TeacherWeb Reflections

1. Describe how you see the use of a class web site could support your future teaching. Describe at least 3 ways how you see the use of a class web site could be used to support your future teaching. Provide specific details for each example.
   
   While exploring the use of TeacherWeb, I think this particular site is great for use in a classroom! One of the ways it could be used is to keep constant communication with parents through the internet. There is a feature that can be used that allows you to get a phone or email contact with all the parents. This will allow you to send quick messages as updates to all the parents at once! Another way these can be used is to save on paper in the classroom. Many of the handouts and announcements normally made by teachers are printed out information for the parents. This would be an easy way to get information to parents in a way that would be cost effective as a teacher. Finally, a very useful tool on the TeacherWeb is the gradebook function. If for some reason the school you teach at did not have a system for gradebooks, it would be a great way to communicate the grades of the students to parents on a weeky basis. They could see their students progress on an ongoing basis, rather than the progress reports and report cards that are not given out but a few times a year.

1. Identify what you see as the top 2 ways students could use a class web site to enhance their learning and provide some justifications for your selections.
   
   The top two ways students can use a class web site to enhance their learning would be to have access to extra work that can increase their skills in their struggling areas and be able to gain quick access to what was missed in class from the website. Both of these can be things that are posted on the handouts section of the web site. These allow students to stay connected to the class while away and also can help a struggling student. If a particular student is having trouble with certain rules of phonics or a particular cursive letter (or anything really) a handout on that particular subject or topic can be posted so that student can refer to it and practice it at home whenever it is convenient. Also, with the website, it allows students and parents to stay connected to the teacher and classroom even during hours not in the classroom.

3. Think about the page types and features of the Teacher Web system. What do you feel where the 2 strongest features or page types within the Teacher Web system? Why do you see these as the strongest?

I think the two strongest features of the Teacher Web system are the feature to create a call/email list as well as the document section. These two are the strongest because they allow for the most communication with the parents. Children can always find fun games on the internet, but communication with the teacher is something that can be done quickly and easily without making phone calls. It can allow the teacher to post things that need to be taken home in case children forget to bring an important document home.

Engaging Students with Concept mapping

1. Concept mapping is a unique way of organizing information in a visual way that children and adults alike can more easily understand. While searching on the site provided I found quite a few examples of how these concept maps are being used in classrooms. One example, was a map of Eleanor Roosevelt's life. This idea stuck out to me because it was not just a complicated science concept like many others were. It was her life and achievements mapped out in an easy to follow manner. It was an easy way to see her life on one page, with highlights as to the important parts. This was a fun way to describe the life of an important person and could be used in an elementary classroom when the students are studying famous people in history. It would be easy to adapt this model to any number of different famous people. It would be a great study tool to give to students prior to an exam. This way they would have the most important information in an organized chart.

Another example of how concept mapping could be used in a class lesson is on the US Government. It would be a great topic to break down because of the different branches within the government and what they are all in charge of. There are so many different features to each of the branches that having a visual representation for students to look at and study from would be helpful in seeing how the three branches related to one another and also what they can do on their own as well.

Another example of how concept mapping software could be used in a classroom setting is to use it to outline a book. The students could read a book for the class and the concept mapping could be used to help organize the different characters, the plot, the resolution, the conflict and the setting. The entire main parts of a book could be mapped out and used in order to generate discussions on the book in class, with character names and conflicts easily accessible to the students, so they would not rely only on remembering small details. This would allow for students who may not remember a character with a small parts name to still contribute to the discussion. The map could also be constructed with the students help or input on what the most important ideas from the book are and how it should be mapped out.

2. Honestly, for me I think it would take a days worth of work to fully explore and learn all the different tools and functions associated with this type of project. I feel like it would be a small investment of time, to be able to produce such visual charts. However, I also feel like these types of charts could easily be created using Powerpoint using the slides. This particular software may have more to offer, but I plan on teaching second grade, and will most likely not have the opportunity to use computers everyday for lessons. I hope to use more hands on and engaging activities, rather than create flowcharts for students to look at. The idea of the organization of concepts in graphical representations, however, is a fun idea that could easily be integrated using the programs associated with Office.

Here is an example of the Concept Map I created in my T&L 445 class: