One of the best ways to use the web just got a million times easier! Bernie Dodge, the WebQuest guy, just unveiled his latest enhancement of the WebQuest, QuestGarden. It really changes everything. I was lucky enough to be in the second class at SDSU that Bernie taught WebQuests to nine years ago as part of my credentialing program! After that class, he hired me for five consecutive summers to help with the Triton and then later Patterns Challenge Grants. I was able to help teach the workshops, create my own WebQuests as examples, and develop a number of guides to help teachers make WebQuests.

The first year, we attempted to teach a group of 20-30 teachers not only how to use the Internet and create a WebQuest, but how to write it in HTML! Things got a little easier in the following years with Claris Homepage, but we always got hung up on the tech issues. Four years ago, I taught a WebQuest session at the Teach the Teachers conference in Ojai, CA (outside of Santa Barbara). I had a group of 14 teachers who were all living at the dorms of a very nice boarding school. Each person was issued a laptop that could access the Internet in the evenings. Even with the participants living and breathing WebQuests for an entire week, they had trouble finishing them AND I spent a good chunk of the time teaching them how to use FrontPage and then troubleshooting FrontPage and the FTP process.

Over the years I have taught a lot of one day technology integration workshops. I always dedicate time to WebQuests, but I admit to the participants that each one I did took hours and hours, plus I have to tell them that I have been making web pages for years. While many want to make one, or even customize/update an existing project, they are limited by time and by their technological skills.

In comes QuestGarden.

A tool that will walk you through the whole process, from selecting the appropriate design pattern to adding images to publishing the finished product on the web. You will even be able to host it at the QuestGarden web site or download it to your computer to place on your own server. If you agree to make your WebQuest public, others can provide you comments or take it and customize for their own classroom needs - while giving the original author credit.

I can't wait to tell my next group about this (although they will be in August so I can't show them yet) - just maybe I'll get some people in my district to finally create some quality WebQuests!

For more information, make sure to visit the WebQuest Page and/or the WebQuest Portal.

Really. Other than the fact that I would rather be home with my family, the teaching part of summer school is nice. I'm teaching United States history to kids who mostly want to get ahead. There are a handful of students repeating the class, but they are going into their senior year and they have learned a little humility.

The five hours flies by. In any given day we do 4-8 different lessons. This keeps them (and me) interested. This year I have a particularlly good class made up of my former world history students and AP kids wanting to avoid the very difficult AP United States history class. Already we have had great discussions and it is only day two.

It helps that I taught US History last year in summer school and three different times during the regular school year. I actually have ALL of my planning dones and copies made. That is quite a feat for me.

Plus, I'm done at 12:30. Time to head home and see the kids!

My four year old and I were sitting on the couch reading a story this morning when he turned to me and ask, "Who was the first person born?"

Wow.

So I said that his mom was older then me (by a whopping two weeks). No, that's not the answer he wanted.

His great-grandmother (my grandmother) was the oldest in the family.

(kid) "So great-grandma was the first person born?"

(me) "Well, she is the oldest in the family."

(kid) "No, daddy. That's not the question I asked. How was the first person born? Who was their mommy and daddy?"

(me) "uuuhhh."

I was able to give a brief explanation that all life changed over time and then people were born (First there were... - making sure to include one of his favorites - dinosaurs). He bought it and went on to some more mundane questions before we got back to the book.

At that moment, I realized that a creation myth makes that explanation so much easier. Adam and Eve or any of the others from around the world would have been a nice story that he could better understand then evolution.

It also made me realize why many of my students over the years just can't buy into evolution. If you grow up a Christian (as I did), one of the first stories you learn is about Adam and Eve. Noah and his arc are right there too. These stories are told as if they are pure fact. I can remember trying to figure out how the whole thing worked - how we got to where we are today, especially knowing that you shouldn't marry your sister! Then you throw in the Tower of Babel and where dinosaurs fit in the bigger picture - and it just broke down. I stopped trying to accept it wholesale. When I was older I realized (or should I say came to believe) that these stories are more metaphorical and about teaching lessons. Like any cultural creation myth, it helped explain the unexplainable. However, I know there are others who see the Old Testament as more literal. Without delving into the science vs. religion debate, I understand both sides of the issue. I know I've simplified the matter, I'm not trying to explore this topic thoroughly.


Bruegel's Tower of Babel is one of my favorite paintings. A copy of it even hangs in my classroom, minus the dinosaur, of course.

I don't think I fully satisfied my son's curiosity. The question will be asked again. I'll have to do a little more preparing.

A student asked me to sign her yearbook during the finals break yesterday. She had been in my class for two years in row, was a good kid, and would probably be one of my TA next year. What could I do? So I sat down in the quad outside my building to sign hers and then another student's yearbook.

Apparently one of my office partners thought it was funny.

The students, my student teacher, everyone. Grades are done. The classroom is a disaster, but I'm not going to worry about it now. Time to relax. Then a time for cleaning and a time for reflection. Despite the bumps, I walk away with a good feeling. I liked the students and my colleagues.

I signed my first yearbook today. It was for a graduating senior that took my humanities class a couple years ago. He was one of the better students and was never afraid to speak his mind. Since he took my class I have seen him grow up, evolve into a young man. While he still speaks his mind, he can do with more authority and background.

For the first time this school year, I actually felt that the end was close. Even though June 9 has been stuck in my mind, it didn't seem real.

I seem to have loss issue. Usually at the end of each school year, I get sad. Sad that my current classes are moving on. Sad that my former students are graduating (hopefully, at least). The last couple years haven't been like that. While I have enjoyed my classes, I haven't loved them. With my family growing, I seem to have a little less to give at school. The exception is my humanities classes from two years ago. That class was like no other I have taught. It was blocked (something my school doesn't have across the board). I co-taught it with an English teacher who became a good friend. And we experimented and pushed the students and generally had a good time. Many of the students, even those who seemed miserable at the time, have since come back and praised the class. Unfortunately, last year enrollment was down and we only had one block instead of two and the calliber of the student decreased significantly. Then my friend left the state to continue her education.

So in a week, I will watch walk across the stage and will probably be a little sad. But then, I forget about school for a little bit and go spend some quality time with my wife and two very cool boys.