6.2 Four-Card Stud

Where did I find this word?
I found this word in the Content-Area Writing text in the chapter entitled, Supporting the Writing Process. This chapter addresses the need of supporting the writing process.  this addresses the needs of students during the writing process.  The Four-Card Stud "trick" (Daniel, Zemelman, Steinke, 2007) is introduced in the section about supporting the writer with specific stages of the writing process.

What is the definition of this word?
Four-Card Stud is a pre-writing tool that helps writers rein in their ideas.  students decide on a topic. they are given note cards and they are asked to write down their topic at the top of the card.  they then brainstorm phrases or words that they associate with their topic.  after a couple of minutes they are given a second card and they are asked to choose one word or phrase that they can elaborate on.  students then write that word or phrase on the second card. they brainstorm for associated phrases or word.  they are given more cards and the process is repeated. 
Students are now armed with a slew of ideas and sub-topics they can write about.

What is my familiarity with this word?
Prior to reading about it, I had never heard of this particular strategy.  But I have learned about similar strategies in classes.

Do I want to know this word well and why?
Yes.  I have such a hard time focusing my ideas into a comprehensible form.  my writing process is very linear. I begin with an introduction, then I write the body and then the conclusion.  i have so many ideas sometimes but I don't include them because I may either forget them or cannot figure out where in the text they belong.
I need as many idea-harnessing tricks as I can get my hands on.

Is this a word I want others to know?
I think that all teachers should know this concept.  Writing is such a difficult topic to teach,all teachers should have a bag-of-tricks that they can refer to in order to help students rein in their ideas.
I think all students should know this word and writers should be familiar with it too.