Contemporary adolescent literature is not my thing. Give me dead, white male authors! If I'm feeling crazy, I might read something from a living, white male (Prof. George is probably cringing. I promise I'm open to exploring new authors and genres). I share this because this assignment was something of a challenge for me, which is why I chose to find a webquest for Seedfolks. I thought the book was great, but that might have something to do with the fact I finished it while commuting, like Prof. George promised.
Most of the webquests for Seedfolks were similar in nature — creating a character and writing a chapter from that perspective. I love the idea of having students make their own version of Seedfolks. Such an assignment will not only engage them in a creative capacity, but it will also force them to think about the book from a different perspective. As creators, students become invested in the book and the final product. This particular webquest interested me because of the teacher's emphasis on tone and style — two important tools every writer should develop. The webquest does not simply ask students to do research; they must synthesize their findings into a finished product that resembles Fleischman's book and relates to it. That's a challenging, yet interesting webquest. Hopefully, students will be as excited as I am for this assignment. Students have a lot of freedom in deciding how they want to proceed. I'm a big believer in offering students choice, which is another reason why I like this.
If I use this webquest in my classroom, I would modify the directions with the intent of clarifying them. I found the instructions under the "Process Page" a bit confusing and wouldn't want my students to have any problems. The chart on the "Your Seefolks Chapter" page is a great organizer for students.
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