I really did try to read "The Use of advance organizers in the learning and retention of meaningful verbal material", BUT it was just too technical. Even the conclusion was goobly gook for me. But I am assuming that their research proved that using advance organizers in the classroom make a statistic difference in learning. So we should use them.
Compare and contrast tools.
Bubble is just a very simple program for thought clouds. Actually I had a little problem figuring out how to move the bubbles, but that is my hesitancy to "play" with a program. Anyway, you can change text size and color, but cannot change the bubble shape or color. And you can import it into a document. You can also import work from another location, but that is an upgrade. Basic, but boring. Education Oasis is a site with multiple graphic organizers. If you are not a very creative person, this might be the site for you. You have to search the chose from Cause and effect organizers, character and story organizers, compare and contrast organizers, cycle, timeline organizers, vocab/concept organizers. My favorite, by far, was webspiration, by the folks that have been in the business for a while, Inspiration software. It does cost just like inspiration, I couldn’t figure out whether the pricing was $39 per student or $39 for a classroom, which sounds more reasonable. It is just like inspiration it has all the brainstorming, or idea building applications, except better. It is a cloud application, so students can create and publish, or collaborate and publish. There is a review option to comment. The projects can be sent to the teacher. Students can chat with each other while creating. It is just a great site. It said there where lesson plans, but the one I clicked on was not the great; maybe that part is just building.
4 comments:
I thought the same thing about bubbl.us. I liked the simplicity of it, but also found it a bit boring. Thanks for the great reivew on the webspiration. I love inspiration and kidspiration so if it is anything like that it will be great I bet. Great reviews. Thanks!
Sandy - Could you see yourself using webspiration (or any of the others) as a tool when you teach? Do you think it (they) could make a difference in the outcome of project - in a positive manner from prior projects?
I think webspiration would be a great collaborative tool. One way I would use it would be for brainstorming. I would use four heads together to have students come up with ideas on a concept, then have them publish that to webspiration then I would pull those ieads up on a interavtive white board and compare and contract the student ideas. I love brainstorming activites.
Just like reading each others posts, seeing someone else's ideas gives students more information that they may not have thought of. I the fall I do a lesson at Thanksgiving, I read Sara Morton, life of a Pilgrim, and then have the students compare and contrast daily activites (that I give them) on a Venn diagram, I could actually do this activty using webspiration and have them brainstorm activites that happen back then,activites that happen now, and activites that happen both times.
Inspiration is good, but I prefer Kidspiration a little better. But then I teach elementary age. It's different for me though, as I get very little input on what programs the school is able to use on the computers. It ends up being a district wide thing. If we pay for Inspiration, every computer in the district gets it. And that mentality works and sometimes it doesn't. Sure, kids who are taught a tool can have the confidence that it'll be there no matter where they go, provided it's in the district. But it leaves very little flexibility for people like me who want to think outside the box. So unless it's a free web-app that doesn't require downloadable programs, we're outta luck.
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