1) Practice- the more children brainstorm, the better they will be at it. Teachers should take advantage of little opportunities as they arise before expecting their class to think of ideas on a difficult topic. Sloane (2010) believes that that the quickest way o hamper the flow of ideas is to start discussing their merits in a brainstorming session.
2) Be enthusiastic- if the teacher is excited about each new ides as it comes along, the children will be too. If teachers comment on the breadth and depth of their thinking, they'll be encouraged to work even harder.
3) Choose topic well- choose topics that offer real opportunities for generating a large number of varied ideas.
4) Encourage divergent thinking- good brainstorming is more than coming up wit lots of ideas. How unique and different they are is as important as how many there are.
5) Reread ideas often- it reinforces the importance of the ideas. Hearing suggestions others have made may also spark new ideas to add to the list.
6) Count the ideas- Teachers should pause for a few minutes and go along and count the ideas that the children have generated.
7) Categorize big lists- it helps organize ideas when working on a topic that has several different parts.
8) Keep ideas around- teachers should allow the students to write suggestions on paper before erasing the chalkboard.
9) Generate diverse ideas
10) Teachers need to structure students's experiences with brainstorming so that they receive enough direction to keep them on track.
After reading the article i began to reflect on how I taught English to my students. I also made comparisons to how I taught Social Studies. Brainstorming was a strategy that was employed frequently in my social studies classroom. Students would brainstorm as a class to give the meaning of key concepts which were being taught. Their ideas would be discussed to further develop their understanding of the concept which was being taught. I never realized that this strategy could be employed in the English classroom. As an inexperienced teacher I did not employ the brainstorming strategy in the language classroom. Students would be given a wide range of topics to choose from to write about but I made no attempt them generate ideas through brainstorming in the classroom. I would encourage my students to research on the topic they would write about. They would also be provided with a variety of strategies to make their writing effective. I gave my students to work in groups to discuss their topics and exchange ideas in an effort to improve their writing. However, their grades did not improve and the students would become frustrated and give up quickly. By reading about effective brainstorming strategies it has impacted on my believes about writing. My initial thoughts about writing is that once individuals were given a topic that they were interesting in writing about and they were provided with opportunities to research on that topic before they write, they would be able to produce good work. After reading the article, I have realized that writing is a process and a number of strategies can be employed to develop students's ability to write. Brainstorming is an effective strategy which can be employed to help students develop their writing. I hope to employ this strategy in my English classroom to ensure that my students become better writers.
Another article which stood out to me was " Pre-writing Strategies" Gatz (2004) states that there are many things that a teacher can do to aid in the progression of the writing process. Pre-writing is the key in the development of a "good essay" and the evolution of good writing skills. The Webster's Dictionary defines pre-writing as the formulation and organization of ideas preparatory to writing. Pre-writing shows how students have reached their topic and came upon their main ideas and conclusion. He further states that students can be inspired to write. He believes that students can use a diverse amount of media, personal experiences, dreams, visual arts and research to create a topic. He presents the following pre-writing strategies that can be employed in the classroom:
1) Making a list- to generate topics they might write about
2) Free writing- which is a form of brainstorming that can help students to find a focus in writing their essays. They can write about why they chose that particular topic and what about the topic that interests or inspires them.
3) Blind writing- it is a form of free writing which emphasizes that the thoughts behind the paper are important, not the facial mistakes. It allows the process of developing words and thoughts while contributing to the flow of the writing process.
4) Use of graphic organizers- allows students to generate lots of ideas with a logical structure- they help the students to organize their thoughts into illustrations; they are visual diagrams of written ideas.
5) Questioning- it helps students to generate and focus on specific ideas while writing. In answering the questions it will help the students to discover information and focus on students' thinking of their topics.
After reading this article I realized that the pre-writing could be used along side brainstorming to help my students improve their writing. I never provided my students with opportunities to use the pre-writing strategies discussed in the classroom. The students were not given an opportunity to go through the writing process but were simply required to produce the final product after they were given a topic to write about or after they selected a topic the were interested in writing about from a list given. I was familiar with the questioning technique but I did not see the need to employ it in my teaching. The use of graphic organizers in helping students to generate their ideas stood out to me in the article. I believe it would develop students interest in writing essays since they are given an opportunity to present their ideas in diagrams before they write the essay. Students can show their creativity through the use of graphic organizers. I will therefore employ this strategy in classroom. The free writing strategy also stood out to me in the article. I realized that I did not allow my student to find their focus in writing their essays. Students will now be given an opportunities to write about why the particular topic was chosen and what them about the topic before the begin to write the essay. I hope to give students more opportunities to select their topics to write about. Students are more enthusiastic when they are given an opportunity to write about what interests them.
I recommend that inexperienced teachers be informed or presented with strategies for effective writing for students before they begin to teach. This will be beneficial to both teachers and students. Students will be equipped with the strategies to ensure that student become good writers.
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