Paper Sharock 0

Graphic Organizers and Writing

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS AND STUDENTS’ WRITING

The Effect of Graphic Organizers on Students’ Writing
Tracey Sharrock
Action Research
July, 2008
Kennesaw State University
Dr. David Martin

Graphic Organizers and Writing

2

The Effect of Graphic Organizers on Students’ Writing
Abstract
The purpose of this action research project was to study the effects of graphic organizers, specifically a concept map, on students’ writing. Our school believes that writing is the key to success, so writing instruction is a priority. I was particularly interested in investigating students’ writing through graphic organizers with personal narrative writing prompts given in the classroom. Graphic organizers can help writers keep to the topic by having their ideas in front of them as they are writing. They also help the writer to keep things in the correct sequential order.
Graphic organizers are credited to be tools that can guide students through the four stages of the writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising, and publishing and sharing. This study investigated whether there would be any significant difference in scores between students’ writing with the use of graphic organizers and students’ writing without the use of graphic organizers. One third-grade class was involved in the 6-week study, and was given two personal narrative writing assignments. The two writing assignments were each graded using a writing rubric provided by the Georgia Department of Education. Results indicated that the students using the graphic organizers showed an improvement in their creative writing. Good Abstract!
Introduction
The objective of this study was to examine the effect of graphic organizers on students’ writing. Learning to write can be a rewarding, yet often wearisome experience for young learners. Each year, I observe many of my third grade students feeling frustrated and anxious about beginning to write. What can educators do to ease this process and

References: Avery, C.W., & Avery, B.F. (1994). Merging reading and cooperative strategies through graphic organizers Baxendell, B. W. (2003). Consistent, coherent, creative: The 3 C’s of graphic organizers. Chang, K., Chen, I., & Sung, Y. (2002). The effect of concept mapping to enhance text comprehension and summarization Clarke, J.H. (1991). Using visual organizers to focus on thinking. Journal of Reading, 34(7), 526-534. Cronin, H., Sinatra, R., & Barkley, W.F. (1992). Combining writing with text organization in content instruction DiCecco, V. M., & Gleason, M., (2002). Using graphic organizers to attain relational knowledge from expository text Fleener, J.M., & Marek, E.A. (1992). Testing in the learning cycle. Science Scope. 7, 48-49. Grossen, B., & Carmine, D. (1992). Translating research on text structure into classroom practice Jefferies, D., & Merkley, D. (2001). Guidelines for implementing a graphic organizer. The Reading Teacher, 54(4), 350-357. Kroll, M., & Paziotopoulos, A. (2004). Hooked on thinking. International Reading Association, 57(7), 672-677. Lehman, H.G (1992).Graphic organizers benefit slow learners. The Clearing House. 53. Novak, J. (1991).Clarify with concept maps. The Science Teacher. 45-49. Sakta, C.G. (1992).The graphic organizer: A blue print for taking lecture notes. Journal of Reading Sinatra, R., & Pizzo, J. (1992). Mapping the road to reading comprehension. Retrieved November 12, 2007, from http://www.teachingk-8.com. Vargas, E.M., & Alvarez, H.J. (1992). Mapping out student 's abilities. Science Scope. 2, 41-43. Washington, V.M. (1988). Report Writing: A practical application of semantic mapping. Washington, V.M. (1989). Semantic mapping: A heuristic for helping learning disabled students write reports Wesley, W.G., & Wesley, B.A. (1990). Concept mapping: A brief introduction. The Teaching Professor