Organizing Your Thoughts

[jdspc]

Greetings

Sometimes, around the end of a 7 day period, I become inundated with several different projects, all self-induced.
There comes a moment at which I can either scream or organize. Many times both.
These are tips that have helped me over the years that we keep on a BB at the school.


*With a pencil with an eraser and a big piece of unlined paper, write the project title, a short phrase or a symbol of your main idea in the center of the page. Then draw a circle around it.

*Add other important concepts around the outside of the circle. Write quickly without pausing, judging or editing yourself. Use strong words instead of long explanations.

*Think about the relationship of the outer items to the center one. Relocate relevant items closer to each other for more accurate or realistic representation of their interconnections.

*Draw lines radiating out from the center circle and label them with the major subheadings.

*Incorporate new ideas into the map appropriately. As you look for meaningful relationships between the ideas, you are mapping knowledge in a manner that will help you understand and recall new information.

*Get creative: Combine concepts to expand your map, add more detail and explore tangents. For many people, symbols and pictures that represent ideas are easier to identify and remember than words.

If you are somewhat dyslexic, like me, this is very helpful as it relies on images and colors, and not words.
J