• PROCESS

1)     Prior to this unit, get in touch with school technology personnel to set computers to their fullest filtering capacity without damaging the assignment.  Be sure to test links to ensure that filters do not block necessary content.  Reserve the lab for five school days in the middle of your Macbeth unit.  Make sure there are enough computers for every student.  The first half of the WebQuest will be done as a group, but the writing will be done individually.  If possible, get another teacher to help you with the monitoring process.  Monitoring is essential to ensure students do not access inappropriate material and to keep everyone on-task.  Check your school district’s policies on the use of Internet technology before starting the unit to make sure it is permitted.  Permissions slips may be necessary.  If so, plan ahead and send the slips home prior to the beginning of the Macbeth unit.

2)     At the beginning of the Macbeth unit, distribute a pre-assessment worksheet to determine which class members have prior Internet experience.  Let students know that this sheet is to let you know how familiar they are with the Internet.

3)     Review the pre-assessment worksheets before assigning teams.  Teams should be comprised of no more than four students and should contain at least one classmate with prior Internet experience.

4)     Wait until you are at least halfway through the unit before starting the WebQuest so students are familiar with scenes from the play.

5)     We will continue with the Macbeth unit while working on the WebQuest.  Half the class period will be dedicated to the readings and the remainder of the time will be allocated for their projects.  Readings during the WebQuest will be much shorter, given the fact that students will have to do some work on the project outside of class.  Although this may seem disjointed, we will tie in the journalism unit through the essential question:  “Is there more than one way to tell a story?” and will end the unit with our focus on the play.

6)     DAY 1 –Begin the WebQuest process.  Start class by distributing the WebQuest Rubric, the Web Site Evaluation Rubric, and the Class Participation Worksheet so students are aware of how their grades will be calculated, the properties of good web sites, and the types of participation they are required to write down.  Review the information with the class, making sure they understand how they will be used.  Discuss with students the importance of staying on-task and the consequences of purposefully accessing inappropriate sources of information.  There will be enough links for every student to have a turn and that students should make a point of being an active learner in this project.  The Participation Worksheets will be collected at the end of class.  This will be the first day students will use the computer and will be the initial step in familiarizing students with the Internet.  Students will read the WebQuest page together and will begin the first steps of the process.  Students will first follow links discussing search engines and searching methods and will be asked to jot the information into their personal notebooks. Upon completion of this task, students may follow the provided links for search engine pages (these will be filtered engines in an attempt to impede any inappropriate material) to look up two other online versions of Macbeth.  They should use their Web Site Evaluation Rubrics to determine the value of the site and to justify why they chose the two. This information and the sites a student visited should be listed on their Participation Worksheets and will be counted in their final WebQuest grade.  Collect the Participation Worksheet for the day and pass out the Evaluation of Cooperative Learning Rubrics, which will be due next class.  Explain that these rubrics will NOT be used to determine the group participation portion of their WebQuest grade; however, they will be used as to alert the teacher to groups falling behind or teams that are having conflict issues.  There will be four rubrics for each student (one to evaluate themselves and one for each member of their team).  Explain that it is important to take the evaluations seriously because everyone should be earning their WebQuest grade fairly.  For homework, students will also be asked to choose two to three scenes from the play that they will use to write their journalism piece.   They should re-read and familiarize themselves with these scenes.  They should also review the various searching methods for search engines.  This knowledge will be helpful in the next class as well as later research projects in this class and in other subject areas.

