What is a cluster in German lessons?

Cluster is a brainstorming process

• The word "cluster" comes from English and can best be translated as "heap". This already contains the basic idea.
• The cluster was developed by educator Gabriele Rico as a method to elicit more creativity from students in German lessons.
• She went back to the idea of ​​Sigmund Freud, which is about free association.
• The method requires that you write down your thoughts on the given topic as spontaneously as possible.
• The most important basic rule here is that you really write down every thought - therefore free association - that comes to mind, and that in a disordered and uncensored manner.


Write a statement for the German class

You can learn to write a statement in German lessons, but not everyone ...

• An unstructured "cluster of thoughts" is created. This distinguishes the cluster from the mind map, which is about a constructed network of thoughts.
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Use in German lessons

• With the method of clustering, Rico wanted to help her and future students to free their thoughts from rigid patterns.
• Most creativity blocks arise when one gets too stuck on a thought or a line of thought. Clustering resolves this pattern.
• For use in German lessons you only need a sheet or the blackboard. The central topic to think about is written in the middle.
• The word is framed with a circle and then, without order, strokes are attached to it.
• At the end of these rays those words are written down that occur to the student during the spontaneous association.
• If someone can think of an association that does not belong directly to the central word, but to one of the Rays standing words, simply put a circle around this word and add new rays to it joined.
• Only at the end, when there are no new ideas, is the cluster ended and the result viewed. As a rule, an idea is then already central in the head of the student and is implemented during the writing process.