In their book Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design, Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe indicate that graphic organizers can be used in the classroom to "chart key ideas and supporting illustrations." Simply put, graphic organizers are teaching tools that help students reorganize and understand information visually. Some teachers use a large grid above their chalkboards or white boards to map out homework for the week. Others draw and make copies of frames, webs and diagrams to help students organize facts. Teachers may also ask students to use computer software or pen and paper to generate their own graphic organizers.
- Skill level:
- Moderate
Instructions
Things you need
- White paper
- Permanent marker
- Copy machine
- Folders
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1
Draw several graphic organizer templates with a permanent marker onto white paper of any size. Some helpful graphic organizer examples are listed in Gayle Gregory and Carolyn Chapman's book Differentiated Instructional Strategies. These graphic organizers include a Venn Diagram or two overlapping circles, a "Word Web" that contains a large circle at the center of the page and smaller circles branching off, a "Fact Frame" or a larger square inside a smaller square, and "Drumming Up Details," which is a picture of a drum
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2
Make copies of graphic organizer templates. Students will be able to write on the copies.
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3
Create a folder for each template and place the folders in an accessible location in the classroom. This will allow students access to the graphic organizers when they find them helpful and allow easy access when you need to hand out a graphic organizer.
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4
Explain the rationale for graphic organizers to students. Helping students understand why they are going to use graphic organizers is a great step in aiding their growth as independent learners who know what learning strategies work for them. First, state the basic definition of a graphic organizer. Then explain Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences, or the idea that each person has different learning preferences and skills. Students may have musical, verbal, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalist, or interpersonal intelligence. They also might be visual-spatial learners who understand concepts better when they can see them. Explain that while many students can benefit from trying graphic organizers as a learning strategy, such organizers might benefit visual-spatial learners the most because they are a tool for representing information visually. You might ask students how they can use graphic organizers if they have intelligences other than visual-spatial intelligence. For example, a student who is a bodily-kinesthetic learner might use a graphic organizer and then choreograph a dance that mimics the graphic organizer.
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5
Hold up each graphic organizer and explain its use. You can do this through direct instruction or through asking students to guess the use of each organizer. A Venn Diagram is used when ideas have qualities that overlap, a "Word Web" is used when there is a main idea and several related secondary ideas that need to be expressed, a "Fact Frame" is used when a single fact is written in a small central box and supporting details are expressed in the outer box and "Drumming Up Details" is used to write a hypothesis on the top of the drum and possible results on the bottom of the drum.
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6
Ask students what type of information might best be placed on each type of organizer. Presenting students with this question will allow them to see that the type of graphic organizer chosen should relate to the content being studied. As a final activity, ask students to design and name their own form of graphic organizer.
