Graphic organizers are such a great way of presenting information in an organized manner! They can be very useful for all students, however, I feel like graphic organizers would be especially beneficial for visual learners. After creating or viewing a graphic organizer, these learners may be able to recall the information more effectively due to its visual representation.
I didn't realize how many online tools are available for creating these graphic organizers. Every person may have a different preference, however, I feel like using an online tool to create graphic organizers may be a bit easier than creating them using the paper and pencil format. For example, when I was creating different graphic organizers on my computer, I was constantly changing, moving, and adding information to make them as visually appealing and organized as possible. If I had created the same graphic organizer using paper and pencil, I would have had to erase and change the layout several times in order to represent my thoughts clearly. Usually I prefer paper and pencil over online tools, but I did appreciate the flexibility that online tools provided to create a visually appealing graphic organizer!
I do enjoy using graphic organizers in my classroom, however, since I teach Kindergarten, I usually do more hands-on activities with them. For example, when creating a Venn Diagram, I may use two overlapping hula hoops with multiple visuals for the kids to sort accordingly. Similarly, for a food chain, I give each child a visual of an animal or arrow and challenge them to arrange themselves to construct the food chain. We also do a lot of graphing using sticky notes or other visuals on large poster paper. These hands-on activities really help to build a solid foundation for using graphic organizers, and they optimize student engagement as well.
If I taught older students, I would definitely challenge them to create their own graphic organizers using some of the software apps. Creating full graphic organizers (rather than just having the students fill one out) provides a more meaningful experience for the students as they must figure out how to best organize and represent their information.
I enjoyed exploring apps, such as Popplet and Bubbl.us. I could manipulate the different parts of my graphic organizer and continue to tweak the information until I was satisfied with the overall product. I did notice, however, that these websites had a limited number of free trials before having to upgrade and pay to access more. This could be a concern for using these sites with students, unless it was a one time activity.
I also enjoyed using Google to create a graphic organizer as well. Luckily, Google's accessibility doesn't require an upgrade for multiple uses, and using it was very user friendly. I also enjoy using canva.com as another resource for creating graphic organizers.
Overall, using graphic organizers is a wonderful way of collecting, organizing, and representing information. Having students create their own graphic organizers is a meaningful experience that may allow for further concept understanding and retention.
Graphic organizers are such a wonderful tool. I love using hands-on and paper/pencil graphic organizers, but can see the benefit in digital. I can see it is much easier for me as a 5th grade teacher to use in my classroom in comparison to your little kindergarteners.
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Allie, I completely related to your comment about editing graphic organizers and how it's much easier to do it digitally than on paper. I am a very Type-A person, so I like editing things in digital software to see what would look best and how I can make it better without making it permanent. I too use Canva for a lot including graphic organizers! It's such a bummer that apps that are geared towards students and kids are not free. It's hard to be consistent using an app if you're limited to the number of times you can use it before you have to pay for it. Thank you so much for sharing!
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