.  


Challenge questions are:
-  how did Catalina become an island
- theorize what would happen if there was a large Earthquake and your family did not have the supplies
- theorize what life would be like on Pangaea currently
- how would you explain earthquakes to someone who did not have the knowledge or scientific background
-based on your knowledge of other planets and plate tectonics, discuss which of the other planets show evidence of plate tectonics; is this evidence on all 8 planets or just particular planets and why.

Carolyn and I still have to discuss what the students should present when sharing the information with the class. I have suggested having the groups each make a scientific journal like from Indiana Jones. The students will each have a different job, Writer, Reporter, Illustrator, and depending on the group Historian or Safety Engineer.

Carolyn and I will be meeting again on Friday with the hopes of completing our WebQuest. Fingers crossed. We want to be able to share our WebQuest with friends, family and other teachers for some constructive feedback before submitting it to the Assignment Drop box.

I REALLY hope we are on the right track. =)

Update of progress

This week, I have looked into videos that may possibly be used for my webquest project.  I have also found a buddy to work with me on the project.  Yay!!!  Carolyn and I met today to discuss our ideas and share what information we have.  So far, we have gotten off to a great start.  We have a basic outline to what we want to do, how we want to break up our groups and such.  Now we need to get down to the nitty gritty and determine what the elements of each area will be.  We know what we intend to have the students learn, we just need to gather the resources and information and put it together.

I think this will be a lot of fun!  I am excited to get deeper into this assignment.

WebQuest assignment

After this weeks readings, I think I have a better understanding what a WebQuest is.  A WebQuest is an activity that incorporates the students using the internet with learning a particular topic.  The activities should follow Bloom's Taxonomy and have students use higher order thinking.  The students should be given the websites they will be viewing for specific information, rather than have them go blind and search for the information on their own.

I am still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do my WebQuest on, but I want to try to do a science lesson using the USGS website and google earth.  The standardI want to base my lesson on is 6th grade Earth Science: Plate Tectonics and Earth's Structure.  (standards at the bottom of the post)  I know I have a lot of work to do; especially since I have to brush up on the material myself.  Obviously, this is a big change from my original idea but I think it will be a lot of fun for the students, and since we live in earthquake territory, I can incorporate a lesson on earthquake safety procedures.

My tasks can be
1) students look up the 10 largest earthquakes in California and map out the locations of past earthquakes, faults, volcanoes and mountains, using google maps and USGS as reference.  Students will be given paper to draw a map of California and will create a key label the map which can later be turned into a salt-flower map.
2) students learn how to find the epicenter of an earthquake.
3) students research the effects of an earthquake, such as what changes to the Earth can occur, after       shocks, tsunamis, etc...    
4) students will research earthquake safety procedures, will create a safety and evacuation plan for their house and will write a paper on what they should include in their earthquake emergency kit.

Hopefully, I am more on the right track than I was last week.                    

1. Plate tectonics accounts for important features of Earth’s surface and major geologic events. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents; the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and midocean ridges; and the distribution of fossils, rock types, and ancient climatic zones.

b. Students know Earth is composed of several layers: a cold, brittle lithosphere; a hot, convecting mantle; and a dense, metallic core.

c. Students know lithospheric plates the size of continents and oceans move at rates of centimeters per year in response to movements in the mantle.

d. Students know that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults and that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches the surface.

e. Students know major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from plate motions.

f. Students know how to explain major features of California geology (including mountains, faults, volcanoes) in terms of plate tectonics.

g. Students know how to determine the epicenter of an earthquake and know that the effects of an earthquake on any region vary, depending on the size of the earthquake, the distance of the region from the epicenter, the local geology, and the type of construction in the region.

moving onto the next project

Honestly, in looking at the upcoming assignments, I feel a tad overwhelmed, but I know I will get through it.  I sort of read chapter 3 when I was in the process of creating my website to help me.  I then tried to create my own HTML and it didn't come out quite the way I had anticipated.  Time to try again.

Anyway, the point of the blog post... we are in the first stage of developing an Instructional project/web page.  In the examples I have looked at so far, it looks like I will basically be writing out a lesson plan on a webpage, including any instructional websites and tasks to go with my project.  PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG.  I will need an introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion and will also need to give credit where credit is due and it seems as though I will need a teacher page.

I have two different ideas to use so far.  One idea is on food chains.  I would have students define words related to the food chain, then students will create food chains in class.  They will play a food chain game online and a game as a physical activity, and will create a food web at the end of the lesson using yarn and nails.  This is actually a lesson I did in my student teaching with my 4th graders.  The one thing I did not do was have students create a food web. I actually made the food web a project for my final lesson in the credential program.  I took a piece of board and with nails made a circle, around one nail which was the sun.  I placed pictures of different plants and animals next to each nail, and gave my classmates yarn to create a food web.  

The other idea I came up with was a lesson on trees.  The first task the students will do is participate in a sensory lesson using a mystery box filled with samples taken from two different trees, and then the class will work together to create a comparison of the two different trees. The next tasks the students will be asked to do are go out to the grassy area or local park to take digital pictures of and samples of trees.  The students will do a tree rub with leaves on tissue, using liquid starch to make a collage.  There are more tasks I will need to figure out for this project, and will work on that to help me determine which idea I will decide to go with.  Any suggestions?

I look forward to hearing about everyone else's ideas for their instructional website.
Take care  

Website up and running

Well, I just submitted my website.  There are still things to add, such as websites, as I find them, and then things I would add if I had my own classroom.  For the most part, I am VERY happy with my website.  I shared it with my friends and family for feedback and they all said it looked great.  So much for constructive criticism, but I am sure they would be honest and tell me if they didn't like it.  I hope everyone enjoys it.  I did not go with the original theme I had in mind, at all.  I think the theme I am going with is much more fun and more appropriate for any grade level I end up getting.  I even posted the link on my Edjoin page to share with hopeful employers.  If you want to check it out, here's the link: http://web.me.com/candicemason/site_2/Home.html

Now, it's back to looking up research papers and working on my annotated bibliography, before I get started on my lit review.  I sure hope I'm doing this right.  My topic is penpals, focusing on e-pals, but then I got stuck and didn't find very much information, so I got into looking up penpals and letter writing, but then I realized I wasn't quite looking at enough technology use.  Eventually, I found a lot of good stuff using the keyword "keypals".  So, back to my point... I'm doing a lot of reading and writing and will be doing more than required in the hopes that I will eventually have enough articles written about correctly.

Talk to y'all later.  =)

My first blog post EVER

Hello.  This is the first time I have ever set or or used a blog page, unless you include Facebook and Myspace as a blogger.  I recently received my preliminary credential from CSUF and now I am in search of a teaching job, like the many of laid off teachers, and newly credentialed.  I started substituting at the Corona-Norco school District last week, and just went to an orientation to sub in Newport-Mesa.  I'm slowly moving towards my goal, and I'm hoping that the subbing will turn into either a full-time position or will land me a job for the next school year.  Fingers crossed, my family definitely need me working full time.