Web-Quest Supports Differentiated Instruction

Dear Mr. Black,

The free website questgarden.com offers an exceptional opportunity for teachers in all content areas to guide students through web-based research in a structured, easy-to-facillitate manner. Web-Quests also serve as easy and exciting ways to incoporate technology into the classroom and implement differentiated instruction to students of all learning styles and ability levels. I propose that Knight offer an hour long PD in August to explain how, when, and why to use Web-Quests in any content area.

As stated above, Web-Quests are well-structured research guides that can aide teachers in the facillitation of a research project. Teachers need only to create (or borrow) a web-based guide through which students direct themselves through the World Wide Web to answer guiding questions or create any sort of research based projects. The easy one-step creation of the online guide aides teachers in facillitation. The structure aides students who could easily be lost in the maze of webpages and (some false) information online.

In addition to the ease of facilitation and structure for students, Web-Quests provide teachers and easy way to differentiate instruction for various ability levels and learning styles. Web-Quests can easily be altered to match an individual or group's ability level. A "Challenge" could be included on the Web-Quest. Also, teachers could provide small-group instruction to students struggling in one area while students who have successfully mastered a skill could work on their Web-Quest, which could easily span the length of a grading period.

Finally, if Knight were to offer a PD on Web-Quests this August, teachers could learn the varieties of ways in which this tool could aide them in any content area. They could learn how to use the tool with ease, when it is appropriate, why it is beneficial, and decide how to "make it their own." Knight would be a more technologically advanced place for the information, and its students would have the opportunity to build confidence in an activity that would provide them the skills they need to be successful researchers and technology users.

Knight needs to offer an August PD on Web-Quests. This free, technologically advanced tool provides the structure students need to develop research skills. It also provides ease of facillitation for teachers, and makes differentiating instruction easier as well. Finally, if all of Knight's faculty understood how, when, and why to implement Web-Quest, the school-wide knowledge would put Knight on the fore-front of technological advancement. Please consider my idea for an August PD to incorporate Web-Quests!

Thank you,

Ms. Yost