Teaching Writing and Reading Skill Through Mind map

7/28/2019 Teaching Writing and Reading Skill Through Mind map

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Teaching Writing and Reading Skill Through

Mind Mapping

A. DESCRIPTION

Basically, a Mind Map is a diagram which you create yourself as a way to organize ideas. In

conventional note-taking, you write down information line by line or perhaps column by column.

Mind Mapping differs from such note-taking in that you present the information more in theform or a diagram, starting with a central key idea drawn in the center of the paper. Other ideas

which are somehow related to the central key idea are arranged radically around it, with lines

branching out from the central key idea to these subtopics to show that they are related to one

another. Details related to each sub-topic can be shown to be connected to it through more lines.A mind map, or spidergram, is a strategy for making notes on a topic, prior to writing. It is a

structured strategy, which shows the (hierarchical) relationship of ideas, as opposed to anunstructured strategy, such as brainstorming, in which students produce notes at random on

paper.

Having an organized display of information from the outset of the writing process may helpsome students, as it is more easily converted into a draft, whereas in brainstorming, the randomrecording of ideas might lead to problems with the structure of students texts.

B. STEPS

1. Reading skill

You start off by browsing through the reading material for around 10 minutes. This allows you to

get an idea as to how the ideas are organized, if the reading material is a book, find out whether it

employs summaries before each chapter, or graphics, descriptive headings, or lists to make theinformation easier to absorb. Next step (which should take around 5 minutes) is to apportion the

time you will use to read each portion of the reading material. Having browsed through the book,

do a fast mind map (around two minutes) of what you understood. This allows you to keep the

knowledge in context. The third step is to create a new mind mapthis one will be about whatquestions you may have about the content, as well as your goals for reading in the first place.

(Dont take more than 10 minutes for this one.) This gives you an idea of when you have read

enough of the material and should stop. Take note that at this point you have used around 30minutes preparing to read the material. You might want to rest or stretch for 10 minutes more

before proceeding.


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Another thing you should observe is that you dont need to follow the rest of these steps for

every kind of reading materialwe will indicate where each step is applicable. Now, the step

known as Overview can be used for any kind of book because you will be looking for the majorconcepts of the book. Check out any tables, lists, bold-face material, graphics, pictures, and

headlines which help you to find that out. You will observe again that this step alone will allow

you to draw a central key idea, as well as the first level of sub-topic tree branches, for yourthird mind map. In fact, you might see that this is all that you really need and may want to stophere. If not, proceed to the next step which is called Preview. Here you will be required to

practice selective readingnamely, which parts of the book are not clear to you after doing the

Overview? You do Preview by perusing the first sentence of every paragraph as well as chaptersummaries. This step allows you to spend time looking for information that is crucial to helping

you understand the reading material. Then get your third mind map and add more tree branches

of information to it.. This step requires you to simply read through the difficult parts which are

stepping stones to your reading goals.

The very last step is mandatory if the reading material is very important to remember. You are

required to draw a mind map of the same material after one week, another mind map after amonth, and a last mind map after a year. It is further recommended that you share the

information you learned with other peoplethis may even mean displaying your most recent

mind map to themso that you will reinforce the learning process.

2. Writing skill

Traditionally, students are given a topic to write on by the teacher. However, with certainclasses, students may prefer to nominate the topic themselves. This can lead to greater interest in

the task on the part of the student, as well as, perhaps, greater knowledge of the topic under

study.

The mind map strategy can be used to explore almost any topic, though discursive essays and

narrative work particularly well as they front students ideas and lend themselves to discussingideas in groups. I usually start by writing the topic on the board. In the last writing class I taught,

with a group of upper-intermediate students, I chose a discursive essay with the title Why dopeople start smoking?I chose this genre as we had recently been looking at the language used

to give reasons and explanations. The discursive text is useful in highlighting this feature ofEnglish, and in raising awareness of the noun phrase, a particularly tricky area for intermediate

students.

Once the topic has been introduced, I encourage my students to close their eyes and think about

it for a minute or two, in silence. They then have two minutes in which to note down their ideas.

If they do not know a word in English, they can write it in L1 at this stage, as dictionaries or toomuch teacher intervention tend to halt and inhibit the creative flow.


