For band the "Dump and Clump" strategy is used most often. I can have most musical vocabulary words in the dumpster and students clump the words in groups based on several main areas in music. One main area would be dynamics in which there are many terms (piano, mezzopiano, forte.)
The organization strategy that I have used this year has been to organize my weekly plans for teaching in folders. I'm using the 10 cent folders and have week 1, week 2 and so on labeled on the front. I place in it my plans for those weeks and the papers I plan to use and copy. This keeps me on top of what I have planned to do and it’s easy to more things back or up if needed. So far it is working well.
In social studies, I have used a version of two column notes. This works well because I guide the kids to pull out exactly what I want them to pull out from the lesson or text.
I have organized some chapter information in a foldables this year. It is a great way to put a lot of information in a small space. The only thing that I needed to improve was how to assess the foldable. I felt like we created it but only used it for studying purposes. I think that it should have been assessed in a more creative way.
I often use a Venn Diagram as an organizing strategy. This is a great visual graphic to use when comparing characters in a story. It also works well when comparing/contrasting two different selections. I think students benefit from seeing the similarities and differences in such a clear manner.
My students created a foldable in Science. Each fold was a layer of the earth and the students wrote bulleted information about each layer. This was very visual and they could refer back to it on their test. I think it works well because the layers are physically divided by the folds, which is especially useful to students who are unorganized when it comes to taking notes.
We used a foldable to show the differences between two topics like the Greeks and the Romans. Students drew an illustration of a piece of architecture in Rome and Greece with details to support each civilization.
I used Brain Mapping quite often. It is a great way for students to organize their thoughts. They are able to categorize them quickly and easily share.
I used story maps with the story "The Wounded Wolf". It worked well with my children. They seemed to like putting the information into each section rather than just writing sentences or a paragraph with this same information.
One of the organizing strategies I used this none weeks was Target Notes to focus on understandig poetry. The fundamentals of poetry that were "targeted" were: mood/tone, wordchoice/language, poetic elements, and message. Students were also required to write a short summary of the poem using their notes. This worked very well to help students focus on specific elements. The completed work students turned in indicated this was a helpful activity.
I used Concept Mapping as an organizing strategy during an assignment on mythology.It was interesting to visually see the various levels of understanding.
I have used a version of two column notes in health class. My class looked at the advantages and disadvantages of school sports verses individual sports.
I have used two column notes the most. We list thing they already know about the art subject we are learning about. Then at the end of the lesson we do a column of what they have learned.
I try to use a variety of organizational strategies for both myself and student. For my students, I have everything laid out according to grade level and subject. For example each grade level has their own bin to keep both their math and ELA notebooks which stay in the classroom. Recently with an ELA asssignment we completed a Venn-Diagram when comparing and contrasting two characters.
This year I have used the Anticipation/Reaction Guide in my 8th grade Career Explorations class. This gives you an idea of what the kids know before you begin a lesson and what they have added to the knowledge after the lesson.
I have used dump and clump and have had some success.I am sorry, There are alot of these that don't work for such a large class as mine. The dump and clump has worked for specific groups of definitions such as dynamics or tempo.
I have used Concept Mapping several times during the first nine weeks. I find students enjoy the process the most when they are mapping a concept in groups, but I can do a quick assessment of where each one is better if they are mapping individually.
I have used two column notes with my students. They are able to complete this with little assistances and actually see what new things they have learned.
In ELA, I frequently have students highlight or underline important facts and/or details when reading a story and writing about literacy elements or summaries. This helps them organize their thoughts and seems to works well most of the time. In math, I have had students copy down simplified steps that I try to make vocabulary friendly so they can follow when solving equations and inequalities. I repeat these steps many times for them so they can eventually memorize them or at least parts of them.
I use a foldable in my classroom to help students organize information. The one used recently was to help students to learn the rules to multiply integers. They folded a piece of paper into four parts and then drew a picture to represent a positive times a negative and so on.
I have used a Venn Diagram and other "Thinking Maps" to help students organize their thoughts. It worked well, showing the similarities and differences between Ancient Civilizations. From Adam Kennington
In order for my students to understand what is important, concept maps have to be used. These can be bubble maps to show the relationship between ideas and the main topic or venn diagrams to show comparisons. Both of these I find myself using in order to help students "see" what they are learning. I have seen an increase in understanding when these types of notes are given in class as opposed to having student copy notes, take notes, or simply read the notes from the activboard. These concept thinking maps are also helpful when creating activboard lesson that are interactive with the class.
I have used concept mapping for my sixth grade. I hope that it helped the students to gain a better understanding of input, output, and storage devices.
Sticky-Note discussions are useful tools that help students organize and better understand different reading selections. As a student or group reads or completes a reading selection they can stop and from time to time and place sticky-notes to highlight items they want to discuss following given guidelines.
I have used the two column notes for reading assignments in social studies. This has been a great way to make connections to the content we are studying.
I have used a graphic organizer on the steps for order of operation. The organizer gave them a process for solving multi-step algebra equations. Suzanne Goble
For band the "Dump and Clump" strategy is used most often. I can have most musical vocabulary words in the dumpster and students clump the words in groups based on several main areas in music. One main area would be dynamics in which there are many terms (piano, mezzopiano, forte.)
ReplyDeleteThe organization strategy that I have used this year has been to organize my weekly plans for teaching in folders. I'm using the 10 cent folders and have week 1, week 2 and so on labeled on the front. I place in it my plans for those weeks and the papers I plan to use and copy. This keeps me on top of what I have planned to do and it’s easy to more things back or up if needed. So far it is working well.
