Graphic Organisers
Strategy 1 - Graphic Organisers
Graphic Organisers are an extremely powerful tool in supporting students in planning and ordering their thinking, as well as deepening their understanding of the curriculum.
Our CPD video explains the different types available to you, how best to use them, and what activities that they can support.
Free Resources
Templates
It is extremely difficult to get templates for all of the different types of Graphic Organisers, so that is why we made our own.
Edit them as needed, or print out PDF copies if they are already perfect for you and your class.
(Remember, when students are well trained enough with Graphic Organisers, try to avoid using templates. Allowing students to select and draw their own Organiser deepens their thinking and understanding).
Problem Solving Scaffolds
Strategy 2 - Problem Solving Scaffolds
With the new expectations of the modern curriculum, across KS1 and through to KS5, students 'knowing' facts is no longer sufficient. Students need to be able to play their knowledge and strategies across a range of different tasks and problems, and successfully, too.
This is incredibly difficult for anyone to do, especially novice learners, so we need to provide them some scaffolds to be able to do this.
Having taken a research proven technique, metacognition.org.uk has developed several 'problem solving' templates in a variety of different formats to use.
These templates can be cut and pasted next to questions, can have the questions inserted on to them, or can be printed out and laminated so that students can write on them over and over again.
Following the research, these templates focus on the four key areas of questions: Comprehension, Connection, Strategies and Evaluation. These are the key areas students need to work through it order to tackle problem solving.
Each template also has different levels of scaffolding, depending on how advanced the student is in problem solving and how much support they may need.
Free Resources
Problem Solving Scaffolds
Use these scaffolds by:
- Inserting the question into the centre of the (Frayer) template,
- Copying the model onto a sheet of questions.
- Laminating copies of the model and providing students with white board pens and using the sheets over and over again.
Different levels of scaffolding are provided so that different level students receive just enough support.
Revision
Revision Sheets
Getting students to do some revision is one of the most difficult things in our jobs. We're desperate for students to get on with a bit of work at home, ready for a mock or more informal assessment, but they just don't.
One strategy that can work quite well is giving students a sheet, signed by you as the teacher, on which they can write down some revision notes they can bring into the assessment.
The dual motivation of having it signed off by a teacher AND being allowed to bring it into the assessment can increase student revision time and effort, supporting their outcomes.
Our example document is displayed on the right and can be downloaded below.
Help Our Cause
Running this site is incredibly expensive. I don't mind about the time it takes, but it does rather drain my pockets! Any donations towards the running costs would be much appreciated. We have kept all videos and resources free to ensure that they are accessible for all. Thank you.
