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