Graphic Organizers - Powerful Tools

Graphic organizers are powerful teaching and learning tools. They can help students organize the material in a textbook, story, novel, film, class discussion or research material. The graphic organizer or "picture" shows clues or cues about the lesson and activities to come. Graphic organizers are also useful to teachers as a a tool for instructional planning.

No matter what your teaching style, or how much experience you garner, you must keep the students actively involved and provide them with many activities to succeed. What better way to accomplish these goals than with technology and graphic organizers. Inspiration software is the perfect union of the two tools - organizers and technology.

Active teaching, direct instruction, explicit instruction, structured learning, interactive learning or any other common phrase, equals opportunities for the teacher to organize instruction specifically tailored for the students in her/his classroom. Technology will not make the life of the teacher simple, but it will place the students in the role of the "stars" of the class with the teacher as the facilitator. The instructor provides the support and structure; they design the tasks and direct the completion. The best thing that a teacher can do with respect to technology is to model what to do. Using Inspiration software in presentations is a great way to start. By presenting your lessons with a graphic organizer, you will be showing your students "how to do it". They will love engaging activities for organizing their information while practicing their computer skills. The goal, after all, is guiding the student to success and creating a life long learner. Have fun with graphic organizers. I have included a few sites for resources you may find useful. Have a great year!

Resources

www.writedesignonline.com/organizers

www.inspiration.com

http://school.discoveryeducation.com

Jigsaw - Interactive Instruction

"One of the best things that teachers can do with respect to technology is to model what to do when one doesn't know what to do." Barbara Means and Kerry Olson - (researchers)

The Definition:
Jigsaw is an interactive instructional strategy that enables each student of a "HOME" group to become an "EXPERT" in one aspect of a learning unit. Jigsaw is a cooperative learning strategy with more of a twist. Students meet with members from other HOME groups who are assigned the same aspect, and after mastering the material, return to the HOME group and teach the material to their HOME group.

We know that in a jigsaw puzzle, each piece is essential for understanding and viewing the final product. Each student represents a piece of the puzzle; therefore, each student is essential to the final product. This is one reason the jigsaw activity is so effective.

The Purpose:
The purpose of jigsaw is to practice cooperative learning and to develop teamwork within all our students. Students can absorb a wealth of knowledge they could not otherwise learn on their own. Large chunks of material can be introduced and presented to students in a short amount of time. Since the students are required to present their research to the HOME group, Jigsaw learning will often reveal to the instructor a student's own understanding of a concept or misunderstanding of the principles.

The Plan:
The basic form of Jigsaw is when:

1. Students are asssigned to "HOME" groups or teams of 4 or 5. Then have students number off within their teams. (1,2,3,4)
2. Assigned study topics to HOME team members by issuing them an assignment sheet or by listing their numbers and corresponding roles on the board. (#1 = James Watson, #2 = Francis Crick, and so on)
3. Then students move to "EXPERT" groups where each student in the group has the same topic (person) to research. (All the #1 meet together and research James Watson.) At this point, students will be using the primary source document or the interactive web site the assignment is based on such as DNA Interactive -http://www. dnai.org. Students follow the instructions in the assignment and gather information on their scientist. Students work together with members of their expert group to prepare a short presentation or to decide how to "teach" their HOME group about the topic. One suggestions may be to present a mini-poster or flash cards with information and diagrams.
4. Students then return to their HOME teams and take turns teaching their team members about their assignment. Team members should take notes on the information presented, record it in a journal, or have them complete a graphic organizer to chart the new information they received.
5. Finally, have each HOME group present to the whole class and review the information that is presented for accuracy.

There are many different ways to adapt Jigsaw for your specific classroom. I find it especially usefull when you need to cover a large amount of content giving the student maximum responsibility. Consider using Jigsaw when a web site is enourmous and you would like the students to dissect it. Most likely, you do not have enough time for your students to examine each feature of the interactive web site, so Jigsaw is one method that can be utilized to navigate your students through it.

Assessment and Evaluations will be addressed in a later blog.

Questioning - As An Instructional Strategy

For a teacher to elicit specific resoponses from students, a teacher may consider whether he or she is asking closed or open questions. These questions can be posted in the form of a power point, on an overhead projector, on your whiteboard, promethean board, as handouts, or simply orally.



A closed question is one in which there are usually a limited number of acceptable answers. These answers are the ones expected by the instructor.

