Personal Experience
Being a teacher was not my dream nor one of my dreams when I was young. It did not occur to me that one day I would have the noblest profession in the society. When I was still deciding what to pursue in college, my mother was hoping that I would choose education as my college course. She did not interfere, so I decided to follow what I desired that time. She did not ask for any explanation, but I still gave her my side. I told her that being an educator is not included in my options. I decided take-up mass communication, hoping that I could work in the media industry one day. After numerous challenges, changes, situations, and stipulations, I am here now enjoying my job as a public school teacher. Being …show more content…
Everything is welcome, for as long as it would help me achieve my goals; and so the Thinking Maps came. I was not aware of the existence of Thinking Maps before, until they were introduced to us. At first I thought that they were just some ordinary maps, and they were just the same with the graphic organizers that I knew before. So one faithful Monday afternoon, I decided to use one of them, and I chose the Circle Map. Basically, a Circle Map is used to define a thing or an idea. It helps the user in providing a context for a selected topic. I used the map twice; first as part of the motivation phase, and then as part of the main lesson. Instead of reviewing a finished lesson in a typical way of asking questions about them, I drew a circle map on the board, and I let my students write concepts and ideas that they know about our previous topic that time, which was Verb. I gave them a brief introduction about the Circle Map and what to do with it, afterwards, they were all done in providing their concepts of Verbs. It was fulfilling on my part as a teacher, knowing that by using the …show more content…
In one of my research findings, David Hyerle (2011) mentioned that when students produce Thinking Maps, conversations among the them and their Maps occur, which is where the real learning takes place. Students are able to “illustrate” and explain their thought processes through Maps, while other students listen, ask questions, agree and/or disagree. He also stated that using the eight Thinking Maps promote metacognition and continuous cognitive development for students across their academic careers, as well as adds an artistic and kinesthetic component for students who learn effectively with that specific multiple