Session+10

__Session Ten__

**10.1: Opener**

__Mind-mapping - How do I already use it? __

* When brainstorming vocabulary words, ideas, prior knowledge about a new concept, etc. * When discussing the relationship between characters or events in a story * When mapping out the central ideas or images in an article, poem or other work * When making connections between grammatical concepts studied in class * When trying to help students make connections between material studied and outside applications

__﻿Benefits of mind-mapping in the 21st century classroom __

Mind-mapping is a great tool because it gets students involved in the note-taking process. Instead of mindlessly copying information, they can contribute to the discussion and thus be more involved in the lesson. It also serves as a way of reminding students of what they already know so that they are better prepared for what they are about to learn. Overall, mind-mapping seems to be a more student-centered way of focusing the class so that they are prepared for the new lesson, shaving some time off the teacher-centered portion of a class period by getting the students more involved. It is also non-linear, allowing more access for students who might have missed or not been interested in previous lessons.


 * 10.2: Bubbl.us **

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I had to think a bit about how I wanted to present this before I went about it. I wasn't sure how many layers to create, so since it was my first attempt at using bubbl.us, I decided to keep it pretty simple. The site is fairly easy to use, though I did find it a bit slow and awkward on two different browsers on my Mac. I wonder if it works better on non-Mac computers. In any case, once I got the hang of it, it was fine. I like how the site automatically puts each generation of bubbles in a different color. It creates a cool visual effect which clearly shows how ideas and concepts spin off of one another.

As far as how I would use this site in my classroom, I'm not entirely sure. I think it might be useful when giving basic historical background or for mapping out stories and writing projects. It also could create a good graphic representation of topics studied in class as part of a review session, or it could be used to demonstrate the relationship between related words and verb conjugation patterns.


 * 10.3: Mindomo **

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">I found Mindomo to be fairly easy to use. Although I do see the benefit of mind-mapping, I haven't quite grasped how I would use Mindomo to do it. Perhaps I did not correctly respond to the prompt, but the way I see it, a tool like Prezi would be more useful for presenting a lesson like this one to the class. That said, I could see how a mind map from either Mindomo or Bubbl.us would be a great way to review and wrap up a lesson. I would be curious to hear if others agree or disagree with this view on the usefulness of Mindomo.