Introduction
For my major project, I began designing a web site for the classes
I teach at Cumberland High School in Toledo, Illinois. Since I teach
three different courses with entirely different requirements, it may take
a while before it is useful to ALL my students. At this point, the
site covers several different areas including class requirements, interactive
learning activities, favorite links, my email information, and my autobiographical
information. However, eventually, the site will contain information
for my three courses as well as some other interesting things such as a
school newsletter (written by my English classes), students' exemplary
work, more favorite links, and additional interactive learning activities.
As one can see, a massive undertaking such as this will not happen
overnight. Therefore, I have decided to focus on one course, English
III, for now. This particular course has several parts.
Because of time restraints, I have concentrated on two parts: The Research
Unit and American Literature.
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The Research Unit
To begin, I chose the research unit because this is what the students
focus on most. Because the research paper is fifty percent of their
fourth quarter grade, it becomes a source of stress for the students and
their parents. They begin in August asking questions and feeling nervous
about it. So, this web site will help answer their questions early
so they can prepare themselves for the unit.
Within this section, I have included several different things for
the research unit. For example, the students can find the list of
needed supplies, the resource requirements, the due date list, and the
evaluation sheet. However, the best section is the one entitled "Research
Help". When a student clicks on this link, he/she will find a list
of links that will provide a variety of information, including help with
the mechanics of writing, how to paraphrase, and how to avoid plagiarism.
Eventually, on the site I will include a check list that covers the basic
"Do's and Don'ts" of research. I also plan to add a chat room where
students can go online to ask me questions which will result in immediate
feedback.
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American Literature
To continue, I have done some preliminary work on the American Literature
section of this site. Throughout the literature class, there
will always be vocabulary to learn so I began the literature section of
this web site by enhancing the vocabulary section. When students click
on this section, they will not only see the list of words for a particular
story but also be able to complete a wordsearch, which can help them with
the spelling of the terms and is fun for them to do. Eventually,
I may add a refrigerator magnet game that will match the definitions to
the words. Using this type of technology may help to motivate
them to learn the definitions better.
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Conclusion
Once completed, this web site will be very helpful to both students
and parents. However, it will take quite a bit of time to get all
the sections to function in the way I envision them. With that in
mind, one might wonder why I chose to focus on the research paper first
when it is not taught until the second semester. The reason for this
is because of the emphasis that is put on it. I want to enhance it
as much as possible and work out the bugs before it is actually needed.
That way, maybe it can reduce the stress that is felt by the students and
parents.
If I can do that, maybe they will be more open to using technology
instead of being afraid of it. Technology is growing at an incredible
pace. Consequently, we should embrace it and let it work for us!
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