Word Walls 2.0

I tried a new way of doing word walls with this unit. I used the application Cmaps. This allows students to create word walls on their own, incorporate the essential questions of the lesson and unit, and construct a meaningful graphic organizer using vocabulary. Here's an example.
Why use Cmaps and not Inspiration or PowerPoint? Because Cmaps allows multiple students to work on a Cmaps all at a time in real time. I can have a group of four students all working on the same one, and each student can see in real time where the other is moving a word or what they are typing in.

There are some troubles with this however. It is (apparently) a bit more difficult for students to grasp. First, it takes some experience just to get to the Cmaps for my class, making it difficult for the non-computer-savvy students to get started. Second, students tend to rush through things instead of reading the instructions carefully, making them miss significant details and require teacher troubleshooting.

I believe once we get used to it as a class, the students will actually get behind it, especially when we can actually link each word wall to every other one, and create a course-long hyperlinked Cmap that organizes all of the vocabulary and essential questions for the entire course. Either way, it sure beats using a wall and just throwing them up there.