GraphisOrganizers

Graphic Organizers are visual representations of a text or a topic. Organizers provide templates or frames for students to identify pertinent facts, to organize information, and to record relationships between facts and ideas within a learning task. Literature supports the use of organizers to facilitate and improve learning outcomes for a wide range of learners. Organizers portray knowledge in a meaningful way which helps bring clarity to ideas as connections are made. Having a way to organize ideas, facts, and concepts graphically facilitates effective student learning. Many students are visual learners, so,a visual approach to brainstorming or organizing information is essential. Students are required to think in multiple directions when using graphic organizers.This helps make learning an active and meaningful process. Organizers help students generate mental images to go along with information and create graphic representations for information. Research shows that graphic organizers are a proven strategy. Organizers offer an entry point into complex material for visual learners, increase comprehension and retention, and can be used with all students, ranging from gifted and talented to those with mild cognitive disabilities. Organizers demonstrate how concepts are linked to prior knowledge to aid in comprehension. When students go online to one of the graphic organizer sites, we assume prior teacher instruction has been presented to allow students to know what is expected and the goal of the process. Visually impaired students will require assistance from a seeing individual to organize and input information. Hearing impaired should also be assisted by a peer in that the connective process for the graphics may not seem apparent. Hearing impaired can assist in every other possible way. I always try to pair a disabled student with a peer to assist and help in whatever is needed. Learning to think is an essential skill needed in education today. Graphic organizers help ALL students become actively involved in learning. Difficulty arises when students must make meaning out of information taken from a book, video, or a lecture. Using a graphic organizer to link newly learned information to an existing knowledge base is a viable strategy for teachers and students as this process helps them store and retrieve the knowledge in their long-term memory. [|aim.cast.org] __ [|www.mentoringminds.com] __ __ Linda, __ __ I agree with you about graphic organizers being beneficial to all students, not just students with special needs. The first website you have cited is a great resource. Another thing I like about graphic organizers is that they can be used in any subject. I have used brainstorming webs for years as a pre-writing tool, and it is amazing how much laying out a students thoughts and ideas in this way helps him or her start the flow of ideas and even starts organizing the piece before it is written. __ __ Melanie __
 * How Graphic Organizers help learning for all students ,especially those with various learning disabilities.**
 * Linda Trotti**
 * [|GraphisOrganizers with UDL Learning Disabilities]**
 * [|Graphic Organizers:Research Based Educational and Teaching ...]**