Engaging Students with Concept Mapping Activities!

I think it is important to include the various intelligences in one’s classroom. Students can learn visually by drawing out their ideas. These ideas can be expressed on computer programs. For example, a program like Paint would work quite well. It is easy, and it would give students the opportunity to draw out their ideas and add text.
When students create their maps, they need some form of organization. Students can create shapes to correlate with a concept. The students can connect these symbols with various lines and arrows. This gives students the opportunity to have visual organization. Other things include flow proofs, which are just bubbles moving in a horizontal fashion. Third, one can have the family tree approach, where the ideas are presented in a sort of hierarchy. The leaders, or older people are on top, then it shows where the rest of ideas relate with respect to the leaders.
After the students have created the visual representation, they need to express what they are visually writing. Many students will do this in essay for, so one must simply follow the steps on the concept map.

When students create their maps, they need some form of organization. Students can create symbols to correlate with a concept. The symbol will have some kind of direct relationship to the concept. In addition to the symbol, the student will briefly write what the symbol represents. The students can connect these symbols with various lines and arrows. This gives students the opportunity to have visual organization. This concept is often called the spider web approach.
Another way of using concept mapping is drawing a sort of flow proof. To connect ideas more linearly, a student may want to draw bubbles that go in one direction. At times, there may be several bubbles for the concept; in this case, the related ideas will be presented vertically. All of the ideas will move in a horizontal fashion, from left to right.
Concept mapping changes how students may view situations. Concept mapping can give students the opportunity to view a situation in a more abstract fashion. Instead of going through a list, a student will be able to see the many connections that are present within a concept. These broad connections can be more difficult to show if one is strictly writing.

Teacher Web Reflection

Teacher Web is valuable resource for students, teachers, and parents. Students have another resource with this product, as they can look for things they may not have see in class: for example, they may want to know what the math homework was. Teachers have another resource to help their students succeed. Parents can help keep their children accountable by looking at announcements, class grades, and other resources. I don’t like the way Teacher Web makes one type in the password for every little thing; it makes things a bit of a hassle. Also, I think that I would want a free service if I wanted an online website. I think the website would be improved if it was a little more visually appealing.
I would use Teacher Web to communicate homework, announcements, and grades. This comes from the previous paragraph: parents will create accountability, and teachers and students will have resources to help student progress.
I would use a teacher website to engage students by giving them information on the website for them to go to help them grow academically. For example, I could have a web links section for them to look at to create interests. Also, students generally feel more comfortable in class when they are aware of their grades. This way, the students will have one thing less to worry about, so they can focus on their learning.