Mind Mapping US History?

I participated in a Twitter chat tonight and can't believe how much I have been missing out on by not being on Twitter until now. The #sschat topic tonight was on thematic vs. chronological teaching. Many ideas were tossed around and one of them was mind mapping the curriculum so that even if it is taught chronologically, students can see connections. I think I may try this since my US history team has decided to have a singular focus for 1st semester on the conflict between federal authority and state's rights. We will be discussing issues such as the constitution, nullification crisis, slavery, national bank in the first unit so it would be cool to break them into social, political and economic ways the conflict when throughout history. By the end of the year we could even connect it to today. I have taught mind mapping to adults and think that is a skill I will share with my students this year. And then we can create a giant mind map in my classroom which will help students visualize the connecting themes. Thanks @KaelynBullock for the idea!

Here is an update that shows the mind map I created for the unit discussed above. I think it came out pretty cool!