Welcome to

Thinking
Maps®
Training of
Trainers
 TODAY’S AGENDA

What are Thinking Maps & why do they work?

What is the purpose of each map?

How do I teach the maps to my students?

How do I use the maps to help students develop literacy

skills?

What resources and support will I get throughout the year?

 Page iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION Theory and Thinking Maps Introduced

Chapter 2: TEACHING Sample Lesson Plans & Black Line Masters

Chapter 3: LITERACY LINKS Academic Vocabulary, Reading, Writing

Chapter 4: CONTENT Literary Analysis, Mathematics, Science,

CONNECTIONS
Social Studies

Chapter 5: INSTRUCTIONAL Curriculum and Lesson Planning,

STRATEGIES Cooperative Learning, Differentiation

Chapter 6: ASSESSMENT Student Assessment and Self-

Assessment Quizzes
Making Connections:

Thinking Maps
and

The
Characteristics of a
Great Classroom
 Page 2

What are
Thinking
Maps and
how are they
different from
Graphic
Organizers?

Use a Circle
Map to define
Thinking
Maps.
 Page 3
80% of all information that
comes into our brain is
VISUAL

40% of all nerve fibers

connected to the brain are
linked to the retina

36,000 visual messages per

-Eric Jensen,
Brain Based hour may be registered by the
Learning
eyes.
 Page 3

“We believe that probably the best

strategies for teaching text
structures are visual/spatial
strategies.”
p. 31
6

Peregoy and Boyle.

Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL
 RESEARCH CONNECTIONS

Nine Essential Practices

That Are Supported by
Educational Research
 Nine Instructional Strategies

•Comparing and
Contrasting
•Classifying
•Seeing Analogies

ES =
 Page 3

DUAL CODING THEORY

Knowledge is stored in two forms:

Linguistic Form Nonlinguistic Form

Research proves that the more we use

both systems of representation,
the better we are able to
think and recall knowledge.
SCAFFOLDING
 BRAIN RESEARCH
CONNECTION

“It has been shown that

explicitly engaging students in the
creation of nonlinguistic
representations
stimulates and increases activity in the
brain.” (see Gerlic & Jausovec, 1999)
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
 Page 7

The Thinking Maps give

students a concrete visual
pattern for an abstract
cognitive skill.
From Page 7

A Framework for Understanding Poverty

Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D.
Chapter Eight: Instruction and Improving Achievement

“The true discrimination that comes out of

poverty is the lack of cognitive strategies.
The lack of these unseen attributes
handicaps, in every aspect of life, the
individual who does not have them.”
 Page 8
BRAIN COMPATIBLE TEACHING

“The overwhelming need for learners is for

meaningfulness… we do not come to understand a
subject or master a skill by sticking bits of information
to each other.
Understanding a subject results from perceiving
relationships. The brain is designed as a pattern
detector.
Our function as educators is to provide our students
with the sorts of experiences that enable them to
perceive patterns that connect.”
Making Connections: Teaching and the Human Brain (1994), Caine & Caine
“Thinking Maps
store
information the
way the brain
does.”
Pat Wolfe
July 2005
Directions for the Neuron Bump
 Page 8

Dendrites

Cell Body
Axon

Synapse
NEURONS THAT FIRE TOGETHER
GET WIRED TOGETHER.
THAT IS WHAT A PATTERN IS!
Page 10
Thought process: Sequencing Page 10

When do you use sequencing in:

LANGUAGE ARTS / ENGLISH

WRITING?

SCIENCE?
MATH?
SOCIAL STUDIES / HISTORY?
THE ARTS?

In every instance, you could use a

FLOW MAP
 ATHEN’S
GOVERNMENT
 Lang Arts / English 1:
Summarize key events
WHICH MAP
WOULD YOU
US History:
Trace the economic, social and
USE?
political events from the Mexican
War to the outbreak of the Civil War

The Flow Map

Civics and Economics:
Describe how the US Constitution
can be changed

Biology:
Analyze the historical development
of classification systems
 Lang Arts / English 1:
Demonstrate comprehension of WHICH MAP
main idea and supporting details WOULD YOU
USE?
US History:
Assess political events, issues,
and personalities that contributed
to sectionalism and nationalism

Civics and Economics:

Examine taxation and other
revenue sources at the national
level of government

Biology:
Classify organisms using keys
 7th Grade EOG

CAUSE AND
8th Grade Science EOG
EFFECT
EOC Eng I EOC Civics
and Econ
CAUSE AND
EFFECT

EOC US Hist
EOC Biology
Page 11
 Page 11

4TH Grade
Special
Education
Class
Middle
School
Social
Studies
 Page 11

High
School
English
Page 12
 What Is the Organizational Pattern?

