As a former English department head and K-12 librarian, I am familiar with the stressors of meeting all of the Michigan’s benchmarks and standards. I have worked for years with other teachers to ensure the education of the students at my school is of the highest quality meeting the highest standards. As Michigan developed the state curriculum, I searched for ways to meet these expectations while continuing to give students a well rounded experience. As a librarian, I worked diligently to make infusing research into content areas seamless. Through the WebQuests, I hope to reach an even broader audience. To make this as easy as possible for overworked teachers, I have included lesson plans showing how each WebQuest ties into the GLCEs. The added bonus for educators is that WebQuests also meet most of the state’s technology requirements. With a subscription, you not only gain access to the WebQuests and lesson plans, but you also gain the ability to track the usage of your students, helping meet the technology requirement and the documentation the state expects.
April 26, 2010
April 18, 2010
Loss of Librarians
As the state tightens the budget many schools are making cuts anywhere they can. Sadly this means for many schools that their librarians are being cut. With the loss of the librarians, teachers loose a valuable resource. It is my hope to help bridge that gap for teachers until the budget crunch ahs settled and librarians are back in every school. As a school librarian at a K-12 school, I am among those cut. With how our economy is and my desire to stay in Michigan if at all possible, I have poured my knowledge and experience into these WebQuests. I am greatly concerned about the ability of teachers to maintain a high level of education for Michigan students as we face more and more cuts. It is evident from what we have seen this year that teachers will be asked to do more with less, so I am trying, through the WebQuests to provide teachers for a way to work smarter. Good education is a team effort, with the lack of a librarian on site as part of the team, it becomes the teacher’s responsibility to fulfill that role as well. That is where we come in. I am here to be your librarian. This is the first in my plans of library services that I will provide through our web site. I hope that my efforts to provide you with guided research correlated to the Michigan State GLCEs will relieve some of the additional strain the budget crunches are placing on you. I am happy to have any feedback on additional ways I can meet your needs as an educator through this site. Please let me know what is working and what you would like to see to make it work better for you.
As the state tightens the budget many schools are making cuts anywhere they can. Sadly this means for many schools that their librarians are being cut. With the loss of the librarians, teachers loose a valuable resource. It is my hope to help bridge that gap for teachers until the budget crunch ahs settled and librarians are back in every school. As a school librarian at a K-12 school, I am among those cut. With how our economy is and my desire to stay in Michigan if at all possible, I have poured my knowledge and experience into these WebQuests. I am greatly concerned about the ability of teachers to maintain a high level of education for Michigan students as we face more and more cuts. It is evident from what we have seen this year that teachers will be asked to do more with less, so I am trying, through the WebQuests to provide teachers for a way to work smarter. Good education is a team effort, with the lack of a librarian on site as part of the team, it becomes the teacher’s responsibility to fulfill that role as well. That is where we come in. I am here to be your librarian. This is the first in my plans of library services that I will provide through our web site. I hope that my efforts to provide you with guided research correlated to the Michigan State GLCEs will relieve some of the additional strain the budget crunches are placing on you. I am happy to have any feedback on additional ways I can meet your needs as an educator through this site. Please let me know what is working and what you would like to see to make it work better for you.
April 12, 2010
Reliable Sources
This site works diligently to ensure that the links to research and information sites found here for are reliable sources. It is a constant concern to ensure that the links are functioning and will take your students to information that is dependable. Teachers, administrators and parents can all rest assured that these links are checked regularly to ensure the safety of the students using the WebQuests. Sites are screened for reliability of information as well as for appropriateness of the information found there. Each WebQuest is designed to be appropriate for the age level that correlates with the Michigan State GLCE grade level for that topic. Each WebQuest is labeled with a grade level to guide teachers and parents to selecting the WebQuest that is best suited to the age of their students. Some topics have more than one WebQuest for this very reason. That way if a topic is touched on in multiple grade levels, the sites in the WebQuest are tailored to be appropriate for the specific grade level.
April 5, 2010
Structured Research
WebQuests offer a structured approach to research. It guides students step by step through internet research on a given topic. Research skills are essential for all students. Finding and understanding information on the internet is a skill that will serve students well through their primary and secondary education and beyond. If a student is college bound, colleges require students to research from the beginning of their time in college. Regardless of college, research is an essential component to adult life in our information saturated society. Students will need to be able to find information, access it and use it to make decisions on everything from purchasing a car to purchasing a home. WebQuests provide educators with a beginning step to guide students on the path to becoming successful, lifelong researchers. The guided format of a WebQuest takes a great deal of pressure off the teacher. The format is neatly structured to support the research process and to walk new researchers through keeping the process while keeping them focused and on track. It is also great for with more experienced students providing them with reliable sites that they will have access to both at school and home, providing educators and parents with the peace of mind that their student will not wander into undesirable sites.
February 23, 2010
Signup is now available.
Sign up for the beta of WebQuest Builder has been finished. Sign up is based on OpenId, and allows you to create an account without the need to remember another password. Just select which type of account you have in the Sign In form.![]()
February 10, 2010
What WebQuest Builder will be
WebQuest Builder is getting closer to going into a public beta, it is time to provide some information.
WebQuest Builder will be a structured web application that will help you create a WebQuest. Along with the ability to create a WebQuest, we will provide the ability to register your students and track their usage through an individualized, secure URL.
We are also committed to ensuring that your WebQuests remain valid, the links will be validated at least weekly, and providing recommendations when available.
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