ELL+and+Bubble.us

**ELL and Bubbl.us**

 * By: Krystal Reagan**

ELL is the learning challenge I will focus on and Bubble.us is the web 2.0 technique that I chose to embrace this learning challenge. To make curriculum accessible to ELL learners and all learners, teachers must accommodate and modify their instruction and the resources they use to promote a successful learning experience in general education.

Bubble.us is a concept mapping tool that allows individuals to brainstorm online. Users can create mind maps and brainstorm diagrams that can be printed and shared with others. A mind map is a diagram that represents words and ideas that link to a central key word or idea. Mind mapping supports ELL by displaying related topics and connecting them through the illustration of images, symbols, and colors. Text can also be added to enhance understanding of concepts.

ELL learners respond well to visuals so they have a method of relating what they know to what they are learning.

“Mind mapping is a good tool for visual and kinesthetic learners. Visual learners benefit from associating ideas and concepts with images. Kinesthetic learners learn well by physically drawing their ideas. Robert Marzano, a leading educational researcher, lists non-linguistic representations as one of his nine core strategies for improving instruction. Non-linguistic representations include: Bubbl.us is a Web 2.0 tool that can be used for non-linguistic representations.”
 * Creating graphic representations
 * Drawing pictures or pictographs
 * Generating mental pictures

“Learners acquire and store knowledge in two primary ways: linguistic (by reading or hearing lectures), and nonlinguistic (through visual imagery, kinesthetic or whole-body modes, and so forth). The more students use both systems of representing knowledge, the better they are able to think about and recall what they have learned (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001).”

“Visual representations help students recognize how related topics connect (NCTM, 2000).”

Bubble.us is a Web 2.0 tools that promotes multiple methods of learning in that it, increases imagery in learning, increases student and teacher collaboration, encourages an interactive classroom environment, and display concepts and ideas in multiple ways.

ELL students may have difficulty finding, creating, or expressing an image that represents the concept they are try to promote. Students will work with the instructor and their peers through collaboration and open class discussion to encourage assistance and support for all learners. These finished documents can also be shared and saved so student will have them available as a future reference.

Teachers can also use Bubbl.us to assess knowledge gained and identify gaps in learning, which aids in the learning process of ELL students.

To begin using Bubbl.us go to []

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