Teachers' Tip Sheet

Get the most out of brainstorming

Brainstorming with your students or colleagues is an effective way to produce new ideas, find solutions to problems or develop new lessons. Following are tips to help you make the most of brainstorming sessions.

• Encourage everyone to share ideas. Reinforce that there are no bad ideas; let participants know that wild and exaggerated ideas can be shaped into something more workable (often those responses trigger new ideas or reactions).
• Be positive. If someone yells out an inappropriate response, reword or rephrase the idea in a more positive manner.
• Do not discourage ideas. If you think an idea has a downside or will not work, hold your tongue and write down the idea. Let the group come up with an idea of how to deal with it. Brainstorming is intended to create new ideas—the evaluation comes later.
• Keep ideas short and succinct. Instruct participants to provide a quick sketch of their ideas. The details can be clarified later.
• Be enthusiastic. Your body language or facial expressions could tip off participants that you don’t like their ideas.
• Rely on personal experiences. Personal experience will get participants’ attention and capture their imagination, thus resulting in more ideas.
• Think fast. Reflect later.
• Have an end plan. Will participants organize ideas into groups? Will participants try to reach a consensus on which ideas will or won’t work?
• Let the ideas bear fruit. If nothing concrete comes from the brainstorming session, it will be seen by participants as a waste of time. Ensure that all ideas are at least considered.

Do you have suggestions for Teachers’ Tip Sheet? Contact Christine Cumming at Barnett House in Edmonton ( ccumming@teachers.ab.ca ).