Graphic Organizers

Introduction

Graphic Organizers are a visual aid that helps to outline and explain a topic.  They can be very simple or complex depending on the topic.  The central part of a graphic organizer begins with the core concept.  From there, subtopics and facts related to the core concept are explained.  Graphic Organizers can be used to explain a wide range of topics including those for children and adults.

Description

Using shapes, different parts of a core concept are placed inside each one and a line is drawn to the central concept.  Depending on the forum that the graphic organizer will be presented in, the graphic organizer can be very detailed or just touch down on the main points of importance.  To look at a graphic organizer is to look at the whole picture.  To see each shape as its own entity but also as part of a bigger idea is to understand that each part works together to help the viewer get a feel for how things work.  It helps to make clearer how the concept works in the real world and also how things happen from one point to another.

Reflection

I found the graphic organizers to be very helpful when trying to express what I found to be important aspects of different topics.  Sometimes the shape making feature in Microsoft Word was a bit difficult to work with and made it hard to place the shapes attractively on the page.  Another part that I found challenging were the choices of information to include in each graphic organizer.  I did not want to exclude anything important!  I did enjoy making them and found that simple text and color were sufficient for a clean and interesting looking graphic organizer.