Graphic organizer
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A graphic organizer is a visual framework, such as a chart, map or diagram, that helps students organize ideas, information or steps.
Topic: Accommodations, modifications and instruction
In plain terms
Graphic organizers make thinking visible. Story maps show character, setting, problem and solution; Venn diagrams compare; flowcharts show sequence; and paragraph planners lay out a topic sentence, details and conclusion. They can support reading, writing, math problem solving and studying.
How it shows up in an IEP
A graphic organizer can be an accommodation, part of specially designed instruction, or a condition in a goal: "given a paragraph planner, will write a 5-sentence paragraph." Objectives can fade the organizer as the student internalizes the structure.
Example
A student plans an opinion paragraph using a four-box organizer. After eight weeks, the goal condition changes from a completed organizer to a blank one the student fills in alone.
Related terms
- Written expressionWritten expression is the ability to communicate ideas in writing, including planning, organizing, writing sentences and revising.
- Reading comprehensionReading comprehension is understanding and making meaning from text, by combining word reading, language knowledge and thinking skills.
- Universal Design for Learning (UDL)Universal Design for Learning is a framework for planning lessons with flexible options from the start, so more students can access and engage with learning.
- AccommodationAn accommodation changes how a student learns or shows learning, without changing what the student is expected to learn.
- Schema-based instructionSchema-based instruction teaches students to recognize the underlying structure, or schema, of a word problem and use a matching diagram to solve it.
On IEP Atlas
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