Reading for Intermediate and Advanced Learners, Spring, 2011

The Circle Map is a part of the 8 Thinking Maps that are used throughout North Carolina. I have recently been trained in using both thinking maps for reading comprehension and just like week I was trained in using Thinking Maps in math. My favorite of the thinking maps would be the circle map because it is a way for students to be involved in class discussion and students have no choice but to be actively engaged. I have used the Circle Map in many units that I have taught to assess prior knowledge or just simply to get the kids thinking about what they are about to learn. In the Rikki-Tikki-Tavi unit that I recently did in my Resource Language Arts class, we did a circle on the word "dance". In the short story, dance is used in a different way than how most middle school students think of. I chose this word because I knew that all of the students had something to say about the word dance and what it means to them. So I wrote the word dance in the center of the circle map and then in the larger circle we had a class discussion on what they already know about this word. The best part about thinking maps is that they have a frames of reference where students can tell how they have learned about this particular topic or subject. I then showed a poem of how a mongoose and snake "dance" around each other before reading the short story to show the students that the term "dance" will be used differently in this unit than what they already know.