YEAH! I love these. They are absolutely ESSENTIAL for some of my students. In my resource class, my students survive on graphic organizers and have yet to take any notes without on. Inclusive classes are a little bit different because there are many times when you don't want to "single out your kids" as being different than their peers.
One of my co-teachers and I use a graphic organizer format for almost everything in our history course, even if they are not pre-made outlines for note taking. For example, when the students outline a chapter for homework, they are not just writing down facts or putting it in an outline format. We use what we like to call "GCP format" which stands for Geography, Culture, and Politics. Basically every single note this class takes while they read falls into one of the three categories of geography ("land stuff"), culture ("people stuff"), or politics ("government stuff"). This format is graphic in nature so that students have a format that is neat and coherent. It also helps them process the reading a lot easier when they have to analyze what category the information fits into. So, it really is easy to use graphic organizers in everyday lessons, and I can bet you 9 out of 10 students will thank you for helping them take detailed, organized, and meaningful notes.
For more information about using graphic organizers in the classroom, please visit this current practice alert from TeachingLD.org
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