Brainstorming is an excellent teaching strategy to generate ideas
on a given topic. Brainstorming helps promote thinking skills. When
students are asked to think of all things related to a concept,
they are really being asked to stretch their thinking skills. All
to often, a child with special learning needs will say they don't
know. However, with the technique of brainstorming, the child says
what comes to mind as it relates to the topic. Brainstorming
promotes success for students with special needs as there is no one
right answer.
Let's say that the brainstorm topic is Weather, the students would
state whatever comes to mind, which would most likely include words
like: rain, hot, cold, temperature, seasons, mild, cloudy, stormy
etc. Brainstorming is also a terrific idea to do for bell work
(when you have just 5-10 minutes to fill just prior to the
bell).
Brainstorming is an excellent strategy to:
- Use in the inclusional classroom
- Tap into prior
knowledge
- Give all students a chance to
express their ideas
- Eliminate fear of
failures
- Show respect for each
other
- Try something without
fear
- Tap into individuality and
creativity
- Eliminate the fear of risk
taking
Here are some basic rules to follow
when conducting a brainstorm in the classroom with a small or whole
group of students:
- There are no wrong
answers
- Try to get as many ideas as
possible
- Record all ideas
- Do not express your evaluation on
any idea presented
Prior to starting a new topic or
concept, the brainstorm session will provide teachers with a great
deal of information regarding what the student may or may not
know.
Here is a list of brainstorming
ideas to get you started:
- What are all the things you can
do with a ball? (marble, stick, book, elastic, apple,
etc.)
- How many things are white? blue?
green? etc.
- What are all the methods of
travel?
- How many types of insects,
animals, flowers, trees do you know?
- How many ways can you describe
the way something is said? (whispered, shreiked, bellowed, yelled,
retorted etc.
- How many things can you think of
that are sweet? salty? sour? bitter? etc.
- How many ways can you describe
the ocean? mountains? etc.
- What if there were no cars? rain?
butterflies, cigarettes?
- What if all cars were
yellow?
- What if you were caught in a
tornado?
- What if it never stopped raining?
What if the school day was only half days? went all
year?
Once the brainstorming activity is done, you have a great deal of
information on where to take the topic next. Or, if the
brainstorming activity is done as bell work, link it to a current
theme or topic to enhance knowledge. You can also
categorize/classify the student's answers once the brainstorm is
done or separate it out and let students work in groups on each of
the sub topics. Share this strategy with parents who have children
who are insecure about sharing, the more they brainstorm, the
better they get at it and thus enhancing their thinking skills.
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