This week, I looked at three different websites that provide graphic organizer tools. The first site I looked at was www.educationoasis.com I really liked this site because it provides many printable tools that I can use with my classes right now. All I would need to do is print one out and make copies. This would be good to have as a starter for class when the students do not have access to a computer. Some of the items I think I can use on this site are the Think Pair Share chart, KWL chart, and the Cluster Web. I'm sure I can use the other items on this site, but for know I can see immediate use for these. A down side to this site, compared with the other two I looked at, is this site only has templates, it is not used to create a concept map from scratch. The other two sites I looked at were similar. The purpose of both of them is to make an electronic concept map. One of the sites I played around with was Bubbl.us. Something I found helpful on this site was the ability to play around with the concept map tool before signing up an account on the site. I wish more online tools would do that. It allows you to get a sense if you want to continue using it or not. This site was useful, but after I made an account and played with it a while, I felt the other concept map site I tried, Mindmeister.com was easier for me to use. I like the easy way to add and delete bubbles in Mindmeister. With Bubbl.us, you have to use the keyboard, and I'd rather use the mouse. I also liked the tool bar better and just felt the over all experience was more productive. The next time I have my students use a concept map, I would like to use Mindmeister.
Besides commenting on concept mapping sites, I would like to reflect on some of the strategies we read in our book and talked about in class this week. One of the strategies I would like to use more for Cues, Questions and Advance Organizers is the idea of a pre-chapter survey. I would like to set up a column for before the chapter and a column for after the chapter is finish to see if the students agree or disagree with a given statement. I think this would be very useful in my Civics class because there are so many topics my students seem to be unfamiliar with, this would be a great way of testing them on what they actually learned during the chapter. As for the area of Nonlinguistic Representation, I have started to have my students do illustrations for their weekly current events quiz. Instead of writing a paragraph summary, the students could chose to write a short sentence and then draw an illustration of the story they want to share. This works very well with many of my learning disabled students who have more of an artistic ability than a writing ability. As for note taking, I currently give the students a few pages per chapter that go along with power point presentations that I have for them. The students have to fill in the blanks of the words they see underlined in the presentation. I like this type of note taking because if a student is absent, all he or she needs to do is go to my J drive folder and the presentation fits perfectly into their fill in the blank notes. As for other note taking strategies, I am willing to try something like the Cornell Notetaking strategy, though I have a feeling that many of my students would find that as too much writing and may shut down.
I felt that this week I learned some real practical tools that I could use with my students. Though I have used hand outs for concept maps in the past, I don't use them often. I think the materials that I got this week, both hand outs and electronic tools, will help me use them more with my students.
I teach in a very socioeconomically depressed district where the importance of a good education is not always stressed at home. For this reason, plus just the simple fact that middle school students have a short attention span in the first place, I sometimes resort to “fill-in-the-blank” notes just as you do. I will provide copies of the day’s notes with key terms or concepts missing. My students then have to either listen and follow along on my smartboard to find the answers. I do not however, simply just read the sentence aloud and let the students follow along and copy the missing words. Instead, we stop and discuss each important concept or term in detail and engage in small discussions as we move along. For my most challenging classes, I may even let my students use their notes for tests.
ReplyDeleteBill---
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment on how more online educational resources shouldn't require a signup. Why should I sign up for a product if I don't know its value? I also think its cool that your notes are online. Is the J-Drive a public drive that anyone has access to?
I like your idea of having students write a sentence and then illustrate it. You teach in high school correct? Do they give you a difficult time about drawing? My students are very artistic and like to draw, but now for school work. I have a difficult time with a couple that will draw/doodle all class until it's for an assignment. After reading your comments about educationoasis, I'll have to take a look at it. I like the print tools especially since we don't have access to computers often.
ReplyDeleteJared, no the J Drive is online in the school, but every student has access to it.
ReplyDeleteTammy, I give the students a choice if they want to draw or write in some instances. I will not force them to draw.
ReplyDelete