A great WebQuest

Using the website, http://bestwebquests.com, I found an excellent WebQuest on nutrition for secondary students at http://www.web-and-flow.com/members/jcundiff/fastfoods/webquest.htm. I plan to use the structure of this WebQuest, "Living in the Fast (food) Lane" when I create my own WebQuests. I appreciated the final sentence of this WebQuest, "You made your OWN decisions, formed your OWN opinions, and presented your OWN argument. You're free! Doesn't it feel great? ” As teachers, we want students to be confident, thoughtful and independent life-long learners.

Using WebQuests and other computer-based instruction

I found a great WebQuest related to "food for thought" called "What Should You Be Eating?" at http://questgarden.com. The goal was for cooperative student groups to create posters about a healthy 5-day menu to post in their cafeteria. The students were required to include 3 meals from the school cafeteria in their 5-day menu, which creates an opportunity for students to reflect on the nutritive value of the school meals.
At the "Quest Garden" site, my search for WebQuests about the history of the first Thanksgiving resulted in 177 examples with helpful information about the grade/ content areas addressed and the reading level of the WebQuest. I plan to use these resources when I create my own WebQuest on this topic.
When creating computer-based resources like the WebQuests and StAIR projects (kiosk-style powerpoints), I need to keep these key steps in mind: building bridges between what students already know and the goals of the WebQuest or StAIR; establishing clear goals for the project; using student-centered learning strategies to gather, evaluate and synthesize new information (i.e. cooperative groups, scaffolding, etc.); selecting the most helpful resources for students; and gathering feedback from students and teachers in order to improve the project.

What are we teaching at lunchtime?

I recently read an article about healthy school lunches that included great internet resources: www.schoolfoodpolicy.com, www.thelunchbox.org and www.foodfamilyfarming.org. On "The Lunch Box" website, there's a link to the Lunch Box Revolution and 5 steps to support your school in an effort to serve healthy meals. These steps include requesting a copy of your school district's wellness policy (required since 2006), eating the food in the lunchroom, building awareness of this issue in your community, providing information to community members on the issue, and volunteering to help your schools make the change to healthier meals.
This is a social justice issue. In the words of Chef Ann Cooper, known as the Renegade Lunch Lady,"When you feed kids a diet high in sugar and corn syrup, they just can't think and if you're not well nourished you can't excel." How can we be effective teachers when we tell our students to make healthy choices, yet serve them heavily processed food such as corn dogs, tater tots and iced brownies?

Differences between web pages and blogs

I recently watched the movie, Julie and Julia, which illustrates the power of blogging. In the movie, Julie's blog was a place where she wrote about her progress towards a goal (cooking her way through Julia Child's cookbook) and responded to her readers' ideas. A blog is very interactive. A web site is a page that can be accessed for information, with options for users to enter some select information. Our business website, www.currantridgecabins.com, allows us to receive lodging requests through the internet.