This week I am reflecting upon my GAME plan and determining the resources I will need to carry out my plan. In order to become confident in wikis and concept mapping I will need to locate videos about creating them and find teachers or members of the community who use them. I would prefer to observe a teacher instructing their students on using wikis and concept maps.
I have taken several steps so far to reach my goal. I have asked students if they use wikis and/or concept maps in other classes at my high school. I only had one student reply affirmatively on concept mapping. I was able to locate free concept mapping software. I have spoken with the one teacher that was mentioned as having students create concept maps. This teacher only uses them rarely and was unaware that free software is available for students via www.mywebspiration.com. He was happy to hear about it. I was also able to locate an excellent video that explains the concept mapping in a thorough and easy-to-understand manner. It is available at http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=84247&title=Webspiration_Tutorial. I have viewed the video and will show it to my students when we begin learning how to create concept maps using software. My next step is to email the staff at the high school and see if any other teachers are using concept maps and wikis. Hopefully I will find some that are and are available for me to observe their classes using them.
This week in class we learned about UDL (Universal Design for Learning) and assistive technologies. I see wikis and concept mapping to have a great future in my classroom, allowing me to differentiate instruction, provide organizational tools for my students, and ensure all students are challenged yet not frustrated.
6 comments:
When I ask my middle school students about concept mapping I explain it as bubble mapping, using Venn Diagrams, or even flow charts. This can sometimes get more students to respond. I have used concept maps to
have students illustrate relationships between items. My lower-end students like the concept maps since they don't have to write as much, and they tend to be more visually oriented. This incorporates the UDL principles, as you stated.
Thank you for your comments, Donna. I like how you describe concept mapping to your students by activating their prior knowledge. I will incorporate that idea into my teaching next week.
Hi Diane,
It's good that you are talking to your students about concept mapping and showing them a video about it. A lot of students may have used concept mapping in other classes, but might not fully understand the way it works or why it is used. Once you show them, they will be able to make better connections between the content and their maps. Concept maps themselves can be differentiated because there are simple and complex ones and also different mapping software that students can choose from. Maybe you could also show students a few different examples of different resources they could use for concept mapping or thinking maps and see what they like best.
Thank you Michelle for your suggestions. I like the idea of showing my students several sites as references for them. I can also show them how to use the advanced search features of Altavista with the 'host:edu +' feature. I had not considered that before. I will use your ideas. Thanks, Diane
Diane,
I think incorporating concept mapping and wikis are excellent tools to adapting lessons to 21 century education. I think these tools allow the students to break down their thought process, which will help them understand what they are learning better. When I was in high school I remember a computer programming class that showed me how to break down my thought process to form algorithms. It is one of the reasons I became good at math, and I am now a math teacher. I think your ideas have a lot of potential for your students. Keep up the good work!
You seem like you are off to the races!! I enjoyed reading your post. I am wonder have you ever used concepts maps as an assessment? Try it and give me your feed back!
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