Graphic Organizer FAIL

Graphic Organizers are something I never used in school; however, from the first day of my program at GSU I have been told that they are great. They are supposed to help students visualize the information and the connections between the facts. Here are some examples for everyone who has also never heard of them:

 

Because the students seems bored with the extensive closed notes (notes where key words and phrases are missing) and never looked at them again once they were completed, I thought I would try to utilize a graphic organizer. This enables the students to write the information in their own words and is not quite as wordy. 

This is the one I used. I was very excited about it and put a lot of effort into making a corresponding PowerPoint. Another reason which I thought this would be a good tool is that it enables me to create a less wordy PowerPoint, which keeps me from just reading from the PowerPoint.

Unfortunately, as you can tell from the title of this post, it didn't really work out. The students were confused by the lack of structure and did not know what to write down or when to write it. Even with my prompts, many students were confused. So, it was basically a fail. In retrospect, it probably wasn't a great idea to change the style of note taking on the student over halfway through the school year.

My mentor suggested that graphic organizers be used for a review or reteaching of information previously learned. But, I will keep working on my lecturing skill, and are going to revert back to their usual style of note taking for their comfort.

On a positive note, my closing activity/assessment went really well. I basically had them choose between the four "topics" for the day (see above) and tell me how it related to the essential question (center question on the graphic organizer).

Methods

The difference between the Honors and College Prep classes that I am teaching is huge! The honors students are very intelligent, alert, and purposeful. The other classes, although they are college prep, are designed for students who have special educational needs or have failed before. These classes are almost just plain boring. The students mostly come in two varieties. Many are not motivated and for the most part do not actually think about what we are telling them. The others have disabilities and need extra attention or time.

I will get to learn a lot from both styles. The opportunity with the first class is to learn how to challenge students who are gifted so that they do not become bored and to help them learn as much as they are able. The opportunity with the second group is to learn how to engage students who do not care as well as help students with special needs succeed.

This semester at PRHS is going to be quite different than last semester.