Traveling Down an Unknown Road- Creating Wonder Pages

I have a dark hidden secret that I finally have to let you know about- I am not always sure what the final end product is going to be when I start a new writing unit especially research.  In the past I  have had them create ABC books, a take off on the Magic School House books, and posters with flip cards. Once again this year, I am going down a road that I have never traveled, but we are all very excited about our journey. Have you ever traveled down an unknown road?

The first thing I had to do once I committed to wonder pages
for their final project was to talk to Mr. Mark.  I typically have these HUGE ideas and then I tell Mark what I want to do and he tells me the tool that we can use.  Again, the lesson/objectives/indicators were chosen first and the the technology tool to support the writing was chosen second. I presented Mark with these goals:

*model after the Wonderopolis pages (similar layout)
*integrate new technology:  adding videos and creating links
*force the students to choose the most important research that they have learned-not use it all
*intertwine vocabulary throughout every page
*import graphics that support the text

Finally Mark suggested iWeb which a new tool for me-so I spent the past two weeks playing (oh I mean learning) about it.  I like the ease of it-students get to choose their own design (there are about 15) and the pages are set up for them to basically just drop and drag.  I LOVE this part of it.

My next step was to create a rubric so the expectations will be clear for the students. They will  have to do their thinking at home ie: rough draft their wonder pages.  One negative for iWeb is the students can not work on them at home I am not sure if that is gong to be a big drawback or not. Here is a copy of my rubric so you will be able to see the requirements that I have outlined for my class. The * represent where the students will be filling in their choice vocabulary and links. In addition, I offered some "extra credit" to students to push them just a little bit further.  PS: All the credit for the name goes to Mark: Baileyopolis! LOVE that too.