Description: Graphic organizers are essential tools for both teachers and students. They come in several forms and serve all readers because they
- support all learners, especially those with special needs.
- provide structure and guidance as readers move toward greater independence. • offer a visual means of explaining and organizing information and ideas.
- ask students to evaluate and actively manipulate information, which helps them to see the connections and relationships between ideas.
- teach students to think categorically.
- provide useful tools to prepare for and facilitate writing, thinking, and discussing.
- prepare students for the world of work, where such tools are used with increasing frequency.
- help students remember and make greater cognitive associations between information and ideas.
- force students to evaluate information in order to determine what is important.
- improve readers’ understanding of the text.
- help develop students’ knowledge of textual structures and their general textual intelligence.
Step-by-Step
- Graphic organizers come in many forms. Explore those that might help students meet specific goals. Try them out to see if they accomplish what we want. Make modifications if necessary. Using them ourselves allows us a model to share with students as well as allowing us the chance to think about the text and its appropriateness with respect to particular assignments.
- Before reading, have students use graphic organizers such as the KWL to prepare for reading. Graphic organizers assist with activating students’ prior knowledge by helping them to think about text structure and organization.
- While some graphic organizers are prescriptive and structured (e.g., KWL), some are more open-ended and adaptable (e.g., two-column notes).
- Use graphic organizers to help students
- classify ideas, words, characters, events prior to writing about or discussing a text. • organize a sequence in a process.
- take parallel notes – (e.g., comparing what they read with the experiment or lecture that follows).
- identify what is important in a text.
- examine and understand the organizational pattern of the information or story.
Use graphic organizers to develop students’ skills and strategies. Model how organizers might be used and how to select one to meet specific purposes. Begin the process of allowing students to select their own graphic organizers, encouraging them to reflect/justify their selections.
Character Sheet and Traits List
Major Works Literacy Data Sheet Page One
Major Works Literacy Data Sheet Page Two
Major Works Literacy Data Sheet Page Three
Major Works Literacy Data Page Four