Jan

1

Graphic Organizer- Fish Bone

Filed Under Graphic Organizers, Organization | Leave a Comment

fishbone

Last post I talked about having my students discover their strengths and weaknesses using a multiple intelligence questionaire based on Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence theory. A good way to organize this information is to have the students complete a fish bone organizer. I find that my at-risk students really enjoy using this graphic organizer to take notes from their text books as well- go figure.
It’s not complicated. Have the students write the main topic at the front of the organizer and then write the sub topics on the diagonal lines and the main points for each sub topic on the horizontal lines. Here’s an example. I ask the students to colour code the information as well- one colour for each sub-topic. After they are completed the fish-bone, I post them on the walls of the classroom. The kids love seeing their work on the walls. I find that posting the kids work is really motivating.

www.edhelper.com has a good selection of ready made organizers. I’ve been a member for a number of years and find the site invaluable. If the link doesn’t work, just paste the address into browser.

Dec

1

The Five Step Essay Writing Process

Filed Under Organization, Writing Better Essays | 1 Comment

Many of my students panic when I ask them to write an essay. For some reason, they think that they should be able to sit down and write the perfect essay in one felled swoop. They don’t really understand that writing an essay is a process. Consequently, when it’s time for my students to write an essay, I teach them an essay writing process using a graphic organizer. My lesson on writing an essay may go something like this:

First, I will ask them to complete a chart like the one below, and I tell them that I want them to share what they have written with a partner. I will circulate while the students are doing this and then I will invite students to share some of what they have written.

Thinking, Knowing and Doing

What I Already Know About Writing An Essay

What I Would Like To Know About Writing A Good Essay

What I Need To Do To Be Able To Write A Good Essay

*****

I use the information they share to introduce the writing process. It doesn’t really matter what the kids tell because I can use what they know as a review for my five step writing process and I can use what they don’t know to teach my five step writing process. It’s a win - win situation.

After this, I introduce the Tower graphic organizer- a five step writing process.  Tower Graphic Organizer

Nov

6

Emergency Lesson Plans Are A Great Idea

Filed Under Dealing With Stress, Organization, The Way I See It | 5 Comments

Emergency lesson plans are a great idea. They’ve made my life so much easier on many occasions. I create a few lesson plans to use when there is an emergency- if I’m away from school, if I’m at school but not well and can’t think, if my originally planned lesson just doesn’t work etc. Basically these lessons are there for me to use when things aren’t going well. I usually use www.edhelper.com to create the lessons and then I print a class set and keep them in a file in my drawer labeled emergency lesson plans. There are lots and lots of activities on edhelper that you can use to fill in for those times when the wheels fall off the teaching wagon. I usually include a reading activity with questions and a word search for vocabulary and some other activity. There are reading activities for math and science as well as English, history etc. It’s amazing what’s available. With a little imagination and foresight you can be prepared for those days when nothing seems to go well- like today. :)

Next Page →



Powered by FeedBlitz

AddThis Feed Button Stumble It!

This blog contributes to the web with Nofollow Reciprocity.