The goal of the Culture Quest was for students to understand, explore, and research the culture and customs of groups in the United States by visiting teacher-designated Internet sites, interviewing individuals, gathering re- sources in the media center, and exploring software. Ms. Leon divided the class into groups, and each group was to select and study aspects of a culture (e.g., art, music, symbols, and famous people) and create a Web site. She wanted the students to include a title page with a table of contents, and three to five Web pages that describe two aspects of the culture the group studied. Their Web sites also needed to include an author page containing student drawings and brief descriptions of the authors, links to Web resources, and a bibliography of resources used. The site was to include navigation buttons; appropriate backgrounds; graphics; and readable, edited text.

Before she assigned students to the Culture Quest project, Ms. Leon worked with them to create a rubric to evaluate the Web sites they would develop. First, she gave them an example of an exemplary Web site developed by a previous class, asked them to examine it, and discussed with them the features of the site that made it outstanding. Next, she gave them a Web site that she considered inadequate and discussed with them the features of the site that were lacking. Together, Ms. Leon and her students listed the ways in which the two Web sites differed, and grouped them into three categories: content, design, and literacy skills.

Next, Ms. Leon divided the class into groups. She asked each group to create a set of indicators addressing one of the categories, and a scale for judging each indicator in that category, using four levels of performance. Each group then presented their scale to the class and revised it based on the feedback they received from their classmates. Ms. Leon then took the groups' four levels of performance and produced a rubric, which she reviewed with the whole class. She asked the groups to examine the two Web sites a second time using the rubric, and discussed how they would evaluate the Web sites. Confident that her students understood her expectations and how to use the rubric, she assigned students to their Culture Quest groups, and told them she would evaluate their Web sites using the rubric. As students completed drafts of sections of their Web sites, Ms. Leon and peer reviewers gave them feedback, using the rubric. When groups handed in their final products, confusion and frustration were replaced by understanding and satisfaction because Ms. Leon and her students understood each other's expectations and were satisfied with their products and their grades.