Differentiating with Graphic Organizers: Tools to Foster Critical and Creative Thinking

by Patti Drapeau

Overview

Graphic organizers have proven to be successful tools for helping students develop their critical and creative thinking skills. This research-based resource shows how graphic organizers can improve teaching practices, help differentiate instruction in the classroom, and raise learning outcomes for all students, including English language learners and students with learning disabilities.
The author presents graphic organizers for nine types of thinking processes based on Bloom's taxonomy and offers examples of how to apply the graphic organizers in different subject areas and grade levels. This hands-on guide demonstrates how teachers can:
Promote the critical thinking processes of assuming, inferring, analyzing, prioritizing, and judging
Encourage the creative thinking processes of brainstorming, connecting, creating, and elaborating
Modify graphic organizers or create their own to meet individual learning needs

With assessment rubrics for providing quality feedback included, Differentiating With Graphic Organizers addresses ways to promote and build students’ creative reasoning, communication, and problem-solving skills and make the learning process a success.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781634507882
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	04/26/2016
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Patti Drapeau is an educational consultant, trainer, author, and internationally known presenter. She has over twenty-five years of classroom experience teaching students and coordinating programs in Freeport, Maine. Drapeau currently serves as adjunct faculty at the University of Southern Maine, where she teaches graduate courses in differentiation, curriculum integration, critical and creative thinking, education of the gifted and talented, and curriculum and methods for teaching gifted and talented students. She is also a certified trainer for the IIM (Independent Investigation Method) research model.

Drapeau developed a curriculum model for the regular classroom called “Affective Perspectives: Combining Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, and Affect.” She has authored a variety of articles for the “Maine Exchange” and is the author of the best-selling book Great Teaching with Graphic Organizers, published by Scholastic Publishers.

Drapeauis an international presenter in the United States and Canada, presentingat hundreds of national, state, and regional conferences as well as conductingdistrict workshops focused on the needs of all students. She presents keynotes and workshop sessions that are designed to be:

• Researched based
• Practical
• Interactive
• Product oriented
• Customized

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments About the Author Introduction: The Search Part I. Graphic Organizers, Critical Thinking, and Differentiation
1. Graphic Organizers: Tools to Promote Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Graphic Organizers: Tools to Promote Differentiation Part II. 5 Critical Thinking Verbs and Graphic Organizers to Use With Them
3. "Assume ": Exploring What We Take for Granted
4. "Infer ": Drawing Conclusions
5. "Analyze ": Unpacking the Big Idea
6. "Prioritize ": Putting First Things First
7. "Judge ": Making Accurate Evaluations Part III. 4 Creative Thinking Verbs and Graphic Organizers to Use With Them
8. "Brainstorm ": Generating Multiple Ideas
9. "Connect ": Making Unlikely Associations
10. "Create ": Making Something New
11. "Elaborate ": Getting the Details Down
12. Putting It All Together: Curriculum Designs and Units of Study
13. Conclusion: Essential FAQs References Index

Editorial Reviews

"Patti Drapeau has created an exciting resource that is incredibly useful to both novice and seasoned educators. She provides very clear and practical strategies for integrating graphic organizers, creative thinking, and critical thinking into classroom practices. I only wish that her book had been available to me as a beginning teacher."

Jim Curry

"Drapeau provides a well-researched, authoritative text that takes graphic organizers beyond 'capturing' factual information to structures that enable students to develop their critical and creative thinking skills. Such skills are essential to student success in today’s standards-based school settings."

Diane Heacox

"Brilliantly written. Drapeau is a teacher's teacher. This book is guaranteed to elevate student thinking while addressing the needs of individual learners at all skill levels. It's all here and ready to go, along with sound research for support."

Pamela Lester

"Graphic organizers, differentiated instruction, and creative and critical thinking—three topics on the frontline of teaching today, all together in one well-crafted text. This exciting book will not stay on the bookshelf; teachers will try the sample lessons and use and modify the graphic organizers to improve their practice and the achievement of their students."

Karen Shible

"These organizers can be easily adopted or adapted for all content areas and are simple to use. They will quickly become a part of every teacher's professional repertoire."

Ira Waltz

"What a gift for educators! Drapeau delivers a practical book with a variety of answers for those who seek high levels of achievement for all of their students."

Cecelia Boswell