Target Audience: Teachers, Instructional Coaches, Administrators

Thinking Maps is a set of 8 visual patterns that correlate to specific cognitive processes. Based on the building blocks of brain-based learning, they are used across all grades and content areas to build critical thinking, problem-solving, comprehension, and communication skills necessary for academic success in every domain. Participants who register for this training will sign up for a three-day cohort during the 2025-2026 school year. Day 1 will introduce participants to the basics of the implementation of Thinking Maps. Days 2 and 3 are designed to help teachers move beyond the basics by building on their base of knowledge by utilizing Thinking Maps in their classrooms. Participants in this cohort will receive a FREE, physical copy of Thinking Maps: A Language for Learning, 2nd Ed. Teacher’s Guide. 

Day 1 Overview (9/11/2025):

• Examination of building blocks of brain-based learning
• Introduction to the Defining Characteristics of Thinking Maps 
• Learning the Thinking Maps: 8 Visual Patterns for Critical Thinking
• Strategies for developing independent learners: teaching the maps to students

Day 2 Overview (11/10/2025):

• Use color to rehearse, enhance, and add rigor to content knowledge
• The metacognitive importance of the Frame of Reference for rigorous and reflective thinking
• How to use multiple maps and help students build maps in cooperative teams
• Strategies to help students communicate ideas and take information off the map

Day 3 Overview (1/27/2026):

• Vocabulary development strategies
• Strategies to help students communicate ideas and take information off the map
• Writing short, constructed responses off the map
• Identifying text structures for note-taking

$375 fee for CKEC members

$500 for non-CKEC members

District Bundle Option: Every fifth registration from a district is free.

For more information, contact Erin McIver (erin.mciver@ckec.org)