Student Successes With Thinking MapsDavid Hyerle, Editor
with Sarah Curtis and Larry Alper coeditors
Chapter 3: Leveling the Playing Field for All Students
Bonnie Singer, Ph.D.
‘Those of us who are fortunate enough to work with children often find ourselves forever changed by relationships with one or two of them. My Life took a definite turn when I met David [student Bonnie has been working with]. He taught me that the mind of an eight year old is capable of much more than I had previously thought and that even children with severe learning disabilities can learn to play the game of school as well or better than their non-disabled classmates. Through David, I learned just how powerful the Thinking Maps can be, and I saw how profoundly they can change a life. The Thinking Maps not only got David back in the academic game, but they leveled the playing field so that he could emerge as a leader in his classroom.
As a speech-language pathologist in private practice, I have the luxury of being able to work with any student who struggles with language, literacy, and/or learning. In addition to David, I have had the opportunity to use the maps with countless other children who are not diagnosed with learning disabilities, but just have trouble learning, the so-called “underachievers”. Though each story is unique, similar themes emerge from the student and whole schools I have taught to use the Thinking Maps. As a result, David's story is worth telling, for it offers us insight into many children who struggle with school and inspires new hope for their futures.’
Read the complete chapter in the book Student Successes With Thinking Maps. Key sections from the chapter Leveling the Playing Field for All Students with excerpts above include:
- The Story of David
- Gaining Fluency
- What Can We Learn From David?
- Seeing Patterns for Organizationi
- Language for Learning: Supporting Oral Communication
- Organized Thinking, Coherent Speaking
- Closing the Gap for Underachievers
The video clips at the right are from sessions with Bonnie and David. Bonnie D. Singer, Ph.D. is president of Innovative Learning Partners, which provides language and learning intervention to school-age children in the Boston area and school consultation and teacher training nation-wide.
Bonnie D. Singer, Ph.D. is president of Innovative Learning Partners, which provides language 
and learning intervention to school-age children in the Boston area and school consultation and teacher training nation-wide. She is also codeveloper of the EmPOWER strategy for teaching expository writing. Her research interests lie in the relationship between cognition, language, and learning.
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