Best+Lists

toc =Real World Examples= [|TV Land's 50 Greatest TV Icons and Legends] [|100 Greatest American Movies by the American Film Institute (AFI)] [|The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time] [|Best Damn's Top 50 Unforgettable Sport Moments] [|IGN.com's 100 Best NES Games] [|Top 100 Best Children's Books] [|Best 100 Videogames] [|Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time] [|Time's Top 25 Greatest Villains]

These lists are often accompanied by TV shows, Movies, or Video Games where they do a "countdown" to #1 on the list. For each winner on the list there's a one to three minute clip about the person/ movie/ album/ event. In that clip, you see photos, snippets of interviews with people who were associated in some way (or an expert in the field), and hear narration that gives a brief overview of who/what the winner is and why they were important.

=Performance Task= Make your own class list of the top "whatever" in your unit topic. . . most important heroes of the Civil War, best poems by American poets, greatest inventions, most influential mathematicians,. . . Individuals or teams create their own digital story giving the overview of factual information as well as the importance in the field. Having to explain the importance will push the students to use the higher order thinking skills.

=Audience= The audience could be the members of the institute or a group of experts in the field who are compiling the list. In a class of 20, each student could have 5-10 votes and that could determine the rank order of the importance. Then compile all the videos into one documentary movie (you could add transitions with the rank number and a drumroll before #1) that you share with parents, show to other classes, post on the web, etc.

=Role= Some possible roles for these best lists WebQuests could be judges, or people trying to get the nomination. The basic idea of the webquest would be make a presentation to decide what deserves to be on a best list or to try and get something onto a best list.

=WebQuest Examples= [|The French Revolution] Students have to come up with a list of causes of the French Revolution. They will research different events and rank them in which event is more likely to have caused the revolution. I think that this webquest is a good example of both goal and role because they both describe very well what is expected from the students