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Then, working in groups, they can compare and discuss their ideas, perhaps adding to their mind

maps as they go. This stage also provides the opportunity for peer teaching, as other students

may be available to provide the English word for the idea that was noted down in L1.The next stage, in which the teacher makes a collective mind map on the board, is optional, but is

useful for students who are new to the idea of mind maps, or for weak classes. It is also in this

feedback stage that any remaining language problems can be ironed out. As the teacher elicitsstudents ideas, and reformulates expressions or corrects, students will learn how to express theirideas in English. Such personalization is said to aid vocabulary learning.

The map is fluid and changeable, and new connections or subgroups can be made, or branches

added, as the students make suggestions. The end result should be an organized display of

information, showing the central topic, and a number of subtopics and further points that stem

from it.

In the next stage the students organize their mind maps into a linear format to decide the best

way in which to present their points. They should first think about the overall structure, i.e. the

order in which to relay the information, and then focus on the precise function each paragraphwill have in their final text, as this helps to clarify their writing. This can be done in groups, or as

a class with the teacher leading the discussion.

However it is carried out, it is important to provide a context and audience. I told my class, who

were writing about drugs, that they were writing for their college magazine. Having an audiencein mind helps students to decide which ideas are most important, and also helps students to

choose the appropriate style.

Students should then begin to write their compositions, working in pairs if they wish. After two

paragraphs, they should exchange their compositions, so they become readers of each otherswork. This allows for feedback, and possible re-writing. Once they have finished, they should

again exchange their texts. This gives their texts a communicative purpose, as well as developingan awareness of the fact that a writer is always producing something to be read by someone else,rather than for the display of writing alone.

Once students are familiar with the idea of making mind maps, they can be encouraged to use

this skill for further writing activities. It is a useful technique and often improves the clarity andorganization of student texts.

C. THE STRENGHTS OF MIND MAPPING

Mind mapping helps one become more creative because it emphasizes brainstorming, free

association and radiant thinking. Your present level of comprehension of ideas is graphically

represented, which then translates to a higher level of understanding when extended to otherideas or sub-topics. The human mind does not function the way a computer


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Since every word you can think of can trigger a host of associations in your mind, creativity is

encouraged. One person may be able to generate one set of relationships between concepts using

one key central idea, while another person could produce another set of relationships betweenconcepts using the same key central idea. It is possible for just one word/term/concept/idea to be

related to many others. Mind maps help us look for different and creative ways that ideas are

related to one another within our minds. If you are persistent enough, you may be able to comeup with a unique combination of relationships of ideas that may translate into a new product orservice.

Making a mind map should be a spontaneous pre-writing activity. Students start with a topic at

the centre and then generate a web of ideas from that, developing and relating these ideas as their

mind makes associations.

Mind maps work well as their visual design enables students to see the relationship between

ideas, and encourages them to group certain ideas together as they proceed. Mind maps work

especially well when created in groups, since the discussion this engenders aids the production of

ideas, and makes the task livelier and more enjoyable.

D. THE WEAKNESS OF MIND MAPPING

Mind mapping can have its drawbacks. As the above studies show, its not easy to change your

ways of doing things, and changing form the linear system that we have been taught to use sincechildhood to a very different way of writing down notes requires a great effort that a lot of

people are not ready to make.

In addition, when you approach a new subject, you may not have a clear enough grasp of it to be

able to organize your thoughts about it from the start. To make a good mind map, you need tochoose your main subject and the subsidiary ideas around it, and the appropriate keywords. If

youre not ready to do that, then linear note-taking might be more appropriate. Theres no reason

you cant transform them to a mind map later on.

With mind maps, everything is supposed to be contained on a single page, but you dont

necessarily know where a subject is going to take you and how much space should be allotted toa particular sub-group. It can be irritating when you want to add something to a category and

there isnt enough space in that part of the page.


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E. CONCLUSION

Mind mapping is an exciting tool that can be helpful to everyone, no matter what their situation.

Even though it does take a while to become comfortable using it, you will find that it is wellworth the effort, because it can become a great time-saver in the long run. Its many advantages

and uses are not limited to what you have discovered in this ebookeach person, using their

creativity and imagination, can come up with new and interesting ways to apply it.

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Teaching Writing and Reading Skill Through Mind map