As my CEP 811 course is coming to a close, I look back and think about the whirlwind of learning that took place in the last 8 weeks. My brain may still be spinning, but the three biggest things that stick out thus far are: WebQuests, StAIRs, and creating web sites.
WebQuests- I've been searching for a higher tech, project way to wrap up units for a while now. As an English teacher, I've been used to the typical research essay and/or presentation thing for a while now, but many of my students, especially those who do not plan on going to college, would (and many have) just as soon take a 0% and fail the course than write a paper. I have also had students simply copy and paste information from Wikipedia directly onto their paper, which also results in a 0%. That's not to say there's no longer any value in this teaching the students to research and create something at the end of the unit, but, I needed something else. WebQuests seem like a very viable alternative. The students still have to research and work, but the end result is something different and, at least for now, the novelty is attractive. I'm really excited about applying what I learned in this class and building on that base and using WebQuests in my class as a way to wrap up units. My first experiment will be in a couple weeks. I'm going to assign the WebQuest I completed for this class on SE Hinton as a way to wrap up The Outsiders unit. Wish me luck.
StAIRs- I had some trouble wrapping my mind around StAIRs. As teachers, we want to be there and be involved when the students learn and many of use require proof that a student completed the assignment so we can evaluate it. StAIRs are, but definition, stand-alone. They are self-contained and give immediate feedback to the students without the teacher being the one to give that feedback (at least directly, after all, we did write the things). It's a bit difficult to "let go" and let the assignment, for lack of a better term, get a life of its own. Nonetheless, I see the value of these and am looking forward to experimenting with them in the future. At first, I think I will use them as supplements; if a student is having troubles grasping a concept a StAIR may be a great way to help him or her out.
Websites- As a whole I'm very hesitant to give a student answers when they have a questions. Instead, I typically tell them where to find information and have them figure it out themselves. For years, I've compiled lists of great websites I've found and, when a student asked me, I'd typically tell them 4 or 5 useful sites I've found, tell them to look at those and let me know if they still had trouble. After finding out how easy it actually is to make websites (for free) with programs like Weebly, I can now put those links together and give them one website instead of many. I'm pretty excited about that and have already started using this in my class with the Poage's English 2P website. Once I launched that a couple weeks ago, several students have already used it and I saw test scores rise among those who told me they used it. As the old saying goes, the proof is in the pudding! I'm definitely planing on building on that and continuing to use that as a resource for my students in the future.
As my brain winds down, I may think of other items I learned about in this class and experiment with those, but I'm looking forward to using these three and seeing how they evolve.
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