Differentiating with Graphic Organizers

Tools to Foster Critical and Creative Thinking

Patti Drapeau

• Publisher: Skyhorse
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781634507882
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Méthodes pédagogiques

Graphic organizers have proven to be successful tools for helping students develop their critical and creative thinking skills. This research-based resource shows how graphic organizers can improve teaching practices, help differentiate instruction in the classroom, and raise learning outcomes for all students, including English language learners and students with learning disabilities.
The author presents graphic organizers for nine types of thinking processes based on Bloom's taxonomy and offers examples of how to apply the graphic organizers in different subject areas and grade levels. This hands-on guide demonstrates how teachers can:
Promote the critical thinking processes of assuming, inferring, analyzing, prioritizing, and judging
Encourage the creative thinking processes of brainstorming, connecting, creating, and elaborating
Modify graphic organizers or create their own to meet individual learning needsWith assessment rubrics for providing quality feedback included, Differentiating With Graphic Organizers addresses ways to promote and build students' creative reasoning, communication, and problem-solving skills and make the learning process a success.

PART I

Graphic Organizers, Critical Thinking, and Differentiation

1

Graphic Organizers

Tools to Promote Critical and Creative Thinking

Graphic organizers provide teachers with tools to help students on the road to higher achievement. Graphic organizers that target critical and creative thinking verbs are vehicles to help develop students’ cognitive abilities and provide formats for students to process their thinking about content. Graphic organizer formats also allow teachers to diagnose where students’ thinking has gone awry. Teachers can pinpoint areas in which students’ thinking is weak, illogical, or unclear. The structure and language of the organizer allows teachers to be able to coach students and move them beyond where thinking has fallen apart. Graphic organizers provide new language that facilitates classroom communication, as well as deepen understanding of the content that teachers work to transmit.

For certain students, the use of graphic organizers is particularly beneficial:

• For students who easily fall victim to faulty reasoning, they are an aid to the thinking process.
• For students who have difficulty expressing their thoughts, they provide a format for expression.
• For students who have difficulty processing information, they provide a structure within which to state content and support for ideas.
• For students who are visual learners, they provide a visual aid.
• For students who ramble, they help focus the response.
• For students who are English Language Learners, they can enable the expression of depth of thought through the use of limited written responses.

EVIDENCE SUPPORTING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

Many studies have established the value of graphic organizers as cognitive tools. Stiggins (quoted in Gregory & Kuzmich, 2004, p. 142), for example, states that “When graphic organizers are used, students show increases in retention and comprehension, and they demonstrate higher levels of achievement on content-based assessments.”

A number of studies have focused on Hyerle’s (2004) Thinking Maps, which target eight thinking skills. Each map includes a visual structure with shared language and procedures. Studies using his eight maps have been conducted in a variety of schools and content areas, and they indicate many positive outcomes, including an increase in student achievement in all content areas.

The effectiveness of graphic organizers is also supported in the meta-analysis conducted by Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock (2001) in which they identify nine ways to increase student achievement. I discuss these nine strategies in the following list, which includes the percentage rates of improved student achievement according to the study. The list also contains the names of graphic organizers presented in this book that can be used as instructional strategies to target each area.

