Virtual Trip Across the USA
Jeffrey Riley
Seeing all that we can see in a little amount of time was our goal, as was having enough money and supplies.
Our district curriculum was tied to many of the activities that took place during our Virtual Trip. We decided how long we were to be travel each night, we counted miles between cities, brainstormed what our means of transportation should be, designed our transportation, compared the similarities and differences between each city, created real writing opportunities in our e-mails with others, kept a balance of the money we had to spend, kept daily journals that highlighted their thoughts.
The Internet provided opportunities with visuals and sounds that took an idea and made it magical. We were on a bus for 25 days, traveling across the United States!
Each day during the trip began with a meeting around the TV and presenter. During this meeting the student responsible for our days' events reported the weather and conditions for that day. As students listen they recorded information in their travel diary that would later be published on our travel site. We brainstormed appropriate supplies that would be needed. Also shared were the daily events that we would be participating in during our time in this new town. Our day was planned with events that we would all do together and some in small groups, depending upon the interest of the students. The trip addressed the nine points of effective teaching and assessment by The Coalition of Essential Schools.
Activities were tied to Essential Academic Learning Requirements . This was a quite simple!
The Desire for Information was Created
The students wanted to see the country, they wanted to share with others their experiences, they wanted to know how others lived...they were ready travel! This trip was filling a void that was present in many students. When I considered the audience, I knew that many students had little expose to the Internet I looked for practical sites that provided information in a creative way and to the point.
The theme was valuable to me, I have great passion for travel. I was able to motivate the students with quality sites and personal experiences. These would provide the requirements of our journey. I was spending time I didn't have on the Internet. This focus was needed to bring the Internet into the classroom and into our daily routine. This trip was to achieve outcomes and standards....it did so much more. It made the Internet real and made us active participants in the world outside our classroom.
Purpose Within the Theme
The purpose of many of the web sites that were used during this journey gave use a real understanding and source of information about the area were were going through. Most sites provided information about attractions and events that would be taking place upon our arrival. City guides, maps, videos when going through some parts of the country. Site like City Link, Yahoo Travel, Web 66, really zeroed us into an area. USA Today gave us up-to-date whether reports. We would brainstorms the sites and sounds that would surround us. We touched all five senses with the information we gathered from the Internet. Photos were collected from the web and emails were sent to people we might met on our journey. Students were getting the sensations that they were in these places. Real learning was taking place. Information was being transferred into their own knowledge base.
Technical Purpose
Education on the Internet is your ticket to a whole new world of online learning, teaching and resource. (Ellsworth)
Students used the Internet record their daily journals on our trip web page. This site helped achieve many of the technical outcomes I had for the students. It was filled with information kids could access and continue to revisit to read each others thoughts about the journey. This page served as a natural web development tutorial for the students. Many students looked at the page from home and this became a stepping stone to bigger and better sites. Kids began using the Internet as a resource. It was a source of imagination, inspiration and information.
Assessment
The letters that the kids wrote to their keypals and entrees they made in their travel diaries serve as a great source of objective data. Their journals and letters were filled with details and information about the area that they were traveling to. They were inspired to share their information through our own web site. There was a genuine purpose and incentive to write. They were factual, concise and trivial. They were conveying and sharing information that they had gathered from the Internet.
Teaching
The students were learning to live in the real world. They were on a real trip. The web convinced them of their journey and you we going to have to work hard to convince them otherwise. They were living, problem solving, and reacting to real time events, the industry, and the history of each area. The kids were writing their finding and reactions to the areas and activities in their journal and letters. The kids were writing nonfiction and were excited to share that information with their new friends. As the world was brought into our classroom they were eating it up and becoming life long learners. I was the facilitator and I was learning about something I loved and had a passion about. We designed the bus we travel in and illustrated it for all to see on the web. The learning was based on real time and real events. This could work with any age. It addresses the standards as it incorporates the real world.
I will conclude that my theme needs to reflect something that I love to do. If I am excited about a site then the students will be too. We want to get students excited about learning and about the potential the web has to offer. What better way to incorporate it into your own life?
Conclusion
The quality of a site depends on the intended audience. One may venture across our page and not see the value and other could find it a gold mine. It's hard to judge the overall of a site. I am sure their are some that would criticize and evaluate my site. It's those opinions that I can not live without. The web is a powerful being that has changed the force of my classroom and the way I teach. Bringing the world into my students life has inspired and challenged them to reach higher.
The theme has saved me time. Specific projects or themes are the means to find treasures for your audience and to meet your objective. Surfing alone will devour time and patience for the web. Having a set agenda will allow you to be very specific, keeping in mind your audience and providing a base to judge the usefulness of a web site. Projects can bring real experiences and purpose into your classroom. It can tie your curriculum together making it relevant and exciting for the learner. It can bring excitement back into life as you learn hand and hand with the student. The assessment is as natural as going on a trip. What life skills won't you find on a journey? Know your audience, find your passion, explore it with your students and watch life long learner desire information and adventure leave your classroom.
Bibliography
Cochrane, K. The Internet. New York: Franklin Watts. October 1995
Ellsworth, Jill. Education on the Internet: A Hands-on Book of Ideas and Resources,
Projects, and Advise.
**while attending NCEE in Spokane I volunteered to watch the door of a session on my last day. That session turned out to be the most valuable during the conference....I listened to and absorbed a very passionate first grade teacher sharing his virtual trip with his first graders.. That hour long session changed the direction of my teachings. Thanks, Ken!