Teaching requires the use of many different types of educational tools. Some are a necessity and some just make teaching and learning much more interesting. Many teaching tools are used for educating the children in your class while others are used for teacher preparation and organization. What are some tools that you should be using in your classroom and how should you be using them?
- Graphic Organizers: Graphic organizers are tools that teachers can give to students and use themselves. In essence, a graphic organizer is a type of a graph, chart or diagram that allows students to organize thoughts onto paper and to understand complex ideas and connections through illustration. There are hundreds of types that canbe usedfor writing, social studies, science and language arts. Graphic organizers are essential tools that every teacher should use; not only do graphic organizers help students to organize their thoughts, but they also really do help convey new concepts in a digestible manner. Students who have learning disabilities will also benefit from the graphic organizer's ability to ease understanding and reduce stress.
When are graphic organizers good to use? How about when you are teaching paragraph writing? There are great graphic organizers out there that guide a student through paragraph-writing in steps, beginning with the initial topic sentence and then moving to the supporting sentences and eventually to the final sentence that either leads into the next paragraph or simply ends the body.
A Teacher should make overhead copies of all graphic organizers and perform several examples with her students before letting them embark on their own assignment. Students should always practice using the graphic organizer when the teacher is giving examples on the overhead. Ihighly recommend purchasing an educational book that is filled with templates for different graphic organizers to use in your class.
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Author: Kaye Siders