English Language Arts Grade 6
Writing Standard 9
English Language Arts Grade 6
Writing Standard 4
English Language Arts Grade 6
Writing Standard 5
English Language Arts Grade 7
Reading: Informational Text Standard 2
English Language Arts Grade 7
Reading: Informational Text Standard 3
English Language Arts Grade 7
Reading: Informational Text Standard 5
English Language Arts Grade 7
Reading: Informational Text Standard 8
English Language Arts Grade 7
Reading: Informational Text Standard 10
English Language Arts Grade 8
Reading: Informational Text Standard 2
English Language Arts Grade 8
Reading: Informational Text Standard 3
English Language Arts Grade 8
Reading: Informational Text Standard 8
Individual
This activity emphasizes the importance of teaching reading and writing strategies for students to use with informational text.
A student who has been taught reading and writing together has the necessary tools to explore, clarify and think deeply about the ideas and concepts they encounter in reading. There is no better way to think about a subject than to take the opportunity to read and write about it. Teachers who use reading and writing together help students think about what they will read, and understand what they have read. Teachers should plan instruction that leads to active text learning. Students need to act on ideas in print and also interact with one another when learning with text. This instruction model provides ideas for pre-reading, reading, and post-reading instruction for Core Curriculum text lessons. The use of graphic organizers provides the structure for bringing learners and texts together using multiple texts.
In planning a unit, the teacher should construct a graphic organizer of the major concepts, and then identify literature for group and individual investigation. Before actually assigning a graphic organizer to students, the teacher should prepare for the activity by carefully analyzing the vocabulary of the material to be learned. List all the terms that are essential for students to understand. Finally, construct your own organizer.
Graphic organizers are easily adapted to learning situations in the elementary grades. For whole class discussion, construct your graphic organizer on a large sheet of chart paper or on your chalk/white board.
Ultimately, the student should learn how to create and use different types of graphic organizers to understand, interpret, and analyze informational text. The form of the student-constructed graphic organizer will undoubtedly be different than the teacher's arrangement. However, this difference should not be a major source of concern.
Graphic Organizer Samples
Teaching Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers encourage students to make connections with the text by creating a structure for students to explore text and consider different sides of an issue in discussion before drawing conclusions.
1. Use Science Process and Thinking Skills
4. Communicate Effectively Using Science Language and Reasoning
Invitation to Learn
Use this approach to activate prior knowledge, raise questions, or
make predictions about the text. Ask, "How many different things do
you know about the chosen topic to be studied?" Brainstorm ideas,
vocabulary words, or major concepts about a given topic. As the students
suggest different ideas, create a graphic organizer on the board. Let
students make the connections that they understand. Later, after reading
text, doing an experiment, or hands-on activity, the students can make
any necessary changes to the class-generated graphic organizer.
Instructional Procedures
Constructing the Graphic Organizers as a Pre-assessment
(Whole Group Participation)
Modeling for the Students How to Make Their Own Connections (Small Group Participation)
Allowing the Students to Use a Teacher-created Graphic Organizer (Individual Participation)
Activity
Moon Cycle = Time Sequencing
Solar System = Compare/Contrast
Microorganism = Cause/Effect
Heat, Light, Sound = Problem/Solution
Planets in our Universe = Listing