LESSON 1.3
Put “A” Ideas in Order
Grades 7 - Adult
Memorization
Brainstorm _______ not ________
_________the ideas
Prioritize the A ideas
Prioritizing Graded Ideas
You have several “A” ideas. But which is the best? They can’t all be equally useful. How do you decide which one to use?
The answer: Use a Decision Table.
Task 1.3.1 – Small Group
You choose evaluation questions, called criteria, such as this:
- Who is the best dancer?
- Who is the peppiest?
- Who has the best grades
- Who is the friendliest
- Who is the best at gymnastics?
Construct a chart:
Name | Best dancer | Peppiest | Highest grades | Friendliest | Best gymnastics | Total |
Abbie |
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Betty |
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Carla |
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Darla |
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Emy |
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There are five cheerleaders, so the columns will be scored 1-5, 5 being best.
Score from each end of the scale rather than in order. This will help eliminate arguing. For instance:
Who is the best dancer?
Who is the weakest dancer?
Name | Best dancer | Peppiest | Highest grades | Friendliest | Best gymnastics | Total |
Abbie |
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Betty |
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Carla |
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Darla | 1 |
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Emy | 5 |
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Who is the second best dancer? The second weakest?
Name | Best dancer | Peppiest | Highest grades | Friendliest | Best gymnastics | Total |
Abbie | 4 |
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Betty | 3 |
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Carla |
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Darla | 1 |
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Emy | 5 |
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Continue the back-and-forth until you fill in all the cells. (In this case, there is only one empty cell.)
Name | Best dancer | Peppiest | Highest grades | Friendliest | Best gymnastics | Total |
Abbie | 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 18 |
Betty | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 17 |
Carla | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
Darla | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 14 |
Emy | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 16 |
Total the number. Abbie wins the award.
In case of a tie, there would be “co-captains.” In other types of decisions, you can flip a coin where there is a tie.
Task 1.3.2 – Small Group
Take one of your A ideas from Task 1.2.2 and construct a Decision Chart.
Construct a Decision Chart:
- Go to Home in Word.
- Select Insert.
- Select Insert Table
- Select the number of rows + 1. The one is for the headings.
- Select the number of criteria + 2. One of the two will be for the ideas. The other will be for totaling the scores.
Selecting Criteria
The criteria for making your decision will differ for each situation. Regardless of which ones you choose, they all must follow two “rules”:
- Each must have an st (known as a superlative). For example:
Which helps the most people?
Which is the least dangerous?
Which is the least expensive?
Which is the most humane?
Which will result in the greatest (family/community/school, etc.) unity?
And so on…
- Each must be positive, not negative.
Which will be the least expensive? Not: Which will be the most expensive?
Idea | Helps most people | Least dangerous? | Least expensive? | Most humane? | Greatest unity? | Total |
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Task 1.3.3 – Small Group
Your dog will not stay in your yard. You worry he might bite someone. Your job: Find the best way to keep him in the yard. Remember: There are no silly ideas.
- Brainstorm for quantity not quality
- Grade the ideas
- Construct a Decision Table . Select five of the following to evaluate your A ideas.
a. Which idea is the least expensive?
b. Which idea is the fastest to implement?
c. Which idea is the most humane? Multiply this idea x 2.
4. Add up the numbers in each row. Select the best idea. In case of a tie, flip a coin.
Reinforcement
Brainstorm _________ not ___________
_______ the ideas
_______ the _____ ideas