Jill Byrd’s Lesson Comments to other Group Members
I too thought your initial critique was in depth and well thought out. I too had read through earlier and wonder what age/grade this lesson was written for, but I know the book well. I would think you could use this 1st through 3rd grade although the lesson itself sounds a little advance for a first grader. I think you did well with your comments and even offering an alternative assignment in place of the actual lesson plan. When thinking of the learning outcomes, and how the technology affordances help with achieving the objectives, I think that is a reason for coming up with an alternative assignment. The lesson itself seems to planned in such a way that the children may be very capable of using webquest- I think they would have to teach it to me:). I definitely think one area that could be noted is the intended age group and the age appropriateness of these assignments as written. Sometimes they don't always match up- just as some text books such as science and social studies are usually written above grade level. Also, I notice they use web quest to locate parts of the spider. Stephanie, is this same as finding images of spiders to use for illustration in a presentation? - sounds like they are comparing more than one if they are using a Venn diagram. Good job Stephanie for your initial ideas and getting started.
Hey Stephanie- after spending some time reviewing my lesson, I thought I might have a suggestion to make the original ideas from the lesson you critiqued, and your alternative suggestion be more conducive to a younger grade such as K4 or K5 b/c I know you're working with that level now. What about setting up the power point templates for the students (they could work in pairs or groups) and let them work on them with Kids Pix or Kids Paint, drawing and illustrating the spider they have researched and any facts they have learned about their particular spider. Then you could save all templates and produced the power point presentation for them. When I commented last, I think I wrote before I understood exactly what webquest was. I was surprised to read that is was just a way to research a particular subject or topic.( I thought it was something more.) I think your 4 & 5 year olds could do that with perhaps some assistance and even some preset sites that could click on from the main screen as options for ones that need more help with navigating. It's amazing to see these young children can do a lot more than we think they can, but obviously some skills would have to be introduced before introducing this lesson. Your lesson critiqued really got me thinking... so thanks!
Hi Karen- Please don't worry that I will take anything that you or anyone in this group says to be rude. I will be the first to admit, I am probably the least knowledgeable when it comes to technology there is in this group, but I am learning more everyday :). And I have learned more today about web quest. When I saw it on Stephanie's critique I was thinking it had to be more than using the web for information. Then I looked it up in our book, and then while trying to find some support for my critique, I looked up webquest.org. I thought Stephanie was referring to a teacher made web quest. That is what I was viewing today. That being said, I think that a K4 or K5 student could possibly benefit from using a teacher made web quest. While some may be non-readers, I was thinking that children 4+-6 could research using a teacher made web quest, and see the images and pictures along with the text. The page could be printed and for a homework assignment/project, the children could take it home and read with their parents. Then the students could orally present 2-3 facts they learned about their subject or topic. My son as a kindergartener was a beginning reader, and this would have been a fun way for him to research. We actually had a similar project, but I just "googled"( didn't know about web quest) an animal for him. We selected a picture and read about it. He loved it, but he could have had the experience of finding his own animal and become more confident in his research once he was led to the teacher made web quest. Sorry for the confusion. Yes, it would be very hard for students this young to make their own web quest. Thanks for helping me to understand web quest more with your comments and questions. Now, I will have to learn how to teach older elementary students to make their own web quest :)
Karen - that would be a neat way if you could pair up with a lower elementary grade to do that. Your students as well as the younger ones could benefit and both would enjoy it!
Jill
Hi Karen- Your thoughts on the lesson are good. I agree with you and Stephanie, that it does seem more teacher led than students at this age probably need. I looked up the sunset calculator and it just produces the data given the time zone the students put in. I suppose it generates the sunrise and sunset for the year that the students are to chart. Perhaps a good alternative to the lesson, as well as using the flashlight and ball as a physical example, would be to allow the students to research more about what is actually happening at sunrise and sunset. They could jot down some key facts and perhaps even save some images of the Earth at these times, thus showing sunlight on part of the Earth and yet still darkness in other areas. The obj. of the lesson was for students to chart sunrise/sunset for one year. I realize the lesson span was 45 mins. so maybe they are already doing that earlier. The original obj. can be met, but I think the teacher might add : students will demonstrate the ability to navigate on the internet and find information relating to sunrise and sunset times- Sunset Calculator. Also, I don't know how credible of a source I am to reference on your critique. Try looking up rubric on line- I found one assessing by LearnNC.org - you can find one supporting your idea of using rubrics for assessing technology use. Also, may another support of evidence could be drawn from the AL Course of Study - look up in the science section and see if this is an objective for students to learn about sunrise/sunset and charting and graphing. Hope these ideas help.
Candance- I like your ideas you shared for alternative assessment. You could consider as this age allowing the students to be assessed with not only a checklist like a rubric, but perhaps have the students orally present 1-2 facts of their favorite bear they learned about the black, brown, polar.. and have them find a picture on the internet to share while orally presenting.
Also, I liked how you inserted your lesson into the critique. I could not figure out how to do that. Most of my lesson would not copy accurately.
Jill
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