In response to the podcast "Trouble with the Editor".
MIND MAPPING
Each school year, I would often start the first day with the example of "this is the size of your brain" and used the visual of my two fists held up together! All my eager-faced students would willingly hold up both of their fists and exam them near. Some faces would show excitement; others would exclaim how big or small this relates to their brain's size, and a few would look and quietly tuck away this tidbit of knowledge and visual example. But all my students were accepting of how each had a brain and the wonders that it held.
In teaching Art for over 25 years, I felt it necessary to decipher the brain on the right and left sides. For school purposes, I find it essential and useful to teach this method to use the whole brain to learn and comprehend knowledge by adding visual, color, and creativeness to the black & white facts and organization of a subject. As I have moved from Art to teaching English, this method is still very effective and necessary.
Mind Mapping is a method that I choose to use daily in my personal and professional life. Mind mapping incorporates the whole brain using both the right "artsy-fartsy" brain side and the intellectual, analytical left brain side. Reading is purposeful and requires active involvement on behalf of the readers, mind mapping aids in reading comprehension. Using the whole brain becomes essential to master the skills involved in reading and name comprehension, coping with complicated texts, which are crucial parts of teaching students English. Tony Buzan first introduced mind maps that are a graphic and visual presentation of materials in the late 19th century.
I have had great success combining my Art and English skills in teaching mind maps to my students. In writing, I am also learning to apply the whole-brain concept in my writing process. Writing with the figurative and sensual language will paint a vision in my reader's head. English and Art combined work beautifully together. To unblock "trouble with the editor," I must use the whole brain concept - I will provide visual the picture, scene, or story and then write! I will engage the right side - the "Creator" of my brain and then allow the left side - the "Editor" to take over and perfect the Creator's work. Mind mapping allows the Creator to spill out all brainstorming ideas and information in a creative manner. After that process has occurred and a collective clump begins, the Editor process can complete the project. Mind mapping has proved to be a successful strategy for me to produce writings and eliminate the negativity or trouble that the Editor can bring!
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