Monday, March 15, 2010
country music webquest
I chose this particular web quest for many reasons. I first found the subject matter quite interesting. It was really cool to see how a teacher connected country music ( something that was a part of their students' culture) to ideas of freedoms and other historical themes. Secondly, this web quest was chosen as by the state of Texas as one of the top ten Internet sites concerning American symbols of freedom. This web quest presented an interesting task concerning the use of the country music as a symbol of freedom. This site has an excellent introduction, task, and process, all of which are key components for any good web quest.And while, this site is very informative, it is also lacking key components of a proper web quest. it does not have an evaluation, conclusion, or a proper teaching page. It does have a "teacher's resources" option, but I question if it is as informative as a teacher page should be. Overall I would say that this web quest would be an excellent teaching tool, but may need to be tweaked a little to achieve optimal effectiveness. country music webquest
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The concept (country music) for this WebQuest worked well with the purpose of a WebQuest. Not many textbooks or other sources outside of the Internet would be helpful, especially if your school is in an area that country music is not popular. I think that if I was a music teacher I could use this as a resource for activities I could do with my students but this is not a stand alone WebQuest. It seems more like a list of things to do than a WebQuest. One thing I liked about this website than other was that for each link they also listed the URL, so if the page could not be found or there was a page error you could type it in to the Way Back Machine.
ReplyDeleteI think country music is very good at creating mental pictures and playing to our emotions, so using it to identify American freedoms is a very creative concept and will most likely be something students remember. However, from a webquest standpoint, I agree with Miss. Walczak that it can not stand alone. Aside from the components that Alicen found that this "webquest" was missing (evaluation, conclusion, proper teaching page) and I also noticed another key component missing. Exploring the webquest, this was the closest thing I found that resembled individual roles for the students:
ReplyDelete"Each group should designate students to 1) find the on-line resources; 2) print out or transcribe information found on-line; 3) organize information; 4) plan how information will be shared; 5) present information."
These roles, in my opinion, these tasks are too disconnected and do not really challenge the students. In a true webquest, students assume a role and complete specific tasks, that when put together, build upon each other to reach the overall goal/task of the website.
Overall, thought I do not consider this a webquest, I do see it being a very fun and interactive lesson in either a history or music class. I also think that since student music preferences differ, students should be allowed to use other genres (such as pop, rap, rock, etc) to complete the assignment.
Using country music to show America’s history and freedom is a really cool idea. I love country music and all that means so I would have enjoyed doing a project like this. I hate to admit it but I’m one of those people that sometimes likes history but overall I find the subject boring. If I had projects that incorporated things I enjoyed, like listening to music, then I would probably get more out of the class. Using this WebQuest would work for both students who like that genre of music as well as those who don’t. I agree with Miss Walczack about this being helpful if you were teaching in an area where the students probably had never heard a single country song before.
ReplyDeleteThis WebQuest seems more like a group project than an actual WebQuest. It is missing so many parts and I don’t think students could just sit down understand what it is they are supposed to do. I could see this activity working well in both a history and music class. A history teacher could use it to show her students that music contains a lot of history about our country and is not just something artists make up. A music teacher could use this to show her students the history of music and the different types of themes you can find within the lyrics. It would make a very interactive and enjoyable project for a classroom but its just doesn’t live up to WebQuest standards.
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