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Brainstorming Directing the creative energy in your classroom The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. Linus PAULING, American scientist
Many teachers avoid brainstorming, as they associate it with noise or discipline problems. This may be true at the outset, but once you see how it works and how much fun it can be, brainstorming will become a firm classroom favourite. Here are a few basic tips to help you make your learners fall in love with brainstorming. Start incorporating it into your classes and you can bet that sooner or later you will hear your students say: “Teacher, can we brainstorm this?”
What is brainstorming and what is it not? Your students are full of creative energy. The challenge is to help them channel this energy and use it in an organised way. Brainstorming should never turn into criticism. Perhaps the most precise definition of brainstorming is: “All ideas that come up before any discussion or judgment takes place.”
What are the benefits? The average learner finds it difficult to come up with a variety of ideas in response to a problem. Imagine a solitary child staring at a blank sheet of paper. A lonely place, indeed! However, that same child feels less pressured and less alone when working in a group and is much more likely to come up with different ideas, solutions and connections.
Great! Can you count the oceans and the continents? Yes, 70 percent are oceans!
Seas cover a really big surface.
The continents are coloured. We are yellow.
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What will brainstorming bring to my CLIL classes? The advantages of brainstorming in CLIL are twofold. With respect to language and content it will provide: • a natural situation for communicating in English. • an opportunity to actively use and revise content vocabulary. • a chance to learn new concepts or vocabulary from other students. Yet, brainstorming goes beyond language and content teaching. Your students also learn how to: • really listen to others. • negotiate and be tolerant towards different opinions. • develop critical thinking skills. All these are ‘real-life skills’. Your learners –future managers, scientists, salespeople, artists, journalists– will remember with gratitude the teacher who taught them how to use and develop these vital interpersonal communication skills.
➜ Create a relaxed atmosphere
Make sure that everybody understands that it is not a competition. Give each group a huge sheet of blank paper and different colours to note down their ideas. Encourage learners to volunteer for the role of moderator and secretary. If there are no volunteers, consider choosing a shy learner as secretary and an extrovert learner as a moderator.
Classroom management tips ◗ Having a visual focus can really help younger
learners. Give each group a photo, an image or any kind of realia connected with the brainstorming topic. ◗ Try putting on music in the background.
The best option is some fun, upbeat, instrumental music. Music without words can help to create a sense of play without the distraction of lyrics. ➜ Define the problem and remind
them of the objective
The rules of the game You can introduce a brainstorming session when your objectives are: • generating ideas on a given topic. • tapping into and diagnosing prior knowledge.
Make sure that the subject of brainstorming is clearly defined and that everybody understands it (e.g. “How many things can you think of that are (...)?, What if there was no …?”) Whatever the topic of the brainstorming session is, the objective will always be the same: to generate as many ideas as possible.
• introducing a new topic. Brainstorming turns into an enjoyable and efficient learning experience if you follow this basic 3-step model. Tell your learners that brainstorming is a game and as such has rules.
Step 1: Before ➜ Work in small groups and choose
a group coordinator Brainstorming with the entire class is not a good option. The ideal group size is 4-5 learners. Choose a ‘moderator’ who moderates the session and makes sure the rules are followed, and a ‘secretary’ to write down the ideas. 40
Step 2: During ➜ All ideas are accepted
Even if one or more learners think that an idea won’t work, they shouldn’t criticise it. That idea may be a stepping-stone to another, more useful answer and they need to hear it out. ➜ Write down all ideas
A secretary writes down the ideas clearly so that everybody can see them. This will give the learner who proposed an idea the confirmation that the idea has been accepted, or, at least, listened to. Everybody needs to have equal opportunity to contribute.
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Brainstorming
Step 3: After ➜ Conclude the session
Remember!
The worst and the most frequently made mistake during a brainstorming session is to end it without any kind of conclusion. In this final phase the teacher should intervene and help learners to be more critical towards their ideas and to agree on a summary.
Non verbal communication plays an important role in group work. You can increase their sensitivity to gestures and facial expressions by bringing into the classroom photographs representing different emotions and discussing these with them. Ask them questions such as:
➜ Review, summarise and select
Tell your students that summarising involves three steps: • eliminating duplications. • summarising two or more very similar ideas into one. • removing all ideas the group feels are no longer appropriate.
The teacher’s role in brainstorming As teachers, we take the lead: ask questions, monitor, field questions and keep the ‘what if’ spirit thriving. Give a gentle, encouraging push whenever you see that your students are not looking beyond the obvious answers. Show your enthusiasm for their creative solutions even when you know that these will not work. The best way for your students to learn is to learn from their own mistakes.
• How does this person express himself? • Do you think this is correct? • Would you like to work with this person? • What would be a better reaction? • Do you think that this person is listening? • Can you mime active listening? • How do you show that you don’t like the idea?
Suggested activity If you have never used this technique before, involve learners in the creation of the brainstorming rules from the very beginning! For example, the topic of the first session could be “Think of the rules which help us brainstorm successfully!” You can use the photocopiable sheet on the next page. First, tell your students to brainstorm on the rules using the words above and then to make up the sentences.
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This is how we come up with a lot of great ideas!
Listen
Creative Together
Everybody
Write down Accept
Ideas
Stronger Different opinions
Tolerant
Competition Talking
© EDELVIVES Photocopiable sheet
Our brainstorming rules
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