Danielle Wallace

EDUC 6330
Dr. Wilmore
March 29, 2018
Journal: Module 4

1. Review the graphic organizer templates

found online at www.teachervision.com (Links to an external site.)Links to an

external site. (this site will open in a new window). Which ones have you used, or if

you have not used any of them, which ones might be appropriate to use in a future

lesson?

The graphic organizer templates available on the teacher vision website are great examples of

how visualization can be used in with in any discipline. I have used many versions of the

templates shown on the website. When I used to substitute I would use the “who, what, where,

why and how” organizer to help students at all ages to organize their thoughts for writing

assignments. Answering these question about an assignment is something that is simple enough

for most students to do, regardless of their ages.

For my science classes I have used several versions of the graphic organizer templates that

are featured on the teach vision website. Since there are a lot of complex and abstract concepts to

master in the field of science, graphic organizers and visualization is key. I have used the “Venn

diagrams” on several occasions. I have found them to be one of the easiest and simple ways

compare and contrast abstract science concepts. They are also very easy for students to use and

adapt to other concepts that they might be having trouble grasping. I have also had good luck

with the “cause and affect” graphic organizers in the science classroom.

For future lessons, I would like to incorporate more of the KWL diagrams. They appear to be

easy to use by most levels of learners and would be a simple way for them to organize their

thoughts on virtually any topic.

Danielle Wallace
EDUC 6330
Dr. Wilmore
March 29, 2018
The idea and practice of using graphic organizers to help students identify and understand

abstract concepts cannot be underestimated. Especially, with the younger students who are not

yet able to process complex and abstract topics, visualization makes the difference between

confusion and comprehension. I have used more times than I can count, the “five paragraph

essays” graphic organizer template and the “main idea, supporting detail web” template for a lot

of my own personal writing assignments. They are both very simple to use and made all the

difference in the world when it came time to organize my thoughts and research on a specific

writing topic.

2. Reread the examples on pages 73-75 about engaging students in physical movement

as a way to create nonlinguistic representations of knowledge. Think about a topic in

your curriculum that is difficult for students to learn. How might you engage

students in kinesthetic activities to help them generate a mental image of the

relevant knowledge?

I have found that creating a nonlinguistic representation of knowledge to be a very effective

way of teaching abstract concepts to students at all levels of instruction, but especially the

younger learners who have trouble with the abstract concepts that are presented in most science

curriculum. I have often found with the elementary and middle grades, that the most effective

lessons include some kinesthetic aspect.

One of my favorite no lingual representations of knowledge was included in a lesson that

focused on the difference between Potential and Kinetic energy. Potential energy is the

stored energy in an object due of its position or its configuration whereas Kinetic energy is
Danielle Wallace
EDUC 6330
Dr. Wilmore
March 29, 2018
the energy which a body possesses because of its motion. This is an abstract concept and hard for

a lot of young learners to grasp. To better explain this topic, I took my class to the gymnasium

and used basketballs to explain the difference in the two forms of energy. I had the students pair

up and demonstrate the difference between the potential and kinetic energy by either holding the

ball still to represent potential energy and then tossing it to their partner to represent kinetic

energy.

The class that I implemented this lesson in was a fourth-grade class and it did the trick, at the

end of the unit all of them were able to identify forms of either potential or kinetic energy.

3. Review the summary frames on pages 83-88. Which would be most helpful for use

with students in your content area?

The summary frames found in our text book all look to be very helpful in the instruction of

many different discipline areas. The ones that I believe would be the most affective in my

content area of science curriculum would be the Topic-Restriction-Illustration Frame. Using this

frame students are able to summarize many different topics like classifying and sorting different

aspects of the science curriculum. The definition summary frame would also be helpful

implemented in the science curriculum by helping students be able to define and summarize

complex concepts that might be confusing otherwise.

The argumentation summary frame would be very helpful when analyzing scientific

research on most topics. By dividing the information up using the argumentation summary frame

students are able to put their thoughts in a cohesive and easy to understand format. Especially

with science research topics where there are many different types and sources of research that

can be easy to get confused.

Danielle Wallace
EDUC 6330
Dr. Wilmore
March 29, 2018
However, I believe that the problem solution summary frame would be one of the most

beneficial in the science classroom, since a lot of concepts in the science curriculum can be

addressed with this summary frame. This template makes it easy for the students to see view

concept or “problem” in a way that makes it easier to understand and evaluate the information

that they have collected.