Web Page: Serial Questioner and Umble Pie
Web Page: How to Freewrite
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Asking Thought Questions
To establish what you think about any topic, you can create a mind map or cluster. Write a question in the center, and cluster ideas around it, building connections.
Mind Map
Your Turn Create your own mind map about a topic or project idea. Ask a question in the central oval, and write as many thoughts as you can to connect to it.
Freewriting
Freewriting is another brainstorming exercise. Start with a thoughtful question. Then write nonstop for 5 to 10 minutes, letting your answers and ideas flow. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling. Just keep writing. Here is an example:
What do I know about the women’s suffrage movement in the U.S.? Well, I know Elizabeth Stanton led a group of women at the Seneca Falls Convention to discuss women’s roles in society and then outlined what needed to change. Women were fed up with their lack of voting rights and other inequalities. Part of it had to do with a backlash against the Victorian Era, when women were cast as homemakers. I would have been upset, too. I’m sure women of that time felt powerless and resentful toward a country that preached equality and justice for all but only afforded rights to white males, which leads me to think about the abolitionist movement that was going on at the same time. It must have been one of the more combustible times in American history, especially with the onset of World War I and the Great Depression right around the corner.
Your Turn Now write about another topic for five minutes without stopping. Let your mind wander through your ideas, but don’t worry about getting everything “right.”