Mindmaps. I love them. They help me get my thoughts in order and helps to draw out other linked ideas . They are like a reminder system of all the great ideas that I have around a topic that can be quickly forgotten when I start writing. As a teacher they are an incredibly useful formative assessment strategy to gauge student prior knowledge of a topic or idea, as well as a progressive measure of learning….IF the students actually contribute to the formation of the mindmap. The reality is that students are not engaging with this type of graphic organiser in the ways that I envisaged when I first started using them. The firs time this activity failed in a classroom, I put it down to the particular group and thought it was a reflection that they knew very little about the topic up for discussion. The second time this activity failed I blamed bad timing (end of the day and a short lesson). The third time this activity failed I seriously considered ditching them from my lessons forever. Could it be that although mindmaps were MY favourite way to gather information, it clearly was NOT engaging the students it was  meant to benefit?

Let me explain what I mean by the claim that the activity ‘failed’.

When I plan a mindmapping activity for a class of students around a topic, I can plan the central idea/topic or question. I can explicitly demonstrate how a mindmap should/could look like, and I can decide whether the map should be a joint creation (on the board or large paper) or individual creations (using digital or paper canvas). What I can’t plan for is the flow of ideas and the engagement level that develops out of the  activity.  Failure in this activity has had a variety of forms. Sometimes the whole class sit there looking at me in silence, sometimes flatly refusing to contribute. Regularly it is evident that even with a random student questioning format, the kids will claim they have nothing extra or valuable to contribute to the topic so therefore they believe ‘nothing’ is a viable offering when called upon. When asked to create their own mindmap, many students think 2-3 nodes is a sufficient response to what is generally a complex topic/issue. My challenge is how to continue using mindmaps, but in ways that are valuable and engaging – not just for show or to put a tick in a box.

To answer my own question, I have two new strategies that I want to try at the next possible opportunity. Strategy 1) A congo line across the whiteboard, with each student expected to write a contribution before they are able to sit down. This incorporates accountability and hopefully speed into the process but I recognise that it could end up sheer chaos as 25+ students wait in a line to take their turn at the board and then move back to their seats or at least the other side of the board.

Strategy 2) Have a selection of mindmap topics/questions on paper and hand them around the class to be completed and then passed on to the next student. Gathered back, photographed and shared on the IWB.

 

I figure I have nothing to lose, because as the situation stands, when I ask my students to create a mindmap at the moment they seem content to let a small minority contribute the majority of the answers and then copy whatever gets produced. Alternatively they seem happy to have a blank page in their books on the day that we were doing mindmapping. I’m not saying mindmapping is the solution for all students or all learning situations but I firmly believe it can only be a powerful tool if it is used authentically, not as a pretty picture that means nothing to the person who was supposed to have created it.

I would love to hear how other people are using mindmaps in the classroom.

The Wave – Todd Strasser (Pen name Morton Rhue) on MindMup