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You have arrived at
one of our most ambitious and exciting projects to date!
Whether you want
to introduce a new topic or review one already studied, these
ready-to-use brainstorms should be just what you need. They're also useful for those times when you have to teach a
class without notice or to give to someone who will be covering
your class!
They are all in pdf format for easy printing.
However, once your pupils have, for example, completed
"Minhagim" in pairs, you can then complete
"Minhagim" collaboratively with the class, pooling all of
their ideas, by writing around the image of that brainstorm on
an interactive whiteboard.
Another idea you might try is to have a number of groups
completing different but related brainstorms and then come
together to see how the different topics interrelate.
Also, instead of pupils simply writing text around the page they
can draw pictures, diagrams or symbols, write references to
pesukim, or write short extracts eg from Pirkei Avot, etc., etc.
Ten lines are provided on each blank brainstorm, but additional
branches and layers can, of course, be added once the adrenalin
of inspiration begins to flow!
Using brainstorms (otherwise known as mind maps, idea showers,
etc.) stimulates pupils' thinking and provides them with a
facility not only for recording but also for organising and
interrelating different aspects of knowledge they already
possess. It is a way to literally 'get the best out of our
pupils'. Moreover, once pupils have engaged in an exercise
of this kind,
a) they are ready and keen and to build on what they
know, and
b) the teacher is well equipped to take the learning on
from an appropriate point...
- constructivism at its best!
Finally, you may well wonder why I have gone to the
trouble of making this rather large collection of, frankly, empty
documents. The idea occurred to me after a colleague asked me for
help in producing something similar using a drawing application. I
realised that many people may be pleased to have access to a
comprehensive bank of pages such as these, either because they do not
have the I.T. skills to make their own or simply because of the time it
will save them.
Even ten minutes saved in a busy teaching day is a priceless gift.
Even if each of these is used only once or twice many hours of teacher
time will have been saved, making the 'trouble' of making this resource very
worthwhile indeed!
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The
Encyclopaedia of Torah and Middot Brainstorms