7)  DAY 2 – Begin class by passing out the second set of Participation Worksheets.  Remind students that there will be enough links for every student to have a turn and students will be asked to write down how they have participated during group work, which will be collected at the end of class.  Students should begin by locating their scenes in the given and/or researched links to online versions of Macbeth and should print copies of the scenes so they can take notes on them.  They should write down any ways they took part in this task on their Participation Worksheets.  While students are working on this task, the teacher will collect their Evaluation of Cooperative Learning Rubrics and scan their comments.  Today, the instructor will be monitoring the class for the group participation portion of the WebQuest grade.  Use the student rubrics to monitor slackers, to encourage active students, and score them appropriately.  Their next task will be to follow the provided links discussing the three main styles of journalistic writing: editorial, news, and feature.  Students should set up a table in their personal notebooks, delineating the similarities, differences, and unique properties for each journalistic style.  They should write down any ways they took part in this task on their Participation Worksheets.  Upon completion of this task, students may follow the provided links for the search engine pages (these will be filtered engines in an attempt to impede any inappropriate material) to look up the qualities of a play.  Students should explain, using the Web Site Evaluation Rubric, why they chose particular sites describing play qualities and should add this information to their Participation Worksheet.  They should add the qualities of a play to their personal notebooks and then list at least five differences between a play and journalistic writing.  Next, students should use the provided search engines in order to locate three examples of an editorial, three examples of a feature, and three examples of a news article from local newspapers.  They should use at least two of the following newspapers: the Daily Item, Press Enterprise, Williamsport Sun Gazette, Danville News, and the Milton Standard Journal.  Students should use their search engine skills to locate these publications, should jot down if they visited the web sites on their Participation Worksheets, and should print the articles for in their personal notebooks to provide examples for their journalism project.  Collect the Participation Worksheets for the day.  Let the class know that their graded Evaluation of Cooperative Learning Rubrics will be returned at the end of the next class period and will count towards the group grade component.  For homework, students should review the three journalism formats and should choose which type they would like to write their piece in: editorial, feature, or news.  To prepare them for the writing process, students should also jot down key pieces of information from their chosen scenes that would like to include in their articles.  Let them know ahead of time that the next class starts the writing portion of their projects.

8)     DAY 3 – Pass out the Macbeth Journalism Article Rubric and discuss it with the class.  Students may use this day to catch up on topic they may have fallen behind on or they may review information they need before beginning their journalism projects.  If students need to do continue teamwork, pass out Participation Worksheets to continue accountability.  This is also a time for students to give feedback to the teacher.  If there is any information that students need for their project that was not included in the WebQuest, they should notify the teacher prior to accessing it.  Teachers should take note if such information needs to be added to the Webquest for future classes.   As teams complete their WebQuest tasks, they should go to their individual computer and begin working on their journalism piece, using the rubric to guide the process.  Emphasize that in-class time should be used wisely because the computer lab is reserved for two more days after today’s class.  After this, students will have to finish their projects for homework.  Monitor the class to make sure they are not accessing inappropriate materials and to help students that are struggling with their journalism piece.  As students are working, return their Evaluation of Cooperative Learning Rubrics, reminding them how it is scored as a group participation grade in the overall WebQuest project.  Collect any Participation Worksheets used before the class dismisses.

9)     DAY 4 – All students should be working at their own computers, writing their journalism pieces.  Monitor the class to make sure they are not accessing inappropriate materials and to help students that are struggling with their journalism piece. Emphasize that in-class time should be used wisely because the computer lab is only reserved for one more day.  After that, students must complete the project as homework.  If the teacher has spare time, they should review the Participation Worksheets to determine the individual participation component of the WebQuest grade, using the Evaluation of Cooperative Learning Rubrics for the final determination.

10)    DAY 5 - Students will continue working at their own computers on their journalism pieces.  Continue monitoring the class to ensure they are not accessing inappropriate materials and to help students that are struggling with their journalism piece. Emphasize that in-class time should be used wisely because this is the last day the computer lab is reserved.  After today, students must complete the project as homework.  If the teacher has spare time, they should continue reviewing the Participation Worksheets to determine the individual participation component of the WebQuest grade, using the Evaluation of Cooperative Learning Rubrics for the final determination.

11)    At the beginning of the next school week, collect the Macbeth journalism pieces.  Return the graded individual Evaluation of Cooperative Learning Rubrics to the class. 

12)    Review the journalism projects and use the Macbeth Journalism Article Rubric to assign a grade.  Return them to the students, giving them another week to revise their work before giving their final WebQuest grade.