Technology Portfolio

1. Technology Portfolio By Genevieve Fitzgerald

2. Acrostic Poem Genevieve Fitzgerald • Glad to be here! • Energetic • Not liking this heat • Enthusiastic • Very interested in learning more about technology integration • Irish and proud to be! • Excited about finishing the school year! • Valuable as an employee • Everyone’s friend • Forgetful • I really do love teaching  • The beach is my favorite place in the world • Zany • Great with babies and dogs • Every year I go on a big vacation • Ready for anything • Almost couldn’t find the classroom tonight • Love living in the city • Dying for summer break to start!

3. Interactive PowerPoint

4. Introduction to WebQuest Bernie Dodge, the original co-creator of WebQuests defines a WebQuest as “a scaffolded learning structure that uses links to essential resources on the World Wide Web and an authentic task to motivate students’ investigation of a central, open-ended question, development of individual expertise and participation in a final group process that attempts to transform newly acquired information into a more sophisticated understanding.” This lengthy definition basically explains that WebQuests are interactive, evaluative tools to facilitate student learning through technology and literacy. A WebQuest usually starts with a question or topic of study, which can enhance the current unit of study in a classroom. It can be a very useful tool for teachers in a technologically capable school. Besides designing the WebQuest itself and including the 6 key components (introduction, task, process, information sources, evaluation, and conclusion), teachers who use these must keep in mind some guidelines for appropriate use. For example, thinking about the length of time the assignment is going to take to complete is important in planning in the early stages. Deciding if it will be an individual or a group activity will impact the availability of computers and Internet access in your school as well. If every student needs access to a computer, the teacher will need to arrange to use the computer lab and/or laptop cart and its availability could be limited. These are all things that need to be considered when planning a WebQuest as part of a curricular unit. Some pros of using a WebQuest are that they are highly motivational, interactive, and can enhance critical thinking strategies. They can even foster a critical theory of teaching by presenting a question or topic from all different perspectives. Students can become critical thinkers by reading from all different points of view on a given topic and can develop their own opinions about it. Some cons have already been discussed such as availability of resources and the fact that these types of activities can be time-consuming. Also, creating them can be daunting. However, it can be argued that since there are so many WebQuests online already, modifying a pre-existing one can be quick and simple. Assessing students’ progress can be challenging as well, but one could argue this, too! There are tons of rubrics and WebQuest creating websites that have these templates ready to use! Overall, a WebQuest can be a fun and engaging opportunity to extend or enhance a current unit of study. It can be used to liven up a seemingly boring topic or a topic that is usually “breezed” over during the school year. Sadly, I have not used WebQuests in my classroom before. After becoming more informed about their use, I will definitely have to try this next school year! Plus, I am already creating one using a unit of study in the fourth grade curriculum, so half of the work is already done! Genevieve