“Any of us will put out more and better ideas if our efforts are appreciated.” – Alex Osborn. The Father of Brainstorming is 100% correct. I see it everyday in my classroom when my students participate in brainstorming activities. Brainstorming in a world language classroom allows students to ease their fear and nervousness and participate in a low-pressure environment. I highly recommend using brainstorming at least once during every lesson… you will see your students gain confidence, participate more, and even think more creatively!
What are some ways to brainstorm in the world language classroom?
- Cloud Brainstorming: When starting a new unit or even a new lesson, often times I will write the main topic on the board. For example, in a food unit, just write “la comida,” in an environment unit, write “el medio ambiente.” Then give students a few minutes to work in pairs or small groups to come up with as many ideas related to this as possible. Invite students to write their ideas on the board. (another way to get those students who rarely participate to actually volunteer!)
- Gallery Walk: Prior to a writing assignment or class discussion, gallery walks can really get their ideas flowing. Most teachers probably use big chart paper, but I recently found large white boards at Home Depot for $10 each! You can write different topics, questions, or themes on each board. Then, have students work in small groups to rotate from board to board. Each time they have to add new ideas that were not previously there. This is where the true “out of the box” creative thinking really comes into play. When every group has been to each station, have them go back to their original board. They should read all the responses and choose their favorite three to share out with the class.
- Question Words: Forming questions is sometimes difficult for our world language students. Using the same idea as the Gallery Walk (with the large white boards) put a question word on each board (qué, quién, cómo, dónde, etc.) Students can work in small groups to brainstorm one question for each word about the topic. In my class, we were in the AP theme: Public/Personal Identities. They were learning about Hispanic heroes, and right before a Socratic Seminar, they practiced forming questions to learn more about each other’s heroes. Some examples: ¿De dónde es tu héroe? ¿Quién influyó sus acciones? ¿Cómo era tu héroe cuando era niño? By forming questions, they are doing higher-order thinking, which is really what we want to see our students achieve.
The pictures here show my students brainstorming the 5 different aspects of our “identity” on the $10 white boards from Home Depot.
Benefits of Brainstorming
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It really encourages all to participate when it is done in a small group, low pressure setting where ideas are not criticized or rejected. Even those super shy kids will feel like they can add their ideas. As the teacher, walk around, listen to those shy students. Tell them how great their idea is and that they should share it with the whole class.
- Ideas can be at the word or sentence level – so all can participate, no matter their proficiency level.
- Students can piggy-back on other ideas, really adding new, creative ideas to the topic.
- A benefit for you, the teacher! It can be one of the easiest, quickest ways to get a pre-assessment of your class’ knowledge, especially prior to a new unit.
These ideas can be as quick as 5 minute intros or even last for an entire lesson. Either way, it is important for our students to brainstorm everyday, because as Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling said, “The best way to have a good idea, is to have many ideas.”
