Never make fun of someone who speaks broken English. It means they know another language.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr (American inspirational author)

Graphic Organizer
is a VISUAL representation of knowledge. It is a way of structuring information, of arranging important aspects of a concept or topic into a pattern using labels (Bromley, IrwinDeVitis,& Modlo, p. 6).

Application in classrooms and similar settings "Graphic organizers have been applied across a range of curriculum subject areas. Although reading is by far the most well studied application, science, social studies, language arts, and math are additional content areas that are represented in the research base on graphic organizers." (Hall & Strangman, 2005)

In Classroom Instruction that Works: Research Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement, by Robert J. Marzano, Debra Pickering, and Jane E. Pollack, it is suggested that all graphic organizers can be placed into six common patterns:

Descriptive Patterns Time-Sequence Patterns Process/Cause-Effect Patterns Episode Patterns Generalization/Principle Patterns Concept Patterns

Descriptive pattern organizers can be used for information related to vocabulary terms or for facts about specific persons, places, things, and events. The information in a descriptive organizer does not need to be in any particular order.

Three angles each measure 60deg.

Three equal sides

Equilateral Triangle
A perpendicular line from any vertex to the opposite side (altitude) bisects the side

Three lines of symmetry

Time/Sequence Pattern Organizers organizes events in a specific chronological order.

Process/Cause-Effect patterns organize information into a causal network leading to a specific outcome or into a sequence of steps leading to a specific product.

Information about the factors that typically lead to the development of a healthy person might be organized as a process/cause-effect pattern.

Episode patterns organize a large quantity of information about specific events including a setting (time and place), specific people, specific duration, specific sequence of events, and a particular cause and effect.

Shift from stocks to bonds due to higher yields. Overload of computer program trading meant computers and set prices were controlling the market more than investors

US Stock Market Crash of 1987

Creations of circuit breakers or techniques that restrict trading times. Communication between stock market regulators and investors has increased.

Shift from stocks Shift from stocks Shift from stocks

Generalization/principle patterns organize information into general statements with supporting examples. For instance, for the statement, A Mathematics function is a relationship in which the value of one variable depends on the value of another variable, examples can be provided and represented in a graphic.

Concept patterns, the most general of all patterns, organize information around a word or phrase that represents entire classes or categories of persons, places, things, and events. The characteristics or attributes of the concept, along with examples of each, should be included in this pattern. The concept of fables, can be organized into a graphic as shown in the next slide.

No instructional material, no matter how superior, can take the place of an effective teacher.