Overview: My webquest is geared for a 5th grade. It has been developed for an integration with a poetry unit. Students will be expected to read the infamous poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost and reflect on their own experience traveling down the road not taken. Developing this connection to the story, the students will then work in groups to research an influential American. In their research, they will be expected to study the life history of the person while marking important events and decisions he or she has made. This will then be depicted on a dipity timeline and their final product will be a real life diorama. For the diorama, they are all expected to participate to reenact a particular part in their influential Americans life in which they make a decision to travel the road not taken. Their inquiry question is: What is the impact of the decisions you make on your life? Should you travel the Road Not Taken in your own life?
Introduction:
Feeling alive and free is a gift! Walking down the street as the wind whips through your hair or lying on the beach watching the waves tickle your toes brings a whole new meaning to life. While life can be an exciting journey, there are times we are left at a cross road. Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken is the pinnacle for this metaphor in our lives. In this webquest you will be researching many influential Americans. Choosing a path is not always easy and as you research these people, you will learn about their life and the decisions they made when they were at a crossroads in their own life.. You will ask yourself, how do people decide which way to go? Do they make their decisions based on the road that is worn and used or one that is overgrown and barely seen? This webquest is to enhance your understanding of journey people take when they make they choose their path whether it is like the traveler in Robert Frost's poem or not.Tasks
Since our class has been studying poetry in language arts class, we have learned that reading poetry should take us on a journey. We have learned that analyzing poetry for meaning can often deviate our purpose for reading and overtake the purpose. Therefore, you and your partners will want to keep this in mind as you synthesize the message delivered in Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken with the research you gain on your chosen Influential American.
Inquiry Question: What is the impact of the decisions you make on your life? Should you travel the Road Not Taken in your own life?
Your task is to...
1. Read the 'Road Not Taken' by Robert Frost and reflect on the following question: Have you ever taken the Road Not Taken?. (more information is provided under the process tab)
2. . Collaborate with your group to decide on your influential American, research important events and choices/decisions he or she made in his/her life.
3. Work collaboratively to create a scene, in a real life diorama, from their life in which they make the choice to travel the Road Not Taken. Consider the following questions: What was his/her life like? What choices led them to the fork in the road of life? How did taking this journey impact their life? Was his/her life always 'smooth sailing?
Prior to the start of the webquest, you will need to decide on each persons job. (you will find a desicription of the each job, under the process tab.) You will refer to this as a reminder of your responsibility throughout the webquest. After each group member has completed his/her research, the group will come together to create a master web on Kidspiration of all the information you each gained. This web will be printed, so that each member will have it accessible throughout the project.
Jobs
Tantalizingly Timeliner Bountiful Biographer
Persnickety Producer
Frost's poem makes such an inspirational theme for your project, Kylie. It has become almost synonymous with the metaphor of journey.
ReplyDeleteYou've a lot going on here in the Task for fifth graders. Focus on the big picture and the creative task they will do and I know you will get them excited about the project.
Also, so glad that you've discovered Dipity. It's perfect for organizing information about biographies. You might consider dropping the web assignment though because Dipity allows the students to add so much information that a Web might be redundant. Take a look and see how these students add images and movies as well as lots of text. It's true that you can't print out Dipity but you could have them after they are finished, draw a simple timeline and plot the scene they are dramatizing.
Have fun with this! I know your students will !