TIE+Reflection

Reflection on Web-Based Activity I really enjoyed creating this web-based activity. I actually revamped a previous lesson that I taught as an 8th grade teacher two years ago. The original idea simply called for students to do some brief research and independently create a Holocaust memorial, along with a speech which was presented to the class. Students were evaluated mainly on their presentations, creativity, and work ethic. I still feel very strongly about this project and its mission to make students think critically about the Holocaust. I hope that by incorporating more technology, students will feel more empowered and motivated to share their projects. Also, I chose this time to focus more on the process of researching and creating the memorials rather than the finished product. To help me accomplish this, I have students present the planning and creation of their memorials through VoiceThread. Finally, the former project asked students to only briefly research memorials without the use of a research module. With the revamped project, students are using The Big 6. This takes students through six steps of the research process, including focusing in on a specific question, pinpointing specific resources, note-taking, and presenting and synthesizing information. My web-based activity does exemplify student inquiry for learning. Students are taking on the roles of real-life people and are given a real-life task. They are given essential questions to answer and are responsible for finding accurate information and sharing it with their group members. Students are using a research module that focuses on the process rather than the product. Also, they are using their critical thinking skills when answering the final question, which is, how can we stop the Holocaust from happening again? There are a few things that I might try to revise this assignment. One thing I wanted to initially offer students was a variety of presentation tools rather than only VoiceThread. This would offer the students more freedom to use a tool that they may already be familiar with. However, it would have to be a tool that incorporates photos and voice. I also considered going more in-depth and doing all the research myself and providing links for each of the essential questions. This way, students would only be using the websites I found and they may be more accurate. However, it would have been more work for me and would have kept students from doing their own research. I wouldn’t have been able to assess if students were able to find their own resources. I think it may take something away from the research process. I do think that web-based projects are a strong and effective way to teach. I think back to my clinical experiences in my undergraduate class when I used a webquest with a 5th grade class. I always considered this to be my best lesson and I still talk about it in interviews. The students were the most engaged during this lesson; they took on different roles, researched, shared their information, and made real-life connections. I will never forget that experience and how effective it was. That’s why I’m very open-minded and interested in trying to use web-based projects like this in the future.