Activities:  

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1.  Using Google Maps (Web 2.0 software, below), students locate and mark where they are in the world now, where they live ordinarily, where they were born, and where their families originally come from.  Later they embed this map into their community mindmap.

 

2.  Using Gliffy.com (Web 2.0 software), students create their own individual mindmaps to connect into one giant community mindmap later.  Their individual mindmaps combine a photo of themselves, their pre-written introductory paragraph, and 2 or 3 electronic artifacts such as audio songs, videos, or scrapbooking elements.

 

3.  After each student has created their own individual mindmap, they create their community mindmap, both electronically and on paper.  Electronically they create one huge mindmap by connecting all the individual ones together online.  On paper, they each print out their individual mindmaps and put them up on the classroom wall, deciding collaboratively what to use as the center connecting point of all the mindmaps.

 

Web 2.0 Tools as Assessment:  Gliffy.com and Google maps enable Ms. Virginia to ensure that her students have put the mindmap together correctly and include the map and other elements.  Please see my taxonomy and rubric for this module.  The taxonomy puts the higher-order thinking skills (verbs) into the context of the Unit plan.  The rubric explains the expectations for the course so everyone is on the same "page."  The pros and cons of the Web 2.0 tools used here are on the page "Web 2.0 Tools" in the menu.  

 

Assessment:  Gliffy.com and Google maps will enable Ms. Virginia and her class to create an online community mindmap, including their class map, as part of an icebreaker for their new class.  She will be able to see that each individual mindmap includes a photo surrounded by a pre-written introductory paragraph and at least 2 electronic artifacts.  

 

Assessment of Teacher for PD Class:  Students will each complete feedback surveys, similar to the one here from Survey Monkey. com (Web 2.0 tool) about their own level of engagement with this module.  Ms. Virginia will write a self-reflection on this module and the surveys and post it to the classroom blog (Blogger.com, a Web 2.0 tool), similar to the one shown here.

 

Plagiarism, Authenticity, Diversity, and Student-Centered Learning:

Since Ms. Virginia and her students will be working together so closely on this module there will be very little opportunity for plagiarism!  The work she and the students do together is authentically their own, with their own choices for artifacts, photos, and paragraphs.  This module honors diversity by allowing each person to express their own individuality with great leeway as to how they express themselves.  In addition, all photographs will include alternate text for visually impaired participants.  This module is a wonderful example of student-centered learning as it potentially holds value for each student and is an opportunity for them to be creative.

 

 

Where in the World are We?   Ruth Virginia Barton, Interactive Map from Google Maps