Reflections Activity Three

This Activity was a bit tricky to begin with for me. I followed the instructions carefully and i was still unable to achieve the desired result because some vital information was missing or i may have overlooked it. Nevertheless, after playing around with Mindmeister for a while i managed to troubleshoot the problem. From there on it was smooth sailing. This made me realize as a teacher the importance of giving clear and simple  instructions to my students and double checking my instructions ensuring everything is concise.
This was the first time i came across Mindmeister and i was glad to be introduced to this online mind mapping software. Its simple to use fun Interactive and perfect for brainstorming. which can be useful to the upper grades when planning stories. They can put out their ideas, plot their scenes etc..This is most effective when working in teams.

•  It encourages creativity-It expands your thinking to include all aspects of the problem or solution. You can identify a wide range of  options. 
• Rapidly produces a large number of ideas. By encouraging people to offer whatever ideas come to mind, it helps groups develop many ideas quickly.
•  Equalizes involvement by all team members. It provides a nonjudgmental environment that encourages everyone to offer ideas. All ideas are recorded.
• Fosters a sense of ownership. Having all members actively participate in the Brainstorming process fosters a sense of ownership in the topic discussed and in the resulting activities. When the people on the team contribute personally to the direction of a decision, they are more likely to support it.
•  Provides input to other tools. You may want to affinitize the brainstormed ideas. And, if appropriate, you can work with the team to reduce the number of ideas by multi-voting.

I would definitely introduce this tool to my colleagues and use it my self whenever i get the opportunity to do so.