Thinking Maps

It seems funny to see how things change over a period of time. Some times things are changed to make them more efficient or use full. Other times they change very little, this seems to be the case with Thinking Maps. For years I referred to these as Graphic Organizers, however, when in class that always seemed to be a challenge to roll off my tongue. It didn't seem like anything meaningful or engaging to the student. I do however, love the new terminology behind them calling them, Thinking Maps. To me it sets to the tone for what the student should be really expecting out of them. It allows the students to chunk information in more retainable pieces where they can later put all the pieces of the puzzle together and see what the whole picture looks like.

Not, knowing they are being called Thinking Maps, I have used several in my class. I have use the flow chart, showing the steps or progressions or events of a war (pic 1), I have used one to show the how different branches in gov't are broken down in my gov't class (pic 2) and have used them for causes affects of reconstruction (pic 3). I do have to admit, that it's nice to see where I have already begun using some of these techniques in my room, long before truly realizing what they were.

On that same note, I have been doing quick writes as well. I typically use them as an exit ticket in class. I have used them from having the students write about the biggest news event from the previous year has impacted their lives to how would the current president handle a stock market crash similar to the one in 1929. Both of these times I used Padlet to let my students posts and reply on others to generate an online discussion between the students.