This lesson was developed as part of the project LET'S LIVE A COUNTRY , with which students in Batxillerat learn about History and Literature of the countries whose language they are studying.
Students will have the opportunity to explore Victorian Times by visiting different websites. They will be asked to look for the necessary information so as to produce a newspaper which can inform present readers about this period of British history.
Victorian Times WebQuest
Content Area and Grade Level
This lesson is designed for Batxillerat students. Its focus is English and History
Curriculum Standards
Productivity
Students will use technology and its applications to maximize productivity and effectiveness
Students will use technology to enhance their understanding and development of basic skills
Students will develop strategies for problem solving and critical thinking
Students will develop basic technology skills
Students will select and use technology appropriate to needs
Students will operate peripheral devices
Students will care for technology hardware and use it safely
Students will develop an understanding of copyright laws and other ethical issues pertaining to the use of technology in society
Students will understand basic capabilities and limitations of technology's hardware and software
Study Skills
Students shall develop organizational and problem solving skills
Students shall continue to develop necessary to research ideas from resources such as books, people, periodicals, and web sites.
Students shall follow multi-step oral and written instructions
Students shall continue to develop independent study skills
Computer Skills
Students shall make use of computers for communication arts
Students will become efficient at keyboarding skills
Students will become efficient in the use of hardware and software
Students will learn file management
Thinking Skills
Students shall continue to develop independent critical thinking skills which may include comparing, contrasting, inferring, evaluating, decision making, and problem solving.
Students shall expand independent thinking
Arts
Students will learn how to advertise a product for sale
Students will develop advertising skills
Cooperative Learning
Students will develop the skills to work cooperatively with team members
Students will learn how to compromise with team members
Outcomes: Students will:
Identify and deal with the necessary information.
Write an article about a specific issue, containing the basic information.
Design an ad to advertise something related to their article.
Create a website to inform other students about their findings.
Design, create and print a newspaper.
Technology Embedded:
1. BASIC OPERATIONS AND CONCEPTS:
Students demonstrate a sound understanding of the nature and operation of technology systems.
2. TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS:
Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.
Students employ technology in the development of strategies for solving problems in the real world.
Students use a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences.
Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.
Implementation Overview
Victorian Times has been designed for the lab class setting, where a whole class can work on it at once. The lesson is organized so that 2 or 3 students can follow the WebQuest directions at the computer to complete 7 tasks. Ideally, this project will take about ten, 50 minute class periods. Here is a sample of how it might go:
DAY 1
GETTING ORGANIZED :
The first day students must organise their work. First they will be told what the project is about and which their final task consists of : producing a newspaper on Victorian Times.
They will then start their task by choosing a team with which to work . As cooperation is essential, they will be asked to go to the Evaluation Sheet so that they know what they will be graded on.
1. CHOOSE A TEAM
Find some other students with whom you work well. You will share a pair of computers throughout the project. You will be responsible for helping one another in your learning.
Then, the teams will decide which section of the newspaper they will be in charge of. They will have to find out about their specific mission by having a look at the link for their section. Once there, they will see all the tasks they have to complete. Thus, they will have to distribute them between members of team.
2. PICK UP A SECTION
As a team, you will be responsible of one specific section in the newspaper.
Once your team has chosen , you must find out about your specific mission / task. See differerent sections
Find an appropiate name for your section.
Decide which article/s , ads and cartons each component of the team will be in charge of.
DAY 2
LOOKING FOR INFORMATION :
Once each team and each students within the team knows about the task they will have to fulfil, they must search in Internet – provided websites- for the basic information related to the article they will have to write. To help them in this process, they all have a Fact File sheet, where they can take notes on their research. As they will have to create a website later on, they are also asked to save as many pictures as possible, so as to illustrate their article and website.
Depending on how skilled your students are at searching in the net, these activity can take two days, or even three.
SEARCH IN THE NET
You and your team are going to use Internet resources to find out about the most outstanding events which correspond to your section in the Newspaper.
