• PROCESS

1)     At the beginning of the Macbeth unit, you received a pre-assessment worksheet to determine which class members have prior Internet experience.  This information was used to assign you your current team.  At least one person in your group of four should have prior Internet experience and will help guide you on this adventure.

2)     You will continue reading Macbeth while working on the WebQuest.  Your reading assignments will be shorter, considering that there will be some outside class work associated with this project.  It is extremely important that you keep up with your readings because we will return to Macbeth before ending the unit.  One main purpose of this process is to get you thinking about the following question:  “Is there more than one way to tell a story?”

3)     DAY 1 –Welcome to the Macbeth WebQuest!  You should have started today’s class by looking at the WebQuest Rubric, the Web Site Evaluation Rubric, and the Class Participation Worksheet the teacher is distributed.  This information was given to you so that you understand how your WebQuest grade will be determined, so you learn the helpful properties of good web sites, and so you understand the types of participation necessary for this project to succeed.  If you have any questions about these instruments, please do not hesitate to ask your teacher or fellow classmates.  By now the teacher should have also discussed with you the importance of staying on-task and the consequences of purposefully accessing inappropriate sources of information.  There is enough links for every student to have a turn and you should be an active learner in this project.  The Participation Worksheets will be collected at the end of class.  This will be the first day you will use the computer and will be the initial step in familiarizing yourself with the Internet.  You should begin by reading the WebQuest page together and will start the first steps of the process.  You will first follow links discussing search engines and searching methods and should jot the information into your personal notebooks. Upon completion of this task, you may follow the provided links for search engine pages in order to look up two more online versions of Macbeth.  You should use your Web Site Evaluation Rubric to determine the value of the sites and to justify why you chose them. This information and the sites you personally visited should written on your Participation Worksheet and will be counted in your final WebQuest grade.  Your teacher will collect the Participation Worksheet for the day and will pass out the Evaluation of Cooperative Learning Rubrics, which will be due next class.  You should be aware that these rubrics will NOT be used to determine the group participation portion of your WebQuest grade; however, but they will be used as to alert the teacher if your group is falling behind or is having conflict issues.  You should receive four rubrics (one to evaluate yourself and one for each of your team members).  Please take the evaluations seriously because everyone should earn their WebQuest grade fairly.  For homework, you will also be asked to choose two to three scenes from the play that you would like to use for your journalism piece.   Please re-read and familiarize yourself with these scenes.  You should also review the various searching methods for search engines.  This knowledge will be helpful to you next time and will be an asset to you in later research projects in this class and in other subject areas.

4)     DAY 2 – The teacher should have begun class by passing out more Participation Worksheets.  Please remember that there will be enough links for every student to have a turn and that you will be asked to write down how you have participated during group work.  This information will be collected at the end of class.  Today you should begin by locating your chosen scenes in the given and/or researched links to online versions of Macbeth. Print out copies of the scenes so you can take notes on them.  You should write down any way you took part in this task on your Participation Worksheet.  While you are working on this task, the teacher will collect your Evaluation of Cooperative Learning Rubrics and will scan your comments.  The teacher will use the student rubrics to monitor your group and to encourage active learners, scoring your team members appropriately.  Your next task will be to follow the provided links discussing the three main styles of journalistic writing: editorial, news, and feature.  You should set up a table in your personal notebooks, delineating the similarities, differences, and unique properties for each journalistic style.  You should also write down any ways you participated in this task on their Participation Worksheet.  Upon completion of this task, follow the provided links for the search engine pages to look up the qualities of a play.  You should explain, using the Web Site Evaluation Rubric, why they chose your particular sites and should add this information to your Participation Worksheet.  Be sure to add the qualities of a play to your personal notebooks and then list at least five differences between a play and journalistic writing.  Next, your groups will use the provided search engines to locate three examples of an editorial, three examples of a feature, and three examples of a news article from local newspapers.  You should use at least two of the following newspapers: the Daily Item, Press Enterprise, Williamsport Sun Gazette, Danville News, and the Milton Standard Journal.  You will use your search engine skills to locate these publications, jotting down if you visited particular web sites on your Participation Worksheets, and you will print the articles for in your personal notebooks to provide examples for your journalism project.  Your teacher will collect the Participation Worksheets for the day.  The graded Evaluation of Cooperative Learning Rubrics will be returned at the end of the next class period and will count towards your group grade component.  For homework, you should review the three journalism formats and should choose which type you would like to write your piece in: editorial, feature, or news.  To prepare you for the writing process, you should also jot down key pieces of information from your chosen scenes that you would like to include in your their article.  Please be prepared for the next class because we will begin the writing portion of your projects then.

5)     DAY 3 – Your teacher should have begun by passing out the Macbeth Journalism Article Rubric and discussing it with the class.  This rubric will help guide you through the writing portion of the WebQuest.  You may use this day to catch up on topic your group fell behind on or you may wish to review information before beginning your journalism project.  If you need to continue working in your team, let your teacher know so you receive another Participation Worksheet to justify your work.  This is also a time for you to provide feedback to your teacher.  If there is any information that you needed for the project that was not included in the WebQuest, you should notify the teacher prior to accessing it.  Your feedback is always appreciated and the teacher would like to take note if information needs to be added to the WebQuest for future classes.   If your team completes their WebQuest tasks, go to your own computer and begin working on your journalism piece, using the rubric to guide the process.  Please remember that in-class time should be used wisely because the computer lab is reserved for two more days after today’s class.  After that, you will have to finish your project for homework.  Your teacher will be available if you are struggling with your piece.  Do not hesitate to ask your teacher or fellow students questions.  While you work today, your teacher will be returning your Evaluation of Cooperative Learning Rubrics and will discuss how it is scored as a group participation grade in the overall WebQuest project.  Before you leave for the day, be sure to turn in any Participation Worksheet you used today.

6)     DAY 4 – By today you should be working at your own computers, writing your journalism piece.  Your teacher will be available if you are struggling with your piece.  Do not hesitate to ask your teacher or fellow students questions.  Please remember that in-class time should be used wisely because the computer lab is reserved for only one more day after today’s class.  After that, you will have to finish your project for homework. 

7)     DAY 5 - Continue working at your own computers on your journalism piece. Your teacher will be available if you are struggling with your piece.  Do not hesitate to ask your teacher or fellow students questions.  Please remember that in-class time should be used wisely because the computer lab is reserved for only one more day after today’s class.  After today, you will have to finish your project for homework. 

8)       At the beginning of the next school week, your teacher will collect the Macbeth journalism pieces and will grade them using the Macbeth Journalism Article Rubric.  You will also receive the graded individual Evaluation of Cooperative Learning Rubrics.  Do the best work that you are capable of from the very start.  The writing portion counts the most towards your WebQuest grade.  If there is time, the teacher may allow you to revise your articles. 

9)       Your final WebQuest grade will be returned with the final draft of your journalism piece.