From Your Instructional Coach….
Strategy of the Week #11: Graphic Organizers
Graphic Organizer: A graphic organizer, also known as knowledge map, concept map, story map, cognitive organizer, advance organizer, or concept diagram, is a communication tool that uses visual symbols to express knowledge, concepts, thoughts, or ideas, and the relationships between them.
How does a graphic organizer work?
- A graphic organizer is a structure for students to organize ideas and thinking.
- It helps students to see their thinking in a visual format.
Why are graphic organizers important?
- A completed graphic organizer can help you assess the students’ understanding of a particular topic or skill.
- Brain activity is enhanced when students are taught to represent their understanding in a visual way.
- Graphic organizers make recall and retention of material easier for students.
- Graphic organizers are particularly helpful to students who have difficulty organizing information.
- Graphic organizers help students organize details to be used in high order thinking skills such as synthesizing and evaluating.
When could I use a graphic organizer?
- A graphic organizer can be used in any subject area.
- Some skills and thinking that lend themselves to use of a graphic organizer are: identifying similarities and differences, compare and contrast, sequencing, main idea and details, decision making, making predictions.
Where can I find graphic organizers?
- The HMH series for reading has graphic organizers that are used with every comprehension skill.
- Your reading specialists have tons of graphic organizers and resources that you could use for reading instruction.
- The following websites:
If you would like to create a graphic organizer to be used in an upcoming lesson, please fill out the form below. I would love to support you!
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