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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

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graphic organizer

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Problem-solving careers
In CareerStart lessons: Grade seven, page 1.7
In this lesson for grade seven, students analyze information about various careers to determine how people in those occupations use problem-solving skills.
Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts and Guidance)
By Jen Presley.Adapted by Kenyatta Bennett and Sonya Rexrode.
Career areas of science: Vocabulary
In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 5.1
In this lesson for grade eight, students discuss different scientific disciplines and gain an understanding of the suffix -ology.
Format: lesson plan
By Tammy Johnson and Martha Tedrow.
Details and sequencing
In CareerStart lessons: Grade six, page 1.7
This lesson for grade six will introduce students to careers in environmental protection as it teaches them to identify details and sequence in a non-fiction reading passage.
Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts and Guidance)
By Jennifer Brookshire and Julie McCann.
Solving workplace problems: Refining the use of argument
In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 1.8
In this lesson plan, students are presented with two writing prompts that describe workplace problems. Students complete a graphic organizer to help them map out the problem-solving process.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts)
By Andrea Fedon, Gail Frank, and Cindy Neininger.
A “defining moment” in editorial writing
Students will be introduced to the definition mode of writing. Students will learn to define a particular subject by responding in an editorial format. Students will first compose an editorial graphic organizer, which will aid in composing a completed editorial using the writing process. This lesson includes modifications for a Novice Low Limited English student.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and English Language Development)
By Susan Brooks and Carrie Mabry.

Find all 159 resources in our collection.

Visual illustrations to help students establish and learn connections between concepts. Useful at any stage of learning, graphic organizers can be used to organize new material or to review information already discussed.

See also character web, concept map, KWL chart, spider map, storyboard, T chart.

Additional information

Graphic organizers can be used to describe, organize, compare and contrast, classify, and/or sequence information; to establish causal relationships; and to facilitate problem-solving.

Examples and resources

The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) offers examples of several graphic organizers, including a spider map, series of events chain, compare/contrast matrix, and network tree.

The Graphic Organizer presents a table showing a variety of graphic organizers and their uses.