Strategy Reflection #5 Nonlinguistic Representations

What?

Nonlinguistic representation can be described as a way to get students to create an image of what they learned through graphic organizers and other strategies. I decided to utilize the describing wheel graphic organizer to enhance my students' understanding of the Industrial Revolution in World History. My usual classroom routine is to read the selection of text aloud and discuss it. Once we discuss it I have my students complete questions and worksheets to conduct more independent practice to see what my students got out of the lesson. I decided to try a graphic organizer to determine if they comprehended what we had been discussing the past couple of days.

So What?

I printed off copies of the describing wheel that was passed out during a group presentation. I explained to my students how to use the organizer and what I was expecting them to do. I had them write "Industrial Revolution Inventions of the 1700s." I wanted them to list all the inventions we discussed and include the year the invention was created and the person responsible for the invention. Most of my students went straight to work without any hesitation, but I had others who were still confused. I wrote Eli Whitney-cotton gin-1793 on the board and told them to put it in one of the boxes on the graphic organizer. The demonstration helped them to understand what I wanted. I walked around the room and observed my students writing down the inventions. I was surprised at the number of students who didn't use the book as often as others. It showed me that those students understood the material enough to create a mental representation such as a graphic organizer. Some were so pleased with their assignment that once they finished they asked to color it. I posted each graphic organizer on my student recognition board so they can gain confidence in knowing they were able to create a visual representation.

Now What?

After the success of this activity, I decided to implement graphic organizers into my lessons each week. In the past I would occasionally use graphic organizers to check for understanding anyway, but now I will make sure to use them more. Instead of doing my usual worksheets and questions I plan to check for understanding by having my students complete graphic organizers. I didn't realize how many different graphic organizers were available online. After this activity I researched other graphic organizers from the handouts given to us during the presentation and was overwhelmed with the results. I now understand why graphic organizers and other nonlinguistic representations are so important in determining whether or not students grasped a concept.