My web quest was one that I picked up from other teachers at the public school that I am teaching at. We came across a question, “How do we teach Black History Month effectively?” A way that allows our students to better understand the historical impact of African-Americans and how that impact has shaped their future. I for one had a real quagmire. I teach at a predominantly African-American school so I needed to really show my students the impact that African-Americans had not only to the United States, but more specifically to them as individuals in their community.
To answer the question, “In what specific ways does the webquest address questions about the most important things teachers need to do to help students prepare for their futures?” My webquest is an educational tool that allows students on their own to discover African-Americans in their community and better help them understand the societal accomplishments they laid in the past. Societal shifts such as Brown vs. the Board of Education or Plessy vs. Ferguson allows students to understand the impact that these court cases had on society. Thus society and race is a forefront and the main topic f the webquest so it answers the question effectively.
To answer the next question, “How do the ideas in the webquest relate to social justice and the core values & vision of the class?” My webquest educates students about the civil rights movement and Black History more specifically on the United States. Students get to understand the importance of many African-American leaders and how they shaped the United States in society. Students get to move around the webquest wiki virtually opening new windows and sites and delving deeper into the content thus helping them discover new paths to social justice while looking in the lens of history.
Finally to answer the more specific question of, “How does the webquest relate to NCSS principles 8 and 9?” This question can be answered by viewing the wiki webquest itself. On many of the wiki pages for NCSS standard 8, students have to complete a discussion board. On the discussion board students will have to answer questions related to the topic of civil rights and African-Americans. By allowing the students to access websites, media, videos, etc. the students are discovering new ways and outlets to better society within civil rights. Students have to e-mail the PowerPoint to the teacher and thus use this medium of technology to inform their classmates, teacher, and school of the importance of black history and the civil rights movement. Thus standard 8 of NCSS is completed. For NCSS standard 9 when it comes to addressing communication, trade, or transportation I believe that the flow of ideas and responses is greatly addressed in the webquest. Students will be responding on discussion boards as well as using e-mail to turn in assignments thus the flow of technology and “trade, communication, transportation” of ideas is greatly utilized in the assignment.
It brought me great joy to put this webquest together. I am hoping to introduce this wiki/webquest to other schools in the county in the hopes of having more and more schools to utilize webquest. I lieu of my discovery I am hoping to find more and more great technological discoveries to better my own technological knowledge and help my students grow the same.
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