Blog Journal 4

Outlines, Idea Maps, and Storyboards are all extremely effective techniques in teaching students to write properly and effectively. When I become a teacher I will definitely put all these techniques to use through a variety of computer programs. To teach outlines I will stick with the standard Microsoft Word. I could even use the new techniques we learned in class to develop idea maps with Microsoft Word, however I may be interested in using a more advanced software, which I have found online. To create story boards and incorporate branching along the way I think I will look for software that is easy to use to teach my students those techniques. I will create the empty story boards and hand them each their own printout that they may use to fill in with their own personal ideas.
I strongly believe learning techniques like outlining, mapping, and story boarding is essential for a student to learn to write. It will help students stay on topic and it will help them get more organized with their writing. When given an essay prompt, a student can get overwhelmed with deciding what ideas to incorporate or how to even begin. Getting their ideas on paper in an organized fashion through brainstorm trees and then incorporating those ideas into an outline can help students feel less overwhelmed and place their ideas in the appropriate parts of the essay. It's crucial in keeping your writing organized.
Many of the new skills we learned last week will be extremely useful in incorporating these writing techniques in the classroom. Last week we learned to insert shapes in word, and through that we can insert a variety of different concept maps. We can insert bubbles, trees, boxes, everything you can think of to organize ideas. I will definitely put all these techniques to good use in the future teaching world!