Brainstorming Techniques

I have news for teachers. Not every student is comfortable with brainstorming sessions. I know this because I hated brainstorming when I was young. It made me really uncomfortable.

Brainstorming is a way to generate ideas for a project or a paper. The point is to empty your brain and pour the results onto a sheet of paper without worrying about being organized or really making any sense. For some reason, this drove me a little crazy!

Now that I'm sort of grown up and I'm not really afraid of teachers anymore, I can understand what it was about brainstorming that made me a little nuts. I wasn't comfortable with the chaos. Although I'm a pretty right-brained person, some element of my left brain took over when it came to brainstorming and demanded more organization and order. I just couldn't deal with the messy outcome of traditional brainstorming.

Fortunately, as a grownup I've also discovered that there are a few ways to brainstorm. You can try the mind-dumping type where you use lots of space, lines, circles and squares. This probably works best for right-brained students. Or, if you need a little more order, you can try the bullet method. Each method will get the same results. Try both to see what works for you.

Are you a left brain or a right brain? Try the quiz!