Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Post #3
Ok, its only Tuesday but its already been a long week. I think I need spring break as much as the kids do. I felt I should probably post about today's class activity. Mr. Roush used graphic organizers in the 11th grade Literature class, a first since I have been observing his classroom. We are getting ready to begin "To Kill a Mockingbird" and we are discussing the concept of Utopia. This graphic organizer had a bubble in the middle and we had the students write the word Utopia in the center and define what they thought it meant (after a lengthy classroom discussion on it)! Then on both sides we had 5 horizontal lines, one for positive effects and one for negative effects. After using this graphic organizer to prewrite their thoughts. Students were to write an essay on how they envisioned a totally equal society and how they would create that equality overcoming the obstacles that currently set individual members of society apart. I really enjoyed this assignment and I can see myself modifying it for many assignments in my own classroom.
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Amy,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great example of a pre-writing or even pre-reading graphic organizer in the classroom. Thanks for sharing it with us. Did you find that it improved students' understanding of the material -- thus improving student achievement? I'd be curious to your thinking on this. 10/10
Is this a type of web graphic organizer? With the extended lines, though, it seems almost like a two-column chart with a bubble in the center. Anyway--it seems like it would be a good way to get students to think about abstract concepts and how they feel about them/where they see pluses and minuses with them... Interesting! Thank you! :)
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