Are you looking for a new idea to start off the New Year? Why not try Free Form Mapping? It is a simple idea to implement but yields high results for your students.
In this activity, students review concepts by creating a free form map on a certain topic. The end result is not nearly as important as the thinking process involved in discussing content and deciding upon how to organize it.
Best Practices Include
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Engagement
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affiliation, affirmation, clear product standards, novelty and choice
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High-Yield Strategies
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summarizing & note taking, nonlinguistic representation, learning groups, advanced organizers
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Bloom’s
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Knowledge, Comprehension & Synthesis
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Directions
1. Discuss the topic your group is assigned. Create a group summary. Write the topic and the group summary in the center of your butcher paper.
2. Discuss how you will represent the main ideas of your topic through symbols, pictures, phrases or quotes.
3. Create your Free Form Map using all of the ideas you have generated.
4. You must fill your entire paper with images & phrases.
5. Conduct a Gallery Walk with your students. Allow them to view the different Free Form Maps and provide feedback on post it notes. You can even conclude the lesson with a “Best of … Contest” – Best use of symbols, Best use of Space, etc.
