Using Graphic Organizers as a Social Studies Teacher

Earlier this week, my Principal sent a letter to all 8th grade social studies teachers directing us to administer a practice ELA writing assignment every Wednesday until the ELA Examination in January. The assignment was for the teacher to read aloud a selection two times while the students take notes appropriately. The material read to the students was not very easy, but it made the task make that much more sense in the end. Students were required to use their notes they took and complete a graphic organizer (two boxes) similar to that of a flow chart or a concept map. Students were introduced to this type of advanced organizer and this helped them to create a 4 paragraph essay containing the information that was input into the graphic organizer.

As a social studies teacher, comparing and contrasting various people, events, cultures, and places is a standard that we must uphold. I have been using graphic organizers with my students from my old school because they were special education students and they needed a visual representation of their notes. Many times I found myself using concept mapping and visual representations in my planning so that I would have a more effective lesson. Students use T-charts, 4-squares, Venn diagrams, and word webs mostly every day in social studies. These are skills that I personally learned as a young student, but it did not hit me until I took the LSAT how important those graphic organizers were when you had numerous reading comprehensions and you only had a short amount of time to write your essay or answer the questions below the readings.

I hope that my students one day will look back and say "Mr. S taught me how to do graphic organizers and this has made my life and note-taking much easier" Well one can only hope, but I truthfully want to thank my teachers for shaping me to be a more effective teacher than they were overall---some of them were very good, while others have shown me "what not to do." I have taken both of these into account in my own classroom.