Graphic Organizers
Students
learn over half of what they know from visual images.
Mary Alice White, Teachers
College at Columbia
University
I was an average
student who made OK grades. From what I can remember, most of my
teachers lectured, and I spent most of my time not listening very well.
If my teachers used graphic organizers or visual aids, especially those used
today, I don’t remember them. So my questions to you are: (a) When you
present information to your students verbally, how much of it do they
retain? (b) If your students see and
hear the information, do they have a better comprehension of the material?
As
a former Social Studies teacher, I used to require students to bring in a
current event article with a brief written summary. There were some great
summaries and some not so great. My students often
copied words and their definitions from the whiteboard and were expected to be
prepared for tests on these vocabulary words from these current events. I stopped that after year 1. Why? If didn't work!!! The graphic organizer below
allows students to become actively involved with the vocabulary on many
different levels. You can offer students a chance to share their
sentences, clues, or what the word isn’t. This allows students to not
only recognize the new words, but also understand them.
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Dictionary Definition
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My Definition or Clue
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What the Word Isn't
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Sentence
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The organizer in the link below was developed
by teachers at Chestnut Oaks Middle School in Sumter, South Carolina (2008),
for students like me. They had students who could grasp math word
problems and those that couldn’t. I would have been in the “couldn’t
grasp” group. Try this in your class if you like by following the
hyperlink: http://coms.sumterschools.net/site_res_view_folder.aspx?id=d2274d4d-2e4e-4839-8edf-8b10cb4fca28
The
purpose of graphic organizers is to assist students with understanding the material
being taught. There are a variety of organizers available for your use;
limit the number you use to those that are most effective for your purposes. And
just think, if my teachers used these types of teaching aides, I might have
made valedictorian! Would you believe salutatorian? Principal’s
honor role? Okay, my mom was just happy I graduated!
Happy
teaching & learning to all; have a great week!
Eric
adapted from Post by J. Zoul...Friday Oct 10...Friday Focus
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