Teacher's+Page

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=Understanding of the project: = We are required to create a wiki WebQuest aimed at students in our particular learning areas. This WebQuest needs to facilitate the use of ICT to aid in teaching and learning of a specific unit of content. The project must have links to relative learning theories. Also, principles of social constructivism must be evident in the implementation of the project. Due to the focus on social constructivism I am to understand that the use of group work would be greatly beneficial to the project. Additionally, the unit of work covered in the project must be spread over four sequential lessons.

=ICT resources used: = In addition to the Internet and the Interactive Whiteboard the ICT resources that I used were Comic Life, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, a flip chart generator and Inspiration. The students are required to create a flip chart which will help them remember the meanings of different types of figurative language. The students must then retell a story using Word, PowerPoint or Comic Life. Before the students retell their chosen story they must create an Inspiration mind map which brainstorms ideas regarding which story to retell and how to do it. Finally, the students must complete a test on the internet and paste their results into a Word document for the teacher to review.

=Social Constructivism: = This unit of work and WebQuest is centred on a social constructivist classroom as students are required to work in groups, construct their own meanings and present their own meaning to other members of the class. The first lesson requires students to research the meanings of different types of figurative language in groups. After this is done they must present their findings to the class. Students are therefore required to construct their own meanings through interpretation of their research as well as the presentations of other students. The second lesson requires the students to work in groups to create a mind map. This is an effective way of constructing ideas collaboratively and also allows the teacher to assess student creativity as well as their capability to work in groups. The Third lesson requires students to work in groups to retell a story using a choice of ICT resources. This requires students to implement their own ideas to create meaning. Students therefore must construct meaning for themselves.

Collaboration is crucial to the implementation of this unit of work, at all times students must work together to construct their own meanings. During all lessons students must work in groups and then present their work to the class. During the Wiki WebQuest students must construct their own meaning by creatively designing their own resources which will aid in their learning. It is the teacher’s role to facilitate learning rather than simply telling the students what they need to know. The emphasis is on students to construct their own learning through research, collaboration and creative design. The goal of this unit is to encourage students to construct their own meanings and understand the context of those meanings amongst other individuals in society.

= Assessment: = The Learning Area Outcome that will be reached as a result of this unit of work is reading level 3. This Outcome requires that students:

“integrate a range of strategies to interpret and discuss relationships among ideas, information and events in written texts; identify and uses language structures; and recognise and discuss the use of symbols and stereotypes to make meaning.”

Students will be assessed on their knowledge of figurative language as well as their capacity to work collaboratively in groups.

= Lesson Plans: =  This unit runs over 4 lessons. However, as I created this WebQuest individually rather than in a group, I created lesson plans for the first three lessons. The fourth and final lesson requires students to do a test, present their retold stories to the class and to play games (educational of course) for the remainder of the class.



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