Concept Map

A concept map is a great tool that teachers can use in a classroom.  Teachers can use the concept maps to aid in their own development.  Teachers can use the maps to present a lesson, create a lesson plan, and also teach the students how to use it in their own work.  I used my concept map as a guide to what standards need to be met in mathematics for a fifth grader.  Since I want to teach fifth grade math, this will benefit me later on, providing the standards do not change in the next two years.  Like I mentioned before, the students can also use the concept maps.  Instead of using a pencil and paper to create a bubble map of an essay, the teacher can introduce kidspiration.  It will make the assignment more fun for the students, and the teacher will have something pretty, that reflects each students personality, to grade.  Also, students could create an "All About Me" concept map.  Each student could share their concept map with the class.  It is a fun way to get to know all of the students.  Another way the students can use the maps is to create a map to reflect what they have learned in a unit.  For example, they could put the unit name in the middle and create subtopics of the different categories they learned about.  They could further expand that by creating subtopics of the subtopics.

Concept maps also tie into the NETS*T.  If a teacher uses the concept map to present a lesson to the class, then the teacher is facilitation and inspiring student learning and creativity.  The teacher is modeling how to use the technology; therefore, the teacher is also modeling digital age work and learning.  This one example also ties into designing and developing digital age learning experiences and assessments.  The students become curious about the technology and want to learn how to use it.