Webquests Are Our Friends...

I was introduced to webquests in my first year of teaching eight years ago. I thought they were such a great tool to use. I scoured the internet for fun ideas that I could use to develop lessons that included webquests. My students responded well to them. It was a change of pace and they enjoyed the freedom of working independently.

Then, one day it happened...they stopped enjoying them. I remember the day it happened like it was yesterday. It is right up there with remembering a national tradegy - I can tell you where I was standing and what I was wearing when IT happened. The entire class told me "webquests are boring." "We don't like doing webquests." "Can we do something else?" I reeled them back in promising that mine were different, and promised that they would not be boring...but it took so much to convice them of this that I was on the verge of giving up. Thankfully,after much convincing, they appeased me and began working. All over the room I could hear students conspiratorially state, "okay, this one is not that bad." "this is kinda fun." "Don't tell Mrs. Burrows, but I like this one, and look at the project we get to do next!" And I rejoiced!

But, that lead me back to where we began. Why were they so negative about webquests? Why would they assume that they were all boring? These questions began my search. I was googling webquests for the next few weeks, discussing webquests with collegues and administrators, and most importantly asking my students what they would like to see in a great webquest. I then began using the information that I had collected to help develop successful webquests for my classroom. If students have experienced a sad excuse for a webquest they are then going to think all of them are that boring. I made it my mission to make sure that mine are more intersting, and usually lead into a fun, hands on project.

I still have students that come into my classroom that must have had a bad experience with a webquest...but thankfully, that student is usually sitting near a student that will reassure him with, "nah, I heard Mrs. Burrows' webquests aren't that bad."