Graphic Organizers
Purpose
Organize information into a graphic representation to provide evidence of learning, connections between ideas, and reflect specific thinking.
Materials
- Graphic Organizer (printed or projected)
- notebook paper (if organizer is projected)
- template
Instructions
- Students brainstorm ideas or identify specific content information, then organize and represent their thoughts/connections in a Graphic Organizer.
- Select a Graphic Organizer based upon the type of thinking being targeted such as:
- Cause/Effect Graphic Organizer
- Classify/Categorize Graphic Organizer
- Compare/Contrast Graphic Organizer
- Make Connections Graphic Organizer
- Generalize Graphic Organizer
- Sequence/Order Graphic Organizer
- Predict Graphic Organizer
- Summarize Graphic Organizer
- Students complete the organizer individually.
- Through a movement and discourse strategy, students get a partner and share/compare organizers, adding new ideas as appropriate.
- Teacher evaluates students’ Graphic Organizer responses and adjusts instruction accordingly.
Classroom Management
Consider implementing Ball Toss Boogie for 2 minutes to collaboratively brainstorm ideas that might go into the graphic organizer before students individually complete the task.
Differentiation
Promote access by providing an idea/word bank, allowing students to think through the demands of the organizer with a supportive peer/adult, dictating responses to a scribe, and/or developing responses using a speech-to-text or word prediction support using digital versions of the graphic organizers.
Think It Up!
Choose a Think It Up question as an exit ticket or a journal entry as evidence of learning.
Encourage students to use lead4ward’s Thinking Stems or Spanish Thinking Stems to frame responses.
- Summarize what you learned from your Graphic Organizer in 3 sentences.