Visit all of the sites provided. Search for interesting facts, tips, and pieces of information.
Take notes about the basic information from each site.
Save as many pictures as possible, so as to illustrate your article in the newspaper.
DAY 3
BECOMING JOURNALISTS :
After looking for all the needed information, each member of the team must write the article/s he/she is in charge of.
To do so, they must first decide with their team the headlines for each article so that they are eye-catching. Then, they should start writing their articles. This task can start in class, so that teachers can help them write their report in a journalistic way, but they can finish it at home once they are on the track. Give them , at least, a weekend in between so that they can finish it properly.
CHOOSE THE HEADLINES
First, you must decide the facts or events you are going to write about.
Make sure you have all the basic information about them.
Choose the appropiate Headlines.
WRITE YOUR ARTICLES
Now, you must write the articles which belong to your own section of the newspaper.
Each person in the team will write their own article and will be signed with his/her name.
Each article will be illustrated with pictures and word processed to be added to the Newspaper at the end.
Hand in your articles to the Editors.
DAY 4
BECOMING JOURNALISTS II
Each member of the team should bring the article/s they have produced to share ideas with the other members. They should revise the content of each article and see if it fits the idea they all had the previous day.
They should then create the ads each section is in charge of .To do so, they can visit a website provided in which they will see some ads from Victorian Times.
DESING YOUR ADS AND CARTOONS
Each team is in charge of creating some ads and cartoons for their section in the newspaper. To be able to design it properly, have a look at the website provided on Ads in Victorian Times.
Distribute the tasks within the team.
Desing and create the ad or cartoon.
Hand it in to the Editors for approval.
DAY 5
USING PRESENT TECHNOLOGY
Once they have finished with their articles, ads and cartoons, each team must create a website so that they can then show their findings to the rest of the teams. They should start this activity in class, so that they can discuss about the organization of the website, its design, distribute tasks…Yet, they should finish it at home if they have the means.
The product can be a Power Point presentation or a website created with Dreamweaver,Flash or any other tool for creating Web Pages.
CREATE YOUR OWN WEBSITE
Although one of the teams is the Editor and responsible of printing the newspaper, each team is responsible of their own section.
Each team will create a website with their articles. Remember to illustrate them with the appropiate pictures.
DAYS 6 , 7 & 8
Each team will have to present their website to the rest of the class. You need, at least, a TV connected to a computer or a VGA projector . This presentation will be evaluated by the rest of the students by means of the Presentation Evaluation Sheet, but also by the teacher as one of the aspects in the Individual Evaluation Sheet.
ORAL PRESENTATION
Each team will have to present their section orally to the rest of the class, by means of their own website.
Use the rubric to evaluate the presentation of each team.
After finishing the whole process and once at home, each student must reflect and evaluate his/her own learning process throughout the webquest .To do so, they must download Self-Evaluation sheet.
Use the rubric to evaluate each part of your project.
Print out the evaluation form (1 per person) and include in your folder.
DAYS 9&10
After all this process, each student will organize worksheets and Evaluation rubrics in his/her folder so as to hand it in to the teacher .
Then, all students in the class will discuss about the final layout for the newspaper upon proposal by Editors, who should moderate discussion. Students should, therefore, be aware they will be evaluated in their Individual rubric, so as to know how to behave when discussing within group.
Once the dummy is agreed by all students, copies should be made for each one of them. Congratulations !!
PRINT THE NEWSPAPER
Each team must organize your articles inside your folder .
Once oral presentations have finished, you will share your work with the Editors to decide upon the design of the Newspaper.
The teams will be evaluated in 5 different areas : Balanced discussion, Organization, Focus on the topic, Accuracy of the facts,Creativity and Resolution.
Conclusion
Through this WebQuest your students will discover more about Victorian Times. Encourage them to share what they learn with others to increase their knowledge of history, respect for other cultures and past times as well as ability to work in team.