#Free printable graphic organizers how to#
#Free printable graphic organizers free#

That means, we need to allow students experiences BEYOND the graphic organizers. We want them to have internalized the structures and the organization, and no longer require the physical visual to help them do that. We want our students to not NEED the graphic organizers. Well, I would get so excited when they independently filled out that graphic organizer, that I would forget that the goal is to actually remove the scaffolding.

#Free printable graphic organizers how to#

We model how to use them, we practice together, we offer independent practiceвЂ¦ and then what? Graphic organizers are the scaffolding that we put in place as we introduce new concepts. Graphic organizers are meant to help students organize their thoughts and make connections. Not because weвЂ™re bad teachers, but because we often become so focused on the daily lessons and immediate work with students, that we donвЂ™t have time to come up and breathe, and check in on the long goal. This is something I feel like a lot of us miss.

#Free printable graphic organizers free#

If you want to try a FREE sample of my graphic organizers to see what I mean about creating an organizer with fewer distractions, grab them below! When I finally started eliminating unnecessary images that distracted students, creating clean and defined spaces, and ensuring that all fonts were student friendly, I saw a huge increase in my studentвЂ™s ability to use the graphic organizers independently. That can be really hard to do when there is too much going on within the page itself. The purpose of a graphic organizer is to help students organize ideas, make connections between concepts, and internalize structures. I just wish someone had explained that simple=better when it comes to graphic organizers. I know it came from a good place of wanting to fit everything in one place, and including cute imagery to engage my students. Including Too Much in the Graphic OrganizerДЄs a student who struggled in school with overstimulation and dyslexia, IвЂ™m embarrassed to say that I *STILL* made this mistake as a teacher. The deeper the understanding, the better the chances are that they will be able to utilize the graphic organizer independently when the time comes. ItвЂ™s not that you have to belabor the point, but repeated modeling gives students multiple chances to build understanding.

By going deeper into one section during a mini-lesson.

During a guided reading lesson with a new text/topic/agenda.

For example, if focused on a reading graphic organizer, I could revisit it: That can be done in lots of different ways. It just means that we need to find ways to circle back and model again. That doesnвЂ™t mean we need to do the same lesson over and over. ItвЂ™s something that needs to be repeated in order for your students to truly master its use. I thought by sharing the organizers with my students, demonstrating how to use it, and then posting it on our focus wall that I was done. One mistake I made was modeling it for my class once, and thinking I was done. Graphic organizers can be a powerful way introduce new concepts! Whether youвЂ™re creating anchor charts or displaying them digitally, modeling these new tools for students is important. Not Modeling The Graphic Organizer Enough Today I wanted to share some of those hiccups in hopes that they will help you better utilize graphic organizers with your students. While graphic organizers been an invaluable support in my classroom, I definitely made some mistakes in using them along the way. Graphic organizers are a great tool to help students make connections between concepts, organize their thoughts, and internalize structures. I use them for reading, writing, math and anywhere else I can fit them in.