My 21st Century Classroom: The WebQuest "Text" Connection: Text-to-Self; Text-to-Text; Text-to-World Synthesis

Dear Colleagues,

Can we inspire a generation to change the world? We are responsible for teaching the next "greatest generation of people" (Tapscott, 273) - a daunting task or exciting prospect? Rapid information processing and transformation into complex thinking and problem solving begins in our classrooms.

To Go Where Man is Now Going...The Journey of the Quest

After completing a review of three 21st century teaching opportunities: Web-based inquiry (WebQuests); multi-user virtual environment (MUVEs); and project-based learning (PBLs) applications, I feel the most appropriate place to begin to provide my students with an opportunity match for our next unit is with the WebQuest option. The targeted Internet sites I would incorporate into a questing journey have been unblocked by our technology safety watch department for our students. This is a first step so as not to become frustrated with our technology.

WebQuest research and synthesis work within the classroom is rooted in two types: short-term (2-3 lessons; specific skill work and new knowledge) and long-term (4-12 weeks; knowledge is furthered through construction of meaning, amalgamation, and knowledge conversion). While I would love to bury myself and my students in a WebQuesting adventure that might last a month or more, I am held to standardized test preparation with rote skill and drill concepts for weeks before March. Yet, there is a rebirth which occurs during week three of March into June. It's as if teachers are granted a bit of freedom to experiment slightly with curriculum maps and our attention to alternate modalities - the lifting of skill and drill!

HK - On The Map?

We are pioneering an adventure in the 8th grade at Haddam-Killingworth Middle School. I have been approved to incorporate the 21st century WebQuesting adventure into my classroom as a partnership between LA and Social Studies. Students are taught timeline dates and historical significance based in prior events in their Social Studies classes. Their memorization of historical information is being taught conventionally in a stand and deliver method. Alternatively, my preference to meet Gardner's theories of multiple learning intelligences head on, push me to embark on a journey to incorporate non-fiction study within a broad concept essential question: "what does it mean to be a member of society at a certain point in history?"

My next literary unit involves World War II and the Holocaust. When an 8th grade student asked me the question, "didn't Anne Frank and her friends wear clothes other than gray, black, and white?" I knew a WebQuest adventure was in order. Mind's eye picturing can only occur when images can be viewed - when ownership of historically significant material is synthesized.

I envision the following in my development of a WebQuest to view the world through the eyes of Anne Frank throughout her journey from captivity to the Bergen-Belsen liberation, just days after her death; historical references and implications; reflective journal thoughts; Discovery Education reference streaming clips; religion implications; preparatory work for our Washington, D.C. Holocaust museum essay; a legacy of interactive blogging promise after students virtually visit Anne Frank's museum tribute located across the globe in Amsterdam. The culminating legacy statement will close the WebQuest journey with an interactive monument where each student will place a leaf on the virtual chestnut tree with a statement in Anne Frank's honor: www.annefrank.org/en/Subsites/AnneFrankTree/

Why Can't 21st Century Students Learn the Same Way Their Parents Did?

• "The new literacies of the Internet enable learners to search for, retrieve, and critically evaluate Internet resources; collaborate; and construct new knowlege." (Ikpeze and Boyd, 645)
• "Students need experiences that foster engaged learning, creative thinking, and skills necessary to access new knowledge and solve problems in today's world of information and communication technology." (Ikpeze and Boyd, 645)
• Students will work toward synthesis when they "effectively comprehend information and respond thoughtfully and critically to text." (Ikpeze and Boyd, 653)
• Inquiry-based learning, at the root of the web-quest constructivist learning approach "facilitates not just reading and writing but other vital aspects of literacy such as participation in meaningful activities, explanations, reflections, and strengthening of critical thinking skills." (Ikpeze and Boyd, 653-654)

What About Distractions?

To avoid distractions that may occur when students are working in partnerships or mini cooperative groupings, students must be held accountable for their learning and the documenting of that learning throughout the WebQuest process. This can be addressed through "reflection (which) should be made an integral part of students' learning. Such reflective writing may require students to document websites they visited, problems they encountered , and what they liked or did not like about their learning experiences. Students' reflection allows for self-assessment and provides feedback to the teacher about students' perception of their own competence." (Ikpeze and Boyd, 653)

How Much Is Too Much?

"The 'knowledge explosion' of abundant information available on the Internet and ... media are additional challenges for learners asked to gather, retrieve, synthesize, evaluate, and transform information." (Ikpeze and Boyd, 644) Teachers have a responsibility to manage information into valuable chunks for students. WebQuest tasks, steps, page links, evaluation and cooperative and constructive learning development is the responsibility of a thoughtful educator.

Is it Really Necessary to Incorporate a WebQuest into One's Teaching?

Text-to-text, text-to-world, and text-to-self connections form the basis of literacy instruction. Increasingly, the need to provide explicit instruction to students regarding non-fiction selections and the ability to draw inferential meaning equates to a higher level of meaning construction. "WebQuests are a natural way to teach literacy and technology skills simultaneously by immersing students in authentic problem-solving." (Ikpeze and Boyd, 652) While this is the adventure for students, the thoughtful teacher must be sure that the technology ground work has been reviewed prior to embarking on the synthesis adventure of questing on the Web. Often, mini-lessons with regard to authentic and credible sources, citation protocol and formatting; non-fiction skimming and scanning strategies; reflective process writing; and self-advocacy within cooperative groups. Obstacle prevention and forethought is necessary. I will outline within my WebQuest assignment paperwork: a completion timeframe, a formatting source citation website; a learning accountability rubric; and a student reflection component. Internet proficiency is not an issue. Students have been using technology and laptops for three years within our school. I will provide a mini-lesson on skimming and scanning within non-fiction texts prior to beginning our quest.

Let the adventure begin!
__________
Sources:

Ikpeze, Chinwe H., and Fenice B. Boyd, Web-based inquiry learning: Facilitating thoughtful Literacy
with WebQuests; The Reading Teacher., Vol. 60, No. 7. April, 2007
Tapscott, Don. Grown Up Digital, How the Net Generation is Changing Your World.
(New York: McGraw Hill, 2009).