1. Recognizing similarities and differences, using metaphors and analogies: Students trained in these skills showed a 45 percent gain over students who were not. The ability to recognize similarities and differences is crucial to connecting new information with known information. In Chapter 9, the Rose-Colored Glasses graphic organizer enables students to draw analogies by relating similar content characteristics and attributes to an animal, place, object, and/or themselves. In Chapter 4, the Paint Jars (inference) graphic organizer can be used to find differences. In Chapter 5, the graphic organizer called the Framed Puzzle can be used to not only recognize differences but also analyze them.
2. Summarizing and note taking: Trained students showed a 37 percent gain. Most of the graphic organizers in this book can be used as summarization tools. Students use the graphic organizers to organize their notes by making judgments (Chapter 7) or perhaps prioritizing (Chapter 6) them.
3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition: Trained students showed a gain of 29 percent. Teachers can address this category by using strategies that give specific feedback, which includes recognition for effort. Every graphic organizer in the following chapters has accompanying feedback tools. These tools are not meant to be used only as grading mechanisms. They are designed to give ongoing direction and feedback, so that students have guiding tools for processing information and a system in place for refining their responses. In this way, students are recognized not just for complete, correct answers but also for partial answers.
4. Homework and practice: Trained students showed a 28 percent gain. Any of the graphic organizers in Chapters 3–11 can be used as a homework assignment to review content or in the classroom as a way to rehearse or practice new learning.
5. Nonlinguistic representations: Trained students showed a 27 percent gain. This category addresses the importance of using strategies that use pictures, diagrams, and organizers. All of the graphic organizers in this book target critical and creative thinking, and can be used to differentiate instruction.
6. Cooperative learning: Trained students showed a 27 percent gain. As you read about the graphic organizers in the following chapters, the idea of flexible grouping (students working with different groups of students periodically) is promoted and encouraged. We cannot create cooperative learning groups all of the time, and we know that for some types of learners, such as introverts, this type of learning can feel exhausting. Most students, however, are very social. They like to work with their peers. This type of learning is motivational and engaging. Many students need help moving their thinking beyond a literal level and the teacher is not always available to help out. Cooperative learning can provide a management system that enables students to help one another by working on the graphic organizers together.
7. Setting objectives and providing feedback: Trained students showed 23 percent gains. The language and structure provided in the graphic organizers in this book provide clarity as to how the teacher wants the students to think about what they know. The use of cognitive graphic organizers makes the objectives clearer and also serves to provide guided feedback. Brain research also indicates that feedback needs to be specific for it to be most effective. Graphic organizers presented in this book use procedural language, structured formats, and rating scales and rubrics that provide teachers with the direction necessary to give quality feedback.
8. Generating and testing hypotheses: Trained students showed a gain of 23 percent. By asking students to come up with a hypothesis and then support it, students are encouraged to use both critical and creative thinking skills. Many of the graphic organizers in this book serve as ways to test hypotheses. In Chapter 7, students are asked to make a belief statement and then justify it in the “judge” graphic organizer. In Chapter 3, students are asked to state an “assumption” and then support their statement. In Chapter 4, students are asked to make an “inference” statement. They then reflect on facts and prior knowledge supporting this inference and draw a conclusion.
9. Using questions, cues, and advance organizers: Trained students showed a 22 percent gain. Throughout this book, the importance of word cues and shared language is discussed. High-level questions promote deep thinking and long-lasting learning, but word cues help students know what we are looking for. By paying attention to both the content and the verb in prompts, students learn just how important word cues are.

THE USE OF VERBS

There is wide consensus that graphic organizers are useful tools to promote critical thinking and boost student achievement. But why provide graphic organizers that focus on verbs?

The use of specific verbs is considered a cognitive organizer because it directs students to think about content critically and creatively, as well as in an organized way. Obviously, students could use an organizer like an outline to help with their thinking. The organizers in Chapters 3–11, however, have the added advantage of focusing students on the action suggested by the verb. For example, some students have difficulty prioritizing. If they are asked to decide which event had the greatest impact in the presidential election, students can apply the four-step process they learned by using the Prioritizer graphic organizer. The knowledge of how to prioritize, along with the content knowledge, helps students to make logical, informed responses with precision.

Graphic organizers that use verbs are also useful to differentiate teaching because they help to pinpoint when and where students get stuck. Is it a lack of content information? Does the student understand the question? Can the student express an answer? I examine each of these possibilities in turn.

1. Does the student lack content information? If the student cannot fill out the graphic organizer or has only partial responses, try changing the verb in the prompt. Simplify the verb to the knowledge or comprehension level and see if the student can give you at least a partial answer. In this way, you can glean whether the student has a minimal understanding of the information. She may need more practice and review of the content information before she is able to be successful with a high-level thinking graphic organizer.
2. Does the student understand what the question is asking her to do? If, after simplifying the verb, the student gives you quite a lot of information but still has trouble with the graphic organizer, it may indicate that the student is having difficulty responding to the verb in the question or prompt. This means the student needs help understanding how to process the verb. Once this happens, the students will know what the question is asking. For instance, if the teacher asks students to make an inference based on an article they read on pollution, then this assignment assumes students can read and understand the article as well as know how to make an inference. If the student knows information but is unable to make inferences, then the teacher can use the Paint Jars graphic organizer to demonstrate how to make inferences. Students can continue to use the graphic organizer until they no longer need to write out the process.
3. Can the student express her answer so that it is understood? Some students do not have the writing skills or expressive language to write essays and reports. A major advantage of using these graphic organizers is that they require limited written responses. This is an effective tool for students who have difficulty writing or are English Language Learners. They may have a good grasp of the content information, but are not successful at conveying their knowledge when asked to make written responses. According to Reiss (2005 p. 75), “The graphic organizer allows ELL students to give a maximum amount of information with only a minimum amount of language.” In short, the graphic organizer allows the teacher to assess to what degree the student ...