I have been exposed to "mind maps" before but I've never used them in the notebooks. I saw this pin on Pinterest (see first picture) which got me thinking about how they can be used in notebooks.
Using my trusty craft supplies I created two mind maps in my practice notebook. The first had to do with the water cycle and the second I was thinking of using it as an end of unit review.
Here were some of my thoughts as I was creating them.
1. Student would need some serious modeling when introducing "mind maps". You can not just show them a sample and say "go". It probably would be best to do it as a group and then have students copy it into their notebook a couple of times so they get the general idea of how it works.
2. I think this would only appeal to the artistic children. I don't think it would damage the non-artistic children to go through the process of creating a mind map but when I was doing it I was thinking that you might need to give those children a choice of assignments rather then just saying "Mind map and nothing else!".
3. A larger scale version of a mind map (see last picture) is time consuming. I would allot at least two class periods to finish.
4. Definitely would need a class supply of colored pencils. In the second picture I used crayons and I wasn't too happy with that. I didn't have colored pencils in the house so I used thin markers for the last mind map (I don't like markers in the notebooks because the colors bleed through on the previous and next pages).
I would definitely try it out with children and see how it goes and add it to my list of possible "right hand assignment" ideas.
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All the best,
Mrs. G.
I just found your blog on Pinterest.