On a Quest...a WebQuest!

Today in class we were able to explore WebQuest. WebQuest is something I have never used before so it was very exciting to learn! WebQuest is a web inquiry that supplies all the resources a student and teacher would need in order to complete an activity. In class, we started with the "WebQuest on WebQuests;" this activity allowed us to use a simulated activity to explore all of the functions of the inquiry. My job in this quest was the Affiliator. My group used the HS Humanities section. Using the 5 WebQuest that were given to us in the simulation, it was my job to decide whether or not the lesson promoted group work. The other 3 people in the group had to decide whether it promoted higher level thinking, was efficient and made good use of technology. We then had to collaborate to decide which WebQuest was the best overall; that was definitely the hardest part. We decied the that "Television & The Nixon/Debates" was the best one for all of the best categories. Our least favorite was the Intolerance one. It had misspelling, dead links and was an overall boring page.

Since the simulation site didn't really apply to music it was hard to see how it applied to me until we were able to use the search garden to search for WebQuests on our own using the QuestGarden Search Page. The Search Garden allows you to type in an subject area or topic and it brings up all of the WebQuests that relate to that topic. Using QuestGarden search page, I was able to locate so many activities  relating to to music. I found one that I would love to use in my classroom called "Who's Who of Music History." This WebQuest had the students fill out a composer "job application" using research they found and then present the information to the class!

I found that this activity opened my eyes to a tool that I could use in my classroom. Generally, when I see sites like this I get discouraged pretty quickly and think that I could never use it in my music room; however, it was quite the opposite. After doing this activity, I could definitely see myself using something like this to help teach my students about composers, music history and many other things. I did, once again, learn the importance of evaluating a website before using it. Since, in doing this activity, we found many pages with dead links, misspellings and outdated use of technology, it became that much more obvious. I am really excited to explore them more and be able to use them in my class!