Chirchik state pedagogical institute of tashkent region

Activities to support the strategy

Activity 1: picture it

This activity can be implemented to introduce or summarise a topic.

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  Think: Ask students a focus question and provide wait time, for example: how do lifestyle choices impact on our health?
  
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  Pair: use the mind mapping template (found below) to identify and collate associated ideas about the focus idea (i.e. “lifestyle choice”)
  
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  Students use the mind mapping template to guide and deepen their thinking on the focus idea (divergent thinking mode).
  
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  Students then spend time consolidating and ordering their mind map into a writing plan (convergent thinking mode). This plan could consolidate 3 key aspects, which form a basis of a written response to the question.
  

Activity 2: think/pair/share

This strategy allows students to generate more ideas prior to writing through joint construction.

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  Think: Ask students a focus question and provide wait time e.g. How do lifestyle choices impact on our health?
  
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  Pair: students pair up to tell a partner their ideas (focusing on the idea of lifestyle choice). This allows rehearsal, generates more ideas and student to student modeling (divergent thinking mode).
  
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  Share: students to take turns sharing their ideas with the class. This can be verbally whilst the teacher collates the responses on the board or students to type straight onto a class collaboration tool.
  
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  Divergent thinking: remind students it is not about being right or wrong and encourage all suggestions.
  
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  Convergent thinking: Students identify 8 key points about the idea and order their thoughts into a writing plan.
  
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  Keep suggestions visible as students then compose 1 to 2 structured paragraphs based on their planning which answers the question.
  

Two mind mapping resources: (a) a scaffolded mind map and (b) a blank mind map template.

Getting started is often the hardest part. Try these 3 simple strategies to help get your mind moving.

Talk it out

Discussing ideas with a teacher, friend or fellow student often helps you find new avenues to approach the ideas you have and helps you uncover ideas you might not have considered.

Brainstorm

Write down as many ideas as you can and make point form notes on them as you go. When you feel you’ve written down the obvious things that relate to an idea, move on to a new one, or explore a related idea in more depth.

You can also cluster related ideas together and draw connections between them on the page.

Free write

This strategy is similar to brainstorming, but it is faster and less reflective. Give yourself a broad topic to write about. Then, on a pad of paper or a word processor, write continuously for two or three minutes. Don’t stop, not even for a moment.

Write down anything that comes to mind, no matter how nonsensical it seems, as long as it somehow relates to the topic you began with. If you need to, time yourself to make sure you write for a few minutes straight.

When you’ve finished, read through what you’ve written and identify any useful ideas that have come out of the exercise.