We Learn Best in Pictures

11/13/2012

For today’s classroom, nothing is more essential to successful teaching and learning than strategy-based instruction. It is through the use of specific teaching strategies and learning tools that students can be more successful learners. Graphic organizers are teaching and learning tools; when they’re integrated into classroom experiences, students are better able to understand new material. Brain and learning research documents the reality that we actually learn through pictures and graphic representations. Creating a strong visual picture, graphic organizers support students by enabling them to literally see connections and relationships between facts, information, and terms.

When we integrate graphic organizers in our teaching, we are actively engaging a wide variety of learners, including students with special needs and English language learners. Since the human brain naturally organizes and stores information, graphic organizers are a supportive strategy for learning. Graphic organizers lead to strong visualizations of mental storage systems and serve to support students to remember and connect information. Once this is accomplished, students can delve into more critical information. Graphic organizers actually trigger long term memory and promote synthesis between old and new information.

Here are some tips for classroom implementation of graphic organizers:

1. Model the graphic organizer when you present it to the class. Model how you learn and think as you use a graphic organizer to understand material.


2. Graphic organizers can be used in both individual and group learning experiences. In both contexts, the graphic organizer provides a structure for students to think about new material.


3. Assessment should be reliable and varied. Graphic organizers can be easily used for classroom assessment in lieu of a more traditional quizzes and tests. Graphic organizers are superior to quizzes and tests because it also provides a picture into a student’s thinking.

In addition, graphic organizers are particularly beneficial for students with special needs. Many students with special needs face difficulties in decoding and comprehending text and developing vocabulary. This makes reading and learning even more challenging for these students. Here are some suggestions of how you can adapt and differentiate graphic organizers to meet the needs of diverse learners:

1. Physically divide some of the organizers by cutting, folding, or highlighting different sections. This helps the students focus on one section and activity at a time.


2. Use a highlighter or different colors for the graphic organizer headings to help students process and focus on key information.


3. Have students work in pairs or in small groups, as needed. Students who have difficulty with attention and reading will benefit from working with their peers. Working in a social setting helps all students to work collaboratively and to take responsibility for their own learning.


4. Create reading frames for students. Using heavy card stock or cardboard, create frames of different sizes so that students can place them over sections. This helps students focus on one section at a time.

Remember, there is never ONE right way to visually represent information. Your students may be exposed to many kinds of graphic organizers. Some students are more visually oriented than others so there will be a range in student work.

Finally, my book, The Teacher's Big Book of Graphic Organizers: 100 Reproducible Organizers that Help Kids with Reading, Writing, and the Content Areas is a valuable resource for graphic organizers. There are templates for over 100 graphic organizers with student samples and tips for classroom implementation.

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