Connections Across Continents

After Europeans explored parts of Asia and Africa,
they look westward across the Atlantic Ocean. No maps
existed to help sailors cross it.
First, Spain sent ships across the Atlantic. Christopher
Columbus sailed in 1492. When he reached land, he thought
he had reached the Indies in Asia. The people he met became
known as Indians.
After Columbus’s first voyage, Spain sent more
explorers, soldiers, priests, and settlers. The Spanish
conquered the Aztecs in 1521 and the Incas in 1533. By 1535,
Spain had established the colony of the New Spain in the
Americas.
 What Is the Organizational Pattern?

In 1620, a new group of English settlers landed at

Plymouth. The Pilgrims wanted religious freedom. In 1630, a
larger group of English settlers, the Puritans, arrived. They,
too, wanted to practice their own religion. They founded the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. Eventually there were 13 English
colonies along the eastern coast of North America.

Apply it!

1. Which European country was the first to establish colonies in

the Americas?
2. Who arrived first, the Puritans or the Pilgrims?
3. In what order were the colonies of New Amsterdam, New Spain,
and New France established?
 .Describe the characteristics C
Chapter 16 Bacteria of bacteria.
.Name and describe the O
structures of the bacterial cell.
.Explain how bacteria are D
classified.
.Distinguish between
heterotrophic and autotrophic E
bacteria.
.Describe the various types of
bacterial respiration.

Bacteria are everywhere. They are found in air,

.Discuss the role of bacteria W
water, soil, your food, and in the bodies of all living in nature.
things. They can live in places where no other living
thing survives. They have been found in the icy
regions of the Arctic and Antarctic, and in the near-
.List several ways to limit O
boiling waters of hot springs. They live on bacterial growth.
mountaintops and ocean bottoms. A drop of pond
water may contain over 50 million bacteria.
.Describe the ways in which R
bacteria may gain new genes.
.Discuss the steps involved in D
genetic engineering.

S
 The Seven Stages of Man
Motivation/Prior Knowledge
Ask students to summarize the main stages they have passed
through in their own lives so far. Tell them that Shakespeare
describes the stages of human life in this poem.

Master Teacher Note: You might want to tell students that

Shakespeare frequently compared life to acting. In this
speech, however, he extends the comparison for many lines.

Purpose-Setting Question: How accurate is the description of

each stage of life?

.Discussion: How can one person play many parts?

.Reading Strategy: Ask students to predict what the stages
will be.
What Are the Code Words?
 Page 13
SET

TEACHER / STUDENT INPUT Page 14

 Page 14
PROCESSING
 Page 15
EXTENSION
 Page 15
CLOSURE
So how are Thinking Maps different from graphic organizers?

Page 16
 Page 17
Processing Activity

1. Put away your notes. Then work with your group

to define Thinking Maps.
2. Use a Circle Map to collect your ideas.
3. Include any notes that you remember about
what they are and why they work as tools for
thinking.
4. Also include information about how Thinking
Maps are different from graphic organizers.
Hearing Words Seeing Words

Speaking Words Generating Words

Better learning will come
not so much from finding
better ways for the
teacher to
INSTRUCT...

...but from giving the learner better ways to

CONSTRUCT MEANING.
Seymore Papert, 1990

THE MAPS SHOULD BECOME

STUDENT TOOLS FOR THINKING.
Calvin & Hobbes by: Bill Watterson
An Overview of all 8 Thinking Maps Page 18

The Circle Map

Defining in Context
An Overview of all 8 Thinking Maps Page 18

The Bubble Map

Describing
An Overview of all 8 Thinking Maps Page 18

The Double Bubble Map

Comparing and Contrasting

An Overview of all 8 Thinking Maps Page 18

The Tree Map

Classifying
An Overview of all 8 Thinking Maps Page 19

The Brace Map

Whole to Parts
An Overview of all 8 Thinking Maps Page 19

The Flow Map

Sequencing
An Overview of all 8 Thinking Maps Page 19

The Multi-Flow Map

Cause and Effect

 Page 19
An Overview of all 8 Thinking Maps

The Bridge Map

Seeing Analogies
An Overview of all 8 Thinking Maps Page 20

Adding a Frame
of Reference

•How do you know what you know about this topic?

