For a flowchart, I used Gliffy. I was immediately unimpressed with the website. There were numerous popups and download requests. I didn't create a flowchart. I looked through the website and I can see how secondary teachers might use flowcharts, but I cannot see using a flowchart often, if ever, with lower elementary school students. I would like to teach 3rd grade. I can think of multiple uses for mind maps but none for flow charts. I prefer the ease and simplicity of mindmaps to flow charts. Flow charts seem more regimented and complicated whereas mindmaps are more brainstorming activities and allow students to simply jot down ideas as the arise. I didn't use flowcharts.com simply because I was too impatient to wait around for the invitation. Gliffy was instantaneous.
I used bubbl.us and created a mind map. This website was very easy to use. It reminded me of high school when we had to complete graphic organizers before writing an essay or research paper. I always liked them and thought they helped me get my thoughts together and sort of pre-plan what I would write about and how I would do it. Bubbl.us was really simple to use. I didn't have any current projects I am working on that I thought I could use with a mindmap, so I used information from a research paper I wrote for another class in a previous semester. I could use this website and mindmaps in my future elementary school classroom in helping students recognize similarities and differences in animals, texts, etc. (compare and contrast) based on what we were studying at the time. If students had to write a short story or essay of some sort (like to practice for the TCAP writing assessment), students could use this to help formulate their ideas and learn how to connect details to main ideas.
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