I had my students write an essay for me listing three things they had learned this year. One student wrote, "I didn't think I could ever write and I was always nervous about doing it. But every time you gave us the story map before writing I knew that if I just filled that out and followed it I could write. And now it's easy!"
I agree that graphic organizers help students generate nonliguistic representations. They combine the linguistic mode with the use of words and the nonlinguistic mode because they use symbols to respresent relationships. These tools really do give students confidence in writing. Although in the beginning most students think graphic organizers are not necessary. But in most cases they rely on the maps as they mature into greater writers.
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I highly agree. The graphic organizers can help students formulate their thoughts. I have felt that children just need help with all the ideas going around in their heads. I am sure that writers use some type of organization scheme. I agree that most children think at the beginning that they don't need to use an organizer. There is always a child that looks at me like "why are we doing this?", but once he/she gets used to the idea they always use that throughout the year.
ReplyDeleteI have had the same experience using graphic organizers while helping students write. I think for some students the whole idea is just too large, and they need the help to organize their ideas. Once they see they can do it, they will ask if they can use a certain organizer in their writing.
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