Tag: graphic organizer

Critical Thinking, Education, K-12, Student Products, Student Response, Teaching Tools, Websites

Customized Padlet Backgrounds

Terri Eichholz

@LearnMooreStuff and I had a history-textbook-worthy Twitter battle yesterday over who would blog first about this amazing resource from @TechChef4U.  Laura Moore graciously conceded (although I think she is secretly afraid that my light saber is more powerful than hers).

I love to use Padlet (formerly known as Wallwisher), and I’ve recently started to make my own backgrounds to organize the notes added to the board.  Yesterday, Lisa Johnson (@TechChef4U) tweeted out an awesome resource that she is offering for free – 13 Graphic Organizer backgrounds to add as your Padlet wallpaper.  That is truly an awesome deal!  She even gives instructions on how to insert them.

Padlet Graphic Organizer Background from @TechChef4U
Padlet Graphic Organizer Background from @TechChef4U

 

If you want to make your own Padlet backgrounds, one easy way is to make one in Powerpoint or Keynote and save the slide as a .jpg file.  If you check out this post from Cari Young, there is a video from The Organized Classroom that gives a tutorial for using slides to make desktop backgrounds – which could easily apply to making Padlet backgrounds as well.

Recently, I’ve used backgrounds in Padlet for mini-EdCamp type PD. Teachers add notes about what they would like to learn about, and then the notes can be sorted into sessions.

Padlet is such a versatile tool – device neutral and user-friendly.  And, there have been two recent upgrades – an option to have a grid layout, as well as a Chrome extension.  Now, thanks to Lisa Johnson, it has even more potential!

3-12, Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Education, Multiple Intelligences, Teaching Tools, Websites

Thinking Tools

Terri Eichholz
image from: Thinking Tools

This large set of fillable forms from The Learning Curve is a treasure chest of interactive graphic organizers that encourage creative and critical thinking skills.  According to the site, “This collection of thinking strategies and tools have been created and inspired from Mick Walsh’s experiences using the Thinking Curriculum, CoRT Thinking, Tribes Program and Visible Thinking from Harvard University.”  Included on this list are pages for Six Thinking Hats and P.M.I.  However, there are many other intriguing ones that I have never seen anywhere else, such as Time Machine and Truth Traffic Lights.  For some new ideas on how to engage your students in deep thinking, I highly recommend Thinking Tools.

Independent Study, K-12, Language Arts, Motivation, Reading, Science, Social Studies, Student Products, Teaching Tools, Writing

60 Graphic Organizers

Terri Eichholz

This is a great resource for differentiating.  Many teachers use graphic organizers, but there are a few here that I’ve never seen – such as the jigsaw puzzle.  Changing things up always grabs the students’ attention.  To apply this to different abilities in your classroom you could try the following levels, in order from least ability to greatest ability:

  • organizer that is pre-filled
  • organizer that is attached to a worksheet with the different words or phrases for the students to cut out and apply
  • blank organizer with no word bank
  • select your own organizer and fill out

I have tried the last one in my classroom, and the students love being given the option to choose.  It is interesting to see how they can apply the same information in several different types of diagrams.