CAROLYN
BEITZEL
Diary #27
Graphic
Teaching
I am a big fan of graphic organizers. As I have determined that my students are not strong readers and have a difficult time comprehending what they read, I have incorporated this teaching tool into my lesson plans.
What is a Graphic Organizer? It is a metacognitive that can help students organize information into chunks that are manageable and comprehensible. Combining graphic organizers with thinking and reading skills can become a powerful, eye opening learning experience for the student. Most graphic organizers use a certain pattern to organize information: descriptive, sequence, process/cause, problem/solution, generalization or concept (see this information about the dimensions of learning). Descriptive used to organize facts or characteristics (person, place, thing) Sequence used to organize chronological order Process/Cause used to organize information that leads in a sequence of steps to a specific event Problem/Solution used to organize information of a specific problem and its possible solutions Generalization used to organize main ideas and supporting evidenceConcept
used to represent categories of information
Once the
pattern has been established, a
plethora of graphic organizers can be used in the classroom.
How We
Use Graphic Organizers in Class
The most
common is the "bubble chart" or concept webbing. This can also be the
easiest to use when comprehending an informational passage. When reading
a section out of the textbook on African Americans in the Civil War the
class created a concept map. Using
the power thinking strategy we graphed the information that we thought
was important and its relationships to a main idea and supporting ideas.
Other organizers that we have used in the classroom are the venn diagram,
ranking ladder, matrix chart and fishbone diagram.
In history discussing two sides of a story help the students to see the
whole picture. By using a venn diagram to illustrate this type of information
allows the student to get a visual of the actual event. When learning
about the process of building our nation after the American Revolution
during the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia 1787, a
venn diagram was used to show the two sides of the issue in regards
to the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan.
A ranking ladder can be used to organize
solutions to a problem or even cause and effect. For example, there were
several causes or problems that led to the Civil War. By identifying them
and then ranking them in importance or what came first can give the student
a better idea of the sequence of events that led to the first shot at
Fort Sumter. This activity generated a lot of class discussion as there
were dissenting opinions on what really caused the war: states rights
or slavery.
We use a matrix chart at the beginning
of each unit of study in the form of the KWL chart (what do you know,
what do you want to learn, what did you learn). A class discussion about
this graphic organizer usually leads to information that I will then include
in a lesson that will meet the individual needs of a student. This is
a great tool to summarize the unit, which in turn leads the student into
understanding what they have learned.
I have used the fishbone diagram in
class mostly when there are behaviors being exhibited that inhibit learning.
I put up on the transparency a message that starts out with this statement:
"There is a problem in this classroom that is not allowing us to learn."
I then ask the students "Without naming names what is this problem?" A
student might say, "too much talking" or "people are out of their seats"
etc. I write this problem in the fish head and then ask for solutions.
This usually works in getting the "perpetrator" to see that their actions,
even though they may not have intended them to be disruptive, are in fact
doing just that. Sometimes I will even get an apology from the offender
after class.
Why Use Graphic Organizers?
Graphic organizers are an important teaching tool as it gives the brain
another avenue of processing information, which then leads to a higher
order of thinking. Many of my students have not had the opportunity to
turn on this portion of their brain. Having the skills to think and order
their world will make them more successful in school and beyond.
By allowing students to make connections with an event and their own thinking
process gives them a better chance of internalizing their learning. Chunking
information into smaller pieces of information helps them to form concepts
that lead to even greater learning. Using graphic organizers in the classroom
is a win-win teaching strategy, as the students comprehend the content
in a more in-depth fashion.
Read next week's diary
