In week 3 of 525, we discussed cues, questions and advance organizers, nonlinguistic representation, and summarizing and note taking.
What is the purpose of asking student to use cues, questions, and advance organizers? And what kind of technologies can I use to help students?
I was asked to review three online tools. I looked at bubble.us, Education Oasis, and MindMeister. Bubble.us was very easy to use, but I found it a bit restrictive as it only allowed me to make one kind of map. Although it did allow me to move the boxes around on the page and make the map look how I wanted it to look. MindMeister was also a bit restrictive as it only allowed one type of map. MindMeister was free up to 3 maps and then the user would have to pay to use the site. Education Oasis had several types of maps available, however, they were in pdf format and couldn't be saved or changed for the user's specifications. Using any kind of map to organize ideas can be useful to students. Students learn in different ways and using a map can reach many different kinds of learners.
I can think of a time when I asked students to use nonlinguistic representation and I was pleased with the results. Why did it go well?
In my entrepreneurship class, I asked the students to create an organizational map of our high school. They could set it up however they chose as long as all staff was included. Most of them used Microsoft Word to create their map, others used Microsoft Publisher and color-coordinated the chart. This happened to be a day that my principal was in observing and he particularly enjoyed that part of the class. The students were able to convey their ideas in a different way than just in writing or by reading it.
I can think of a time when I asked students to use a KWL chart to assist in summarizing and note taking and I was pleased with the results. Why did it go well?
In my personal finance class, we spend a great deal of time discussing credit. It is a very important topic for the students to learn about and understand as it affects their entire lives. I start the unit with a KWL chart. The students list what they already know about credit and what they want to know about credit. Throughout the unit, I try to make sure to discuss the things that they want to know and also the things that I feel they need to know. In this unit the students work in groups to teach lessons about different credit topics, so many of them are responsible to teach some of the things that other students want to know. Finally, when we have finished th unit, we finish the KWL chart and the students list what they learned during the unit.
