The Altitudinist - Step 1

The Altitudinist wants to know  that there are real thinkers in the classroom.  There has been an outcry to raise test scores and to challenge students to analyze and synthesize information and for them to then be able to apply skills that they have learned to create a great final product.  The problem with this is that we, as teachers, often rely too heavily on basic recall and fact regurgitation.   With that being said, I enjoyed most of the WebQuests and I felt that they all had pros and cons.  As the Altitudinist, my favorites were The Diary of John Wilkes Booth and The Problem with Landfills.  My least favorites were Creative Encounters and Poetry of War.

The Diary of John Wilkes Booth - I loved this one in terms of more bang for my bucks and it started with the introduction and continued throughout.  The creator gave students everything they would need to step into the shoes of Booth; background information, issues that outrage Booth, his state of mind just before the assassination, an so on.  Asking them to write from his point of view entails higher levels of thinking to analyze and synthesize information.  I also like the aesthetics with all of the 'old timey' images.  To make it better some technology could have been included like maybe a digital diary.

The Problem with Landfills -  I also liked this one.  Earth Day is a big deal in my second grade classroom.  I have created a unit that incorporates hands-on activities, group work, technology, and a recycled art project.  The students always enjoy that time.  Making students decide where an appropriate site for a landfill needs to be is awesome.  Again, they would have to use information, analyze it, synthesize, and apply it by making an informed decision.  The arrangement of this WebQuest was not as user friendly and flowing as some of the others. 

Ancient Egypt -In terms of higher level thinking, I did not like this one.  Students are expected to learn about Egypt and make decisions about what to include in the brochure, but that's about it.  The one thing that it does have going for it is that it incorporates PowerPoint (older technology).  They could have used something newer like Prezi.  To me this one seems to call for a lot of recall and regurgitation of facts.

Creative Encounters - This was my least favorite.  I like the color scheme, and that's about it.  I was overwhelmed in this one, and I'm an adult.  To be able to do this one and get any benefit from it, students would have to have (or be able to attain) a healthy understanding of the current system.  For me, this was too much.  I just didn't know where to go once I was in there.

Poetry of War - This one is just okay in my opinion.  I liked the visual aspects of it.  I am a visual learner and always use visual imagery to aid in my comprehension process, so I can identify with it.  As far as higher level thinking, I'm really not sure - it could if students really applied themselves, but I could also see completing this one by simply using facts found. 

I really enjoyed this assignment!   However, I do see how interests could play a role in the evaluation process of the WebQuests.  I love history, traveling and Earth Day stuff, and I hate math.  I enjoy poetry, but only if I am allowed to enjoy it without having to delve in and analyze it.  But, I tried to leave my interests out.