Anthony Traina

Putting Ideas Into Action- Part II: The Design Project

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Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers are valuable instructional tools. Unlike many tools that just have one purpose, graphic organizers are flexible and endless in application. One common trait found among graphic organizers is that they show the order and completeness of a student's thought process - strengths and weaknesses of understanding become clearly evident. Many graphic organizers show different aspects of an issue/problem - in close and also the big picture. Since many graphic organizers use short words or phrases, they are ideal for many types of learners, including English Language Learners with intermediate proficiency.

• Problem: Due to poor reading skills, the process of abstracting important information from content text is difficult. Text is overburdened with tedious amounts of information. Students are not retaining information being taught. They lack the ability to break down the information into comprehensible components.

• Solution: Research shows significantly better results from teacher directed graphic organizers, Graphic Organizer's, rather than self study. Utilizing graphic organizers in my classroom will yield better understanding thus resulting in increased comprehension and retention.

• Goal: Instructors will learn, what a graphic organizer is, how to create a graphic organizer and how they can utilize a graphic organizer in their classroom.