Webquests are great opportunities to create hands on lessons that get students involved, and are based on activities that students could experience in the real world. This real world relevance should serve as a wonderful motivator for the teenage students that I work with, and because teenagers can be very challenging to motivate, webquests will be a wonderful tool for me to use in the future. Although the webquest took a bit more time than I had expected to actually put together, it is something that can be used over and over. I worry that my planning for the webquest was not as developed as it should have been because I was a bit confused about how to put everything together. Once I viewed the webquest template that Dr. Ransom sent out, I was able to better plan what I needed to do, but was still a bit confused as I thought the webquest could have been designed for either an individual to complete or a group. My initial planning was for an individual to complete the activity, then when class began I realized that the assignment was to design a group activity. This caused me to have to quickly modify my original planning, and turn the webquest into a group activity. What I realized is that despite wathcing the webquesting videos, and doing the assigned reading, webquests are one of those things that were a bit confusing to me untill I actually had a chance to design one and put it all together.
Now to the final exam. I cant say that I am excited and confident about the final exam, but its not something that scares me either. Because we are allowed to bring in some notes, and having the opportunity to see some of the possible questions gives me a place to start preparing. I am having more trouble believing that the final week of the semester is over already. I am less worried about the final exam than I am about finishing the Dreamweaver web design assignment because of my lack of familiarity with the program.
Lastly, please remember that this time of year requires a LOT of patience as the holiday stress sets in on people. Everyone finds this time of year stressful for different reasons so it is important to be very patient with friends, family, students and the strangers you will encounter when out in public. As the trampling and subsequent death of a NYC Walmart employee on Black Friday shows, people need to slow down, take a moment to gather themselves, and show caring and compassion towards the people they encounter every day.