•Did your information come from a specific source?
•Is this information being influenced by a specific point of view?
•Who could use this information?
•Why is this information important?
Adding a Frame of Reference Page 20
 Page 20
Adding a Frame of Reference
 Page 21
JIGSAW ACTIVITY
Create 2
2 1 1
“HOME”
3 3
Groups
Group B
Group A 4
4

5 3 5
6 4 6
2
5
Group C
1
6
 Page 23
INFORMATION FOR EACH
THINKING MAP
Thought Process Drawing

Guiding Key
Questions Information

Classroom Cautions
Ideas
 Page 24
DRAWING THE MAP
 Page 24-25
NOTE TAKING GUIDE

Identify the THOUGHT PROCESS

DEFINING IN CONTEXT

KEY WORDS
Context, List, Define, Tell everything you know,
Brainstorm, Identify, Relate prior knowledge, Explore
the meaning, Associate, Generate
 Circle Map for Defining
From Different Points of View
•One half of the room becomes “Eddie” (main character from Buried Onions)
•One half of the room becomes “Angel” (antagonist from Buried Onions,
he is an intimidating gang leader)

•Define peer pressure from your point of view (POV)

Angel’s Eddie’s
POV POV

Peer pressure Peer pressure

Essential Characteristics Nonessential Characteristics

Northerner
A person
seeking the
legal end Race
to slavery
in the US
Abolitionist

John Brown Harriet

Beecher
Harriet Tubman Stowe

Frederick Douglass

Examples
Illustration Word
Parts
one
desk

Synonyms
Context
clues
Definition (in own words) Characteristics

New
materials
are NOT
A change in formed
Same
size, shape, matter
or state of present
matter before and
Physical
Abolitionist
Change after
change

Breaking
Ice melting a glass

Cutting hair

Examples
 Page 66

DRAWING THE MAP

THE BRIDGE MAP

 Page 66-67
NOTE TAKING GUIDE

Identify the THOUGHT PROCESS

SEEING ANALOGIES

KEY WORDS
Identify the Relationship, Guess the Rule,
Symbolism, Metaphor, Allegory, Analogy, Simile
 Head AS Numerator
Body Fraction

Is the top part of...

Relating Factor: _________________
GORGE : NIBBLE

(a) Laugh : Guffaw

(b) Quaff : Sip AS
(c) Hurry : Amble
(d) Scrutinize : Examine
(e) Spend : Counterfeit Relating Factor? _________________

COLLAGE : ARTIST
(a) Opera : Musician
(b) Novel : Author
(c) Decision : Umpire AS
(d) Interest : Spectator
(e) Graduation : Student
Relating Factor? _________________
 Power Plant

mitochondria

Vocabulary Development
 Ms.
Castillo’s
lecture

Dispelling misconceptions about atomic structure

Relating
Factor

Creating the Bridge Map helps you what

meaning lies beneath.
 NOTE MAKING GUIDE Page 35

Draw the Bubble Map and label its parts.

Name the thought

process:

DESCRIBING
 You can fill a
shape with
color or
graphics- this
is an example
of an imported
picture of a
threatening
alley
Science
 NOTE MAKING GUIDE Page 41

Draw the Double Bubble Map and label its parts.

Name the thought process: COMPARING AND

CONTRASTING
 NOTE MAKING GUIDE Page 47
Draw the Tree Map and label its parts.

Name the thought process:

CLASSIFYING
A “Growing” Tree Map
TREE MAP
 NOTE MAKING GUIDE Page 53

Draw the Brace Map and label its parts.

WHOLE TO PART
Name the thought process:
RELATIONSHIPS
Egyptian Tomb
Add the
meaning of
each part in
parentheses.
Use the
meaning of
each part to
write the
definition of
the whole
word.
 NOTE MAKING GUIDE Page 59

Draw the Flow Map and label its parts.

Name the thought process: SEQUENCING

 How a Bill Becomes A Law
(The Short Version)

History Alive
LAUSD, CA
Middle School SS
 ATHEN’S
GOVERNMENT
 NOTE MAKING GUIDE Page 65

Draw the Multi-Flow Map and label its parts.

Name the thought process: CAUSE AND EFFECT

We watched a
video.
 NOTE MAKING GUIDE Page 73

For the FRAME OF REFERENCE

Notes:

The Frame of
Reference
can be used
around any
map.
 KEY
WORDS
FOR
THINKING
Page 77