Graphic Organizers
Students with executive functioning issues or dysgraphia may require a graphic organizer to help organize their writing. In a digital setting, graphic organizers can add depth to instruction that a traditional paper graphic organizer can't have. For example, teachers can support areas of weakness by hyper-linking definitions or examples to help support student learning of a particular concept. In addition, to support composition, teachers can hyper-link videos of direct explicit instruction of composition to help develop the skill.
In the google doc, the prompt is posted at the top. For this writing assignment, the teacher's objective is to assess their understanding of The Great Gatsby while supporting their need for task management, recall of past information, and providing instruction in composition.
After posting the prompt, the teacher is supporting task management by putting the steps that the student will need to complete in order to write the prompt. The student can check them off as they go. In addition, because it's a google document, the document can be shared with the teacher, in real time, so that the teacher can monitor progress.
To help support the student with recall of past information, the teacher hyperlinks definitions and examples to terms (this is indicated by the blue terms) that the student may not recall from previous lessons. If a student is struggling with trying to remember theme, they can simply click on the blue term and they will be taken to a definition and example of theme so that the student can write their response with an appropriate definition and example.
To support the student during the composition portion of the assignment, the teacher provides access to notes, examples, and videos with direct explicit instruction to support the students need for writing support. Therefore, the student can simply click on Attention Getter and have access to the class notes, samples, and a video about attention getters so they can model their own writing off of the instruction.
In addition, the teacher chunks the single paragraph into three separate functions and color codes them so that the student is aware of how many tasks they will need to complete in order to satisfy completion of the paragraph.
Utilizing a digital graphic organizer and front-loading it with hyper-links to support learning based on anticipated needs can help to empower the student in their writing process and make writing an independent task.