Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Thinking Maps

I am in a training today.
Going to this training has put me in the worst of moods!

We are learning about thinking maps.
Visual Organizers that are supposed to mimic what our brain does for
any given thinking task.
For example:
Defining--use the bubble map
Expressive parts of a whole--use a bracket map

This all really tears up my nerves.

I constantly sit and think of all the of the rules of the maps.
The bubble map is supposed to have a noun in the middle circle.
The noun is described using adjectives in bubbles all around it.
So is the task to define? or teach grammar?
We did group excercises and almost all the other groups used
nouns and all other parts of grammar as describing words.
Now, I don't care either way.
I have no agenda here--except maybe following rules (which I did not make
up)--that say..the bubbles have to have adjectives.
So, my group thought up adjectives...
So, in this class I get caught up in stuff like that..
It bugs the hell out of me.

I don't want to map my thinking--it would look like the city center of sevilla a lo mejor...I don't want to have someone tell me how to map my thinking. I do not want to tell others how to map their thinking.

So, my question: do the students get graded on the ability to make these maps...when they are supposed to be used as tools for thinking??

On the way home I was thinking...I am going to make a tree map of all of my job responsibilities. Serving kids--just one of about 10.

I just sit there...stare... and get ill--

Now I better go.
We were informed that we would be given a "treat" today.
1 hour and 10 minutes for lunch...oooooohhhhh...don't make me go home and eat a sandwich!!
But if we are not back in time--we are going to have the gate locked on us. :)
So, I guess I had better run.

.6 CEUs
Map that!

2 comments:

Bethany said...

Just so you know, this post made me feel like an idiot. I have no clue what a training map is, even after reading your post twice. And so, I say, good luck with that.
;-) I mean really - IS the point for the child to learn, or for the map to be correct?? I got a note home from 2nd grade last week, advising parents in their quest to help out with math, to just let the kids work it out however came naturally to them. Consequently, Cole has a bizarre way of doing math, that causes Rick & I to drink quickly while staring at each other wide-eyed. But he gets the problems correct, and quickly. Maybe he's using a teaching map in his head... :)

Susan said...

Maybe so???
I just wonder if it is the way that someone thought we think, so they made up a whole system.
You know, then people go to the training, and walk out thinking the mission is to teach kids to draw these maps. (Maybe it is??)
I wanted to think this was a tool we could teach kids, in case it might help...
I like that strategy for math. :)

Spot on!

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