Graphic Oragainzers

There are so many ways to create graphic organizers of reading material that it can be overwhelming to try to pick one. Of course the type of text you are reading helps determine which type will be the most beneficial. The type of information you are reading to learn and what one plans to do with that information also plays a large role in determining how to organize the information. All of the suggestions Allen presents in his article are great examples of how to organize material.

Since world language teachers teach not only the grammatical structure of language but also the all-encompassing concept of culture, all of these suggestions could be used in the classroom. The list-group-label method could be used for vocabulary learning. For example, Chapter two of the textbook used at the HS I teach at includes family members, places, and specific regular verbs, but the vocabulary list is in alphabetical order. Students could look at the list and put the words into categories to learn them in related groups instead of practicing them out of context. Part-to-the-Whole could be used to understand major events and what other events played a role to bring about the larger event. The character chart could be adapted to use with literature or movies in understanding the roles individuals play in the occurrence of events.

I intend to use many of these suggestions in my classroom. I already use a lot of these techniques, but did not know they had official labels. I am always excited about the opportunity to use new visual representations since this is something that I tend to overlook in my own learning. I know that many of my students are visual learners and these tools will help me to reach them in ways that reading and listening cannot.