Graphic Organizers in the Classroom

This chapter talks about the importance of graphic organizers in the classroom. I completely agree with this chapter because I personally feel that I learn better by visually seeing how one topic relates to another, especially if the lesson is a lesson that can be drawn out into weeks. This helps students to keep track of what they are learning, reminds them of what they've just learned, and gives them an idea of what's to come next.

Growing up as in English Language Learner, I felt that it was important for the book to mention that they allow for complex ideas. It's easier for an ELL student to make connections to the lesson of they're able to dig into their schema of their own language and culture to better understand the lesson. This helps ELL students fill in gaps that language barriers may create in a classroom.

I think it's awesome that graphic organizers can be found and utilized in all different kinds of subjects. The better part is that graphic organizers are easy to make so if it's hard to find a graphic organizer that has all of the components you want it to, it's just as easy to utilize programs like Inspiration, or simply create one on your computer. Drawing and creating one by hand can also be done if one's short for time.

My favorite quote from this chapter is "Graphic organizers are one way for teachers to ensure that students can show their abilities." This quote speaks out to me because often times, students are not able to show their full potential in class because the class may only be lecture-type classes. Its hard for some students to learn just through lecture so a map usually brings the lesson to life for them because they're able to utilize their eyes, and not just their ears.

As I'm reading through this chapter, I noticed that graphic organizers are only students who can see. My question is, is there a way to create a graphic organizer through braille? In my clinical class, I have a student who is visually impaired. She can not see at all and I've been working with this student and found that it is very hard to describe certain things. Is there a way to create a graphic organizer that can help my student also?