Concept Mapping and Inspiration

     I did my concept map on static electricity. The reason I chose this topic is because I had the privilege of being able to teach a group of 4th and 5th graders a lesson on static electricity over the summer. It was an assignment for my SME 432 class and we taught at a learning camp type set-up for children who were a little behind as far as their grades were concerned. It was a wonderful experience and even though I went into it thinking that this topic would be a little advanced for this age group, they all caught on very quickly. All of the children really enjoyed making Rice Krispies jump off their desk and making Miss LaKrisha's hair stand up with a balloon. It was a wonderful experience and made me realize that I should never underestimate the curiosity and learning ability of a child no matter how old they may be.
      I really enjoyed navigating around the Kidspiration site. There was so much there that I could use in my future classroom. It was actually really easy to manuver around and get things where I wanted them to be. I love when teachers use concept maps and this assignment showed me that there is an easy way to go about it. There were so many options and different ways to do something that you would never have to do the same thing twice. There were a few different points on the NETS-T list that would be appropriate for this activity and website, but the one that I chose was under the topic "Facilitate and Inspire student learning and creativity." The actual goal is "Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness."  
I think the use of Kidspiration did all of these things. By using this website, I could make concept maps for any topic. This will facilitate student's understanding of the concepts being taught.Children can also use this site to help inspire their learning and creativity. I let my little cousin who is 7 play around with it and I was so surprised to see the information that she came up with by using the site. This would be a good class project or activity to use.