TeachersFirst's Graphic Organizer Resources
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Whether you call them concept maps, mind maps, KWLs, or graphic organizers, these visual diagrams show relationships between concepts and provide a powerful tool for learning and connecting new ideas. Creating graphic organizers also helps today's visual learners build reading comprehension. This collection of reviewed resources includes tools for creating graphic organizers and many suggestions for ways to use them in teaching almost any subject or grade. Be sure to read the "In the Classroom" suggestions for examples of ways to use graphic organizers as part of a lesson or unit.
See all of our resources tagged for concept mapping and graphic organizers.
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Freeology - Free Printable Graphic Organizers - Freeology.com
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
This is a great site to help students sequence, brainstorm, and organize information. Use on an interactive whiteboard or projector and fill out organizers after a lesson. Print out organizers and have students use them in cooperative reading groups. Use the organizers to differentiate for students who need extra scaffolding or for students who need extension activities. As students get older and learn which study skills help them best, they will want to access this site on their own to study for tests. Be sure to save this site in your personal favorites!You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Essay Map - Read, Write, Think
Grades
3 to 8In the Classroom
Teachers should model the use of this tool on an interactive whiteboard or projector prior to student use. Essay Map can be placed on the desktop of a classroom computer for students to access during Writer's Workshop or throughout the school day.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Tools and Templates - Education World
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Check out the icebreakers for the first day of school, and back-to-school sections for many ideas and ready to use templates. Remember that if you want to SAVE a file from a download, you should RIGHT-click the link and choose "Save As" to save it to your computer.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods - Ralph Lengler and Martin J. Eppler
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Viewing this with the entire class will be more effective with the interactive whiteboard or projector. Teachers in any subject will find this site invaluable in teaching how to make strong visuals for oral or written presentations. What powerful evidence for multiple intelligences! Your visual/spatial students will LOVE this one, and others will learn to build that intelligence. Try these same strategies in YOUR PowerPoint presentations to communicate ideas visually, without being "powerpointless" at back to school night!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mindomo - Expert Software Application
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
Have students create graphic organizers in cooperative groups as a study guide for unit content, to collect information for a group research project, or show examples of an important concept. Share and compare the organizers on an interactive whiteboard or projector in class and allow classmates to suggest changes. Skills needed: join the site, practice with the tools (don't miss the notes feature!). Save up to 7 "private" maps and an unlimited number of "shared" maps.Make a map available online by saving and clicking "yes" for sharing, then clicking the Save by URL icon. This will copy the URL onto your computer's clipboard so you can paste it into a word doc or even your teacher web page. Imagine sharing several student made "study guides" in the days before the unit test.
Note that maps that are shared can be seen by the public, but not altered. You specify members who may collaborate and make alterations. For students to collaborate using this tool they must have individual memberships, requiring an email account. These memberships must be activated from their email. So, if students do not have email that is accessible from school, classroom use BY STUDENTS will be severely limited. Editor's note: we asked the Mindomo folks about spell check and student safety issues. They are still developing this tool, so they MIGHT address these issues at a later date.
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