The importance of Graphic Organizers in K-12 Classrooms

Ever heard of people go on and on about Graphic Organizers? Ever wondered the importance of them?

As the name implies, graphic organizers are visual learning tools which facilitate the students’ ability to learn and understand better. However, the effectiveness of these graphic organizers depend on the involvement of the teachers and their responsibilities in explaining to students how to use such tools. Graphic organizers are suitable for students in all age groups; it helps them organize complex information into concise visual maps. Is that all? No, they have a great potential for fostering learning in a variety of different areas in education, particularly comprehension, reading and vocabulary skills.

We, at Creately studied the importance of these graphic organizers, and designed a number of easy to use graphic organizer templates. After doing extensive research on the popularity of specific graphic organizers, we designed templates for Storyboards, Fishbone Diagrams, T Charts, Y Charts, Cycle Diagrams, Venn Diagrams, ISP (Information, Source, Page) Charts, Persuasion Maps, KWL (Know- Wonder- Learn) Charts, and much more.

You can see a few of our worked examples and template samples below -

StoryBoards

Storyboarding is a great technique for discussing books and literature and one of the frequently used graphic organizer types. With Creately’s Storyboard Graphic Organizer Templates, you get a web-based visual organizer which helps students work together on writing to better understand the story. It’s great for discussing story structures and exploring the varied ways in which the author works with time.

Story Board as a Graphic Organizer ( click on image to use as a template )

 More storyboard templates>>

KWL Charts

A KWL Chart or ‘Know-Want to know-Learned‘ chart is an excellent visual graphic organizer. It encourages students to read and actively seek for knowledge. It can also be used as a method to summarize the days lessons and emphasize things learned during the day. It helps teachers to be more interactive in their lessons.Creately is loaded with great KWL chart templates that you can put to use immediately in your classroom. Students can work online as a groups on a KWL chart and share with you to submit their work as an assignment. You can download them if you want as well.

KWL(Know-Want to learn-Learned) charts ( click to use as a template )

More KWL chart templates >>

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis is a method to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in project. Although mostly used by business ventures to analyze themselves and competitors they can be easily used in the classroom as well. They are a powerful graphic organizer because they give a quick overview of a project. You can now brainstorm on SWOT analysis with your students using our online SWOT Analysis templates and organizers. From the classroom to the boardroom, a SWOT analysis is a powerful tool and Creately helps you get the best out of them.

SWOT analysis template ( click to use as a template )

Persuasion Map

This is a very effective tool which helps students map out their arguments for a persuasive debate or essay. In Creately the Persuasion Map templates are completely customizable and accessible online anytime.

Persuasion maps are perfect to prepare for debates

Cluster/ World Web

In Cluster/ World Web templates, the students are expected to write the topic in discussion in the centre circle and the details in the smaller circles. A great way to visualize a topic easily.

Cluster World Web Diagrams ( click on image to use as template )

ISP Chart

ISP Chart is also known as the ‘Information- Sources- Page’ Chart. These chart templates in Creately would come in handy for students who are trying to compile the list of references for any project/ assignment/ thesis they are working on.

ISP chart ( click on image to use as template )

Graphic Organizers Helps Students and Teachers

Mentioned above are some of the frequently used graphic organizers. Using these in the classroom helps to increase the interaction between the students and teachers. Also if you are using a web based tool like Creately you can use these charts and encourage students to collaborate online. So what are you waiting for..

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