Reflection Questions:

 

a. As an individual I have never considered myself an extremely creative person; however, with the help of the Kidspiration software I felt like I was able change that. I had never been exposed to the program, and in creating the activity I learned that with the aid of such technological innovations I can bring fun, interesting activities to my classroom. I know above anyone else, my students will greatly appreciate the invention of this software in the future.

 

b. In the future I will be teaching in an elementary classroom. Volunteering at a local elementary school this semester has shown me how difficult it can be to get and keep the attention of small children. I feel that by using this software and integrating exciting activities into my lesson plans, the students will remain actively engaged in the process of learning. Using this software, I will attempt to incorporate at least one exciting activity into each lesson standard I teach. I am a firm believer that social interactions help children grow and develop, and I will most certainly use this software to create group activites. However, I also understand that quiet, more instructional time may often be necessary and I will attempt to incorporate individual games into the curricula as well.

 

c. The standards for elementary school students focus mainly on division and multiplication facts. I will surely work with the Kidspiration software to create fun, entertaining games that require one and two digit division and multiplication problems. There are so many possibilities, and by skimming through the tools that Kidspiration offers (addition, subtraction, mulitplication, and division) I am sure to come up with several engaging activities involving these standards that children will be excited to take part in.

 

d. I believe concept mapping is a huge benefit to teachers and students alike. From English class (webbing, story-writing), all the way to mathematics (steps in solving a difficult problem), mapping can be a particularly helpful tool in organizing a student's thoughts. Often times children have such vibrant, creative ideas but have a difficult time getting them down on paper. By using concept maps students can organize their thoughts into a meaningful way that can later be changed into a wonderful story or formula. Although mapping is almost always a benefit to students, there are few times that students may have difficulty breaking their ideas into meaningful chunks, and in these cases they may not require such software. More times than not, however, technology is an innovative tool that allows teachers and students to explore the vast world of creativity. By taking advantage of concept mapping, individuals are provided with a unique experience to extend technological boundaries and progress from simply using mundane pencil and paper.