Webquest on TRagic Heroes

This Webquest for 11th and 12th graders asks small groups to develop web material on tragic heroes. Students are to identify five tragic heroes from literature and from life, give them context, explain what makes them tragic heroes, and provide graphic representations for each. The exercise begins by asking students to review material from previous lessons; this includes terms like “hamartia” and “catharsis” and concepts like Aristotle’s understanding of tragedy. Students then choose five figures from a list of tragic heroes (Hamlet, Antigone, Bill Clinton, Willie Loman) and do basic web-based research on them. After completing the exercises, student groups set up their findings on computers for a gallery walk. Though this does not focus on a particular book, I like this Webquest for its emphasis on literary terms and concepts that could be relevant to an array of texts. I could see many of the characters we have been discussing on blackboard on the list teachers provide the students, and I can imagine lively and productive conversations about contemporary tragic heroes in popular culture and young adult literature. What I appreciate most in this Webquest is a linked “Guide to Building Consensus” that student groups read before beginning. The guide instructs students how to trust one another, how to disagree respectfully, how to negotiate different ideas, etc. The Webquest is at http://www.teachtheteachers.org/projects/JZarro2/index.htm.