This week for our class assignment I am monitoring my GAME plan. I have made some progress, but need to modify my plans. I did email every teacher in my building asking those that use wikis and concept mapping to respond. I have only found one teacher that uses a paper/pencil concept map on a rare occasion. He was not aware they could be done on the computer via www.mywebspiration.com. I have learned our school is not on the forefront of incorporating 21st century technology skills in the classroom.
My plan had included "(1) finding teachers in my building that currently have that confidence/proficiency with teaching students how to use wikis and computer-generated concept maps and enlist their support in mastering the two tools and the instructional techniques and (2) observe those teachers as they use concept mapping and wikis with their students. It appears there are no teachers in my building I can rely upon. Thus I must expand my search to include our middle school and also business teachers at neighboring schools. I will also search the Internet for videos of teachers using wikis and concept maps with their high school students.
I have found very good instructional videos that introduce concept mapping and wikis. It has been quite a while since I used a wiki and a concept map. I think it would be helpful for me to create a classroom wiki and another concept map.
The question I am pondering now is "how do I learn the techniques/teaching methods to teach my students how to use wikis and concept maps?" I have polled my students and they have no clue what wikis and concept maps are. I want to be confident when I teach my students. Right now I am not.
Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I appreciate your input.
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3 comments:
Hi Diane,
A suggestion that I have would be to create a wiki for you and your fellow teachers to use. The other teachers would be able to see what a wiki is and how they could use it in their classrooms. In this way, you would become more comfortable in the use of a wiki before you present it to your students. I have always found that it is easier to learn something when I have a valid purpose and can put what I learn to use immediately and in a way that is useful to me.
Diane,
I teach math, and often times when I teach a new subject I review the material that I haven't seen in 10 years. While I know how to learn the math I have to reteach it to myself before I teach it to the class. I think the best way for you to learn the teaching techniques for teaching wikis is by giving yourself the wiki assignment, and completing it yourself. Where did you get confused? Where do you anticipate students falling into pitfalls? I think sometimes the best lessons that I teach are the lessons that I recently taught myself. If you think like the student then you can understand where they are coming from. Just remember that you have to go at a slower pace, and I think your lesson should be successful
A couple of months ago I had the pleasure of using a concept map as a form of an assessment. I was so surprised that students were given time just to look at the concept map then interpret it into a blog. What are some of the ways you use concept maps?
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