Cultural Literature from Around the Globe

This Webquest was designed to show students how the Internet can be used to look at different cultures around the world. Students read aspects of ancient mythology, they met famous authors from other countries, they used a graphic writing to learn the fate of a bored Polish boy who wondered abroad, and by watching a video they learned the tragic fate of young Princess and her family many years ago in Russia. The Webquest was designed in the hope of lighting a spark in the minds of children which would motivate them to read. Researchers have proven now that graphic novels, e-books, and even environmental print can be used to stimulate reading motivation, and to this I have added emotional videos with music that definitely touches the soul. General Douglas MacArthur once said, "If you want to be educated read the most difficult books you can find," but if we are to encourage are children to follow his advice then we must provide them with the motivational tools necessary for this quest. Cheers! 

Standards

This lesson was derived for grades 6 through 8 and it covered the notions of reading, writing, listening, with the talking saved for the next day's class. 

Credits

I would like to thank Dr. Victoria Cardullo for providing the voice thread link that explained how to create a Webquest, and Dr. Vanderburg the teacher of our Graduate Language and Literacy Class for providing us with the assignment. It was a grueling assignment which took many hours, and if time allowed it would have been many more, but then again the key to learning is persistence. 

Other

It seems that in this age of technology we are losing our ability to communicate. Recently a salesmen told me that face to face communication was becoming a problem. With everyone looking at their iPhone's or listening with their earbuds we are becoming a society of zombies. Just look around your campus and you will see that few people outside of close friends are communicating, and as someone said, everyone is now in their own cube. There have been a few studies on digital distraction in the classroom, and indeed I have seen students on Facebook while the Professor is teaching, but the problem is much larger. The technocrats are leading us down a blind alley, and as educators perhaps we should find innovative ways to counteract these negative effects, perhaps by requiring more communications and public speaking classes without the use of technology. This lesson was brought home to me when two or three times i went in front of the class to present my research paper and the Flash-drive didn't work. Since my thinking was that everyone will be looking at the PowerPoint and no one will be looking at me, I discovered the meaning of the term irony. But then I knew the material well enough that I could present it cold-turkey, which reminded me why Dr. Wilt at Thiel College added a minor in communications to my BA in English. Food for thought in this age of technological advance.