Engaging Students With Concept Mapping Activities

1. This kind of Concept Mapping software is something that can have many innovative uses within the classroom. The most helpful way that this software could be used would be to show visual learners how abstract processes are taking place in a more concrete way. Like in the image below, the process of diagramming and dissecting the symbolism of a poem, a very abstract process that is usually internally done, can be displayed in a visual way to help visual learners understand the topic. Another way this technology could be used would be for planning projects. Students would be able to create mind maps almost through this technology that can visually organize their ideas and help them formulate how they are going to approach specific projects. Also, this technology could be used to show students the relationships between characters and events within a novel. This too takes a very abstract concept and makes it very concrete. Mostly, this technology can be used to translate ideas, and help learners who need to see the whole picture. It helps learners who compute better visually.
2. Concept Mapping is something that could be very helpful in a classroom, especially for students who are visual learners. Specifically, in the area of poetry analysis, such as in the picture below, poems can be dissected line by line for their symbolic and literary meaning with the help of a concept map. By doing this, students are able to see how the poem breaks down line by line, and are able to see connections between different portions of the poem because everything is laid out for the students. Another way it could be used would be to diagram projects or essays. Students, rather than making outlines to organize their writing or ideas, can lay out their ideas visually, and even move them around to where they feel they make the most sense.
3. I don’t think it would take me very long to learn this kind of technology – I tend to pick things like this up fairly quickly. However, I’m not sure that I would go to the trouble of integrating this kind of software into my classroom. The idea I think could be useful, but could just as easily be done on Word. The only difference would be the converting of the image to an outline instantly, which wouldn’t be possible on Word, but I think that if your main goal is the visual, the outline wouldn’t be needed as much. The software is cool, but I think it might also be superfluous.

Teacher Web Reflections

1.Describe at least 3 ways how you see the use of a class web site could be used to support your future teaching. Provide specific details for each example.

A class website is a totally awesome thing to have for my future teaching. One thing that I always appreciated as a student was when my teachers who had websites posted our grades online so we were able to check them at any time. I also intend to post assignments onto my teacher website, which not only allows students to not use the "but I lost my prompt" excuse, but it also saves paper. Plus, with a teacher website, I would be able to post links to websites that could help my students for every assignment, or for my class in general. It is basically an infinite resource.

2.Identify what you see as the top 2 ways students could use a class web site to enhance their learning and provide some justifications for your selections.

The top two ways that students could use a class website to enhance their learning are the resources that become available, and the access to information pertinent to the class. With the use of a class website, I as a teacher could collect websites that could serve as resources to my students for whatever projects we were doing, books we were reading, or units we were working on. I could also give them general resources, such as the citation machine, that could help them not only in my class, but in all their classes, and in any future education they may pursue. Another way that this kind of a website could be useful to students is by providing them with digital copies of all handouts from class, all assignments and any other information that would be necessary to provide students for my class. This would serve as a place where no matter what happened to their notebooks, or where their backpacks went, they could always access their assignments or information that they needed.

3. Think about the page types and features of the Teacher Web system. What do you feel where the 2 strongest features or page types within the Teacher Web system? Why do you see these as the strongest?

One of the extra pages that I created on my Teacher Web was a question and answer page. It had general questions that students may ask about classroom policies, late work, attendance policies, and other general information that may be found on a syllabus. Rather than answering the question of late work every time a student turns a paper in late, I would be able to direct them to this page, and all the information would already be spelled out for them and available any time they had a question. The other part of the site that I really thought to be the most useful was the calendar of upcoming assignments and events. By putting this on the website, students are held accountable for knowing all the due dates, because they are always available and posted ahead of time.