An open question is one in which there are many acceptable answers, most of which may or may not be expected by the instructor. The higher order thinking questions are usually open and encourage students toward divergent thinking. Following the dynamics of the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy, questioning techniques are vital to any instruction. Remember the possiblities include:

• application questions


• analytical questions


• synthesis questions


• interpretive questions


• evaluative questions

Never underestimate the value of Wait Time! Give students adequate time to respond to your questions. A wait time of three to five seconds is recommended. As a result, more students answer questions and answer them better and more thoroughly. Wait time will also allow time for the teacher to propose a response. With interactive software available to most school districts, students can respond in writing quickly from their desk or post it on the whiteboard. I encourage you to use the technology opportunities availed to you at your school.

By asking better questions, teachers help students become better thinkers. Teachers can ask better questions by converting the simple, ususal questions into more challenging ones. For example, ask students to make a prediction - "How might you invent a solution to this global warming problem?" Likewise, students' questions and answers can help a teacher detect a misunderstanding or confusion about a topic.

Resources for effective questioning:

Better thinking and learning, by Jay McTighe

Catch them thinking: A handbook of classroom strategies, by James Ballanca and Robin Fogarty

Concept-based curriculum and instruction for the thinking classroom, by H. L. Erickson

http://ims.ode.state.oh.us/ode/ims/rrt/research/Content/effective_questioning_what_we_know.asp

Effective Instructional Strategies and Methods

"Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each." --Plato

Successful teachers know exactly what Plato meant with this comment. Teachers who are able to capitalize on the interests of their students and heighten their curiosity about a subject generally result in motivation and success in the learning process. These teachers can accomplish positive results with a long list of instructional strategies that incorporate the use of the computer and associated technology in the classroom.

Welcome to my blog! I will be using this blogging activity as a method of communication with my faculty this school year. I hope you will remember to check this blog site from time to time. Please feel free to comment on the site and to contact me about any of the strategies listed. This first blog will present a list of the strategies categorized, first of all, by the types of effective teaching strategies for supporting students while working with the computers. Future updates of this blog will focus on four specific strategies: questioning - open and closed, jigsaw, scaffolding technique with the aid of graphic organizers, and concept mapping with Inspiration software.

Educators have classified four or five specific types of instruction used in the typical classroom: (http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/categ.html)

• Direct
• Interactive
• Indirect
• Independent Study
• Experimental Learning

Direct Instruction: includes, but is not limited to, the following examples:

1. Lecture
2. Drill and Practice
3. Compare and Contrast
4. Demonstrations
5. Guided and Shared - reading, listening, viewing, and thinking
6. Questioning - closed and open

Interactive Instruction: includes, but is not limited to, the following strategies and methods:

1. Debates
2. Role playing
3. Discussion
4. Laboratory groups
5. Jigsaw
6. Discussion boards
7. Learning logs
8. Scaffolding techniques - with the aid of graphic organizers
9. Cooperative learning groups
10. Problem solving
11. Interviewing
12. Tutorial groups
13. Think, Pair, Share
14. Peer Partner Learning

Indirect Instruction: includes, but is not limited to, the following examples of strategies and methods:

1. Case studies
2. Inquiry
3. Writing to inform
4. Concept Mapping - with Inspiration software
5. Reading for meaning
6. Reflective writing

Independent Study: This type of instruction can be incorporated with the following strategies:

1. Essays - produced as word processing documents
2. Computer Assisted Instruction
3. Journals
4. Reports
5. Learning Activity Packages such as WEBQUEST
6. Research Projects
7. Learning Centers
8. Homework
9. Assigned Questions

Experimental Learning: Some of these strategies and methods are especially useful for kindergarten students.

1. Games
2. Storytelling
3. Role-playing
4. Model Building
5. Field Trips
6. Simulations
7. Conducting Experiments

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. Today I am learning to create a blog. I hope everyone is doing well and finding the summer vacation enjoyable. Well, I thought this summer would be hectic, and it certainly has been exactly that. But I have been equally blessed. I was able to celebrate my 34th High School Class Reunion, entertain my community for the Fourth of July, host my granddaughter's third birthday party (Under the Big Top), complete one course with Lesley, and complete my first ever web page. And, in between all this, I managed to hire all my teachers for next year, order books, attend meetings, move furniture, pick out new tile for all the bathrooms, and go to the office every day, just to name a few. It has been an exciting time. Thanks for the memories!!!!!!