Chapter 6

I am personally a huge advocate of graphic organizers. I have always had a problem grasping the “big picture” of things. I personally would like to create a graphic organizer for the parents of my students as an overview of the content that will be covered in my classroom. Graphic organizers make it much easier for studying, especially for students with ADHD. Having it chunked allows them to focus on one topic at a time without being boggled with so much information at once. I purchased a book about graphic organizers and which ones to use in each subject and I have found it to be very beneficial to me!

"Graphic organizers are one way for teachers to ensure that students can show their abilities." This quote screams of the truth to me. If the teacher is organized ahead of time, it makes it much harder for a student to say, “I didn’t know…”

Can there be too many graphic organizers used in a classroom? Do some students find them more difficult to follow than others? I ask this because I always loved them, but I don’t know if I am alone on that?

Text to Talk

I have always thought of pictures as a positive reinforcement. I guess the visual learner in me is very aggravated by reading this. Without pictures, I would be lost. I need a visual image to go by when I am reading, especially when it is informational text. I never remember the tiny details unless I study what I have read… so maybe this is my problem? I just do not see pictures as being something that takes away from a reading experience. I do however see how background knowledge could get in the way of student comprehension. For example, while reading about boxer dogs my friend informed me that she was attacked by one when she was younger. However, I sleep with two of them curled up cozily snuggled as close as they can get to me every night. When reading about this breed of dog it is obvious that there are going to be two very different opinions on the subject!
Is it possible that this theory is wrong? The only reason I see this being a problem is if someone is simply too lazy to read the text because they think they have enough prior knowledge on the image to continue reading.
Could having a negative experience with something completely change the meaning of text to a person?

My Reaction to Effective Content Area Literacy Instruction in the Elementary Grades

I found this article to be very helpful. I think presenting informative text at an early age to students is a great idea. Personally I never comprehended informative text when it was presented to me. I can remember feeling as if it did not make any sense. The vocabulary was over my head. This made it hard to follow along in class due to my lack of comprehesion of informational text. Many students do not like science due to previous experiences with their text books or lack there of in previous grades. Finding a subtle way to introduce these books at an early age would allow students to get a head start on comprehending the information presented to them. I would like to know how much additional instruction time would be needed to implement the use of expository texts? How would I present text like this to younger students without overwhelming them(at their grade level)?