Unit Four Activity two- Brainstorming

What is Brainstorming?

                                                              
                                                              Brainstorming also referred to as List Making  is a process of generating a great deal of information within a short time by building on the association of previous terms mentioned.

As a teacher, I believe that it is of paramount importance that we encourage our students to engage in brainstorming. Brainstorming allows our students to explore their ideas as well as listen and encourage that of their peers. As a result, creating a sense of team effort among our students. In an effort for us to effectively teach and encourage brainstorming, there are several techniques which we can teach our students. A few of which are:

• Free Writing
• Listing or Bulleting
• Perspectives
• Cubing
• Clustering/Mapping/Webbing
• Journalistic Questions          
• Thinking outside the box

This techniques along with others can be used to help students generate their ideas. If one technique does not work another can be employed to achieve the same results. It should also be noted that when we teach our students Brainstorming techniques, we are encouraging them to become independent self- regulated learners while they explore their creativity.                           

Here are Steps to Better Brainstorming
Sloane (2010) suggests that these steps will help teach students how to brainstorm. In her article she puts forward that teachers should

1. Provide students with opportunities for practice
2. Be enthusiastic and motivating
3. Choose topics carefully
4. Encourage different ideas (divergent thinking)
5. Categorize big lists
6. Count ideas presented by students
7. Reread ideas often to students
8. Keep a record of ideas discussed
9. Encourage students to consider purpose and audience
10. Encourage the use of dictionaries, thesauruses and encyclopedias

Thus, if these techniques are used correctly, students should be on their way to better brainstorming.

The following video is aimed at providing you with a better understanding of Brainstorming. Take a look>>

References

http://www.english.udel.edu/dbaer/prewriting.html

Sloane, Marie W "Ten steps to better brainstorming". Teaching Pre K-8. FindArticles.com. 13

Oct, 2010. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3666/is_199809/ai_n8815318/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgyiK6jIwLg