ReplyDeleteIn social studies, I have used a version of two column notes. This works well because I guide the kids to pull out exactly what I want them to pull out from the lesson or text.
ReplyDeleteI have organized some chapter information in a foldables this year. It is a great way to put a lot of information in a small space. The only thing that I needed to improve was how to assess the foldable. I felt like we created it but only used it for studying purposes. I think that it should have been assessed in a more creative way.
ReplyDeleteI often use a Venn Diagram as an organizing strategy. This is a great visual graphic to use when comparing characters in a story. It also works well when comparing/contrasting two different selections. I think students benefit from seeing the similarities and differences in such a clear manner.
ReplyDeleteMy students created a foldable in Science. Each fold was a layer of the earth and the students wrote bulleted information about each layer. This was very visual and they could refer back to it on their test. I think it works well because the layers are physically divided by the folds, which is especially useful to students who are unorganized when it comes to taking notes.
ReplyDeleteWe used a foldable to show the differences between two topics like the Greeks and the Romans. Students drew an illustration of a piece of architecture in Rome and Greece with details to support each civilization.
ReplyDeleteI used Brain Mapping quite often. It is a great way for students to organize their thoughts. They are able to categorize them quickly and easily share.
ReplyDeleteI used story maps with the story "The Wounded Wolf". It worked well with my children. They seemed to like putting the information into each section rather than just writing sentences or a paragraph with this same information.
ReplyDeleteThe dump and clump strategy is helpful on the active board to help students place all the terms learned into categories. Helps them to organize.
ReplyDeleteI used a Venn Diagram when teaching common factors of numbers. This was a great way for the kids to visually see which factors are common.
ReplyDeleteOne of the organizing strategies I used this none weeks was Target Notes to focus on understandig poetry. The fundamentals of poetry that were "targeted" were: mood/tone, wordchoice/language, poetic elements, and message. Students were also required to write a short summary of the poem using their notes. This worked very well to help students focus on specific elements. The completed work students turned in indicated this was a helpful activity.
ReplyDeleteI used Concept Mapping as an organizing strategy during an assignment on mythology.It was interesting to visually see the various levels of understanding.
ReplyDeleteI have used a version of two column notes in health class. My class looked at the advantages and disadvantages of school sports verses individual sports.
ReplyDeleteI have used two column notes the most. We list thing they already know about the art subject we are learning about. Then at the end of the lesson we do a column of what they have learned.
ReplyDeleteI try to use a variety of organizational strategies for both myself and student. For my students, I have everything laid out according to grade level and subject. For example each grade level has their own bin to keep both their math and ELA notebooks which stay in the classroom. Recently with an ELA asssignment we completed a Venn-Diagram when comparing and contrasting two characters.
ReplyDeleteThis year I have used the Anticipation/Reaction Guide in my 8th grade Career Explorations class. This gives you an idea of what the kids know before you begin a lesson and what they have added to the knowledge after the lesson.
ReplyDeleteI have used dump and clump and have had some success.I am sorry, There are alot of these that don't work for such a large class as mine. The dump and clump has worked for specific groups of definitions such as dynamics or tempo.
ReplyDeleteI have used Concept Mapping several times during the first nine weeks. I find students enjoy the process the most when they are mapping a concept in groups, but I can do a quick assessment of where each one is better if they are mapping individually.
ReplyDeleteI have used two column notes with my students. They are able to complete this with little assistances and actually see what new things they have learned.
ReplyDeleteIn ELA, I frequently have students highlight or underline important facts and/or details when reading a story and writing about literacy elements or summaries. This helps them organize their thoughts and seems to works well most of the time. In math, I have had students copy down simplified steps that I try to make vocabulary friendly so they can follow when solving equations and inequalities. I repeat these steps many times for them so they can eventually memorize them or at least parts of them.
ReplyDeleteI use a foldable in my classroom to help students organize information. The one used recently was to help students to learn the rules to multiply integers. They folded a piece of paper into four parts and then drew a picture to represent a positive times a negative and so on.
ReplyDeleteI have used a Venn Diagram and other "Thinking Maps" to help students organize their thoughts. It worked well, showing the similarities and differences between Ancient Civilizations.
ReplyDeleteFrom Adam Kennington
In order for my students to understand what is important, concept maps have to be used. These can be bubble maps to show the relationship between ideas and the main topic or venn diagrams to show comparisons. Both of these I find myself using in order to help students "see" what they are learning. I have seen an increase in understanding when these types of notes are given in class as opposed to having student copy notes, take notes, or simply read the notes from the activboard. These concept thinking maps are also helpful when creating activboard lesson that are interactive with the class.
ReplyDeleteI have used concept mapping for my sixth grade. I hope that it helped the students to gain a better understanding of input, output, and storage devices.
ReplyDeleteSticky-Note discussions are useful tools that
ReplyDeletehelp students organize and better understand different reading selections. As a student or group reads or completes a reading selection they can stop and from time to time and place sticky-notes to highlight items they want to discuss following given guidelines.
I have used the two column notes for reading assignments in social studies. This has been a great way to make connections to the content we are studying.
ReplyDeleteAmber Treadway
The organizing strategy that I have used this year is concept mapping. It helped the students understand the different layers to the main topic or EQ.
ReplyDeleteI have used a graphic organizer on the steps for order of operation. The organizer gave them a process for solving multi-step algebra equations.
ReplyDeleteSuzanne Goble