13-Graphic+Organizers

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** More on Notetaking ** = =

Graphic Organizers
Graphic Organizers, also known as Mind Maps and Concept Maps, are visual ways to organize information and ideas for understanding, remembering, or writing about. These tools allow the mind //to see// patterns and relationships. They can be used to improve reading comprehension, to organize writing projects, and to help in problem solving, decision making, studying, planning research and brainstorming.

Check out some of these links to see the many different types of graphic organizers that are available. You can print these out if you want or use them as a guide when you sketch out your ideas on paper.
 * [|Graphic Organizers for Middle School]
 * [|Graphic Organizers at EduPlace]
 * [|Free Graphic Organizers at Freeology] (scroll down and click through the pages to see the choices -- ignore all the ads!)

Webspiration
Last year, students had access to a graphic organizer/outlining software called Inspiration that was available on the school computers. This tool is very easy to use for making outlines (much easier than in MS Word or on Google Docs). Since you will be using your own laptops this year, we will try the web version called Webspiration, which had the added benefit of allowing you to collaborate on projects. We will be learning this one together!

You can use Webspiration to take notes on reading assignments or lectures as well as to develop and organize ideas for writing assignments.

Read the instructions below and then click on this page to [|sign up for a free Webspiration beta account]
 * Your username should be the first part of your BCDS email address (leave off the @bcdschool.org)
 * Use your BCDS email address
 * Use an easy to remember password
 * Time Zone = US/Eastern
 * Occupation - Student/High School (since they do not have middle school option)
 * "Uncheck Yes" - I would like to receive email from Inspiration.
 * "Check Yes" - I have read and agree to the myWebspiration beta Terms of User Agreement

If you prefer to try Inspiration software on your laptop, ask your parents if you can [|download a free 30 day trial]. It costs $69.00 to buy the software for use on a single computer. Here's a video that gives you an overview of the Inspiration software. The Webspiration is a little different, but you will get the general idea of what you can do with this very cool tool.

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Discovery Tasks

 * 1) Explore some of the links above for helpful graphic organizers.
 * 2) Play with Webspiration. Watch these quick videos to help you get started.


 * [|How to Login to Webspiration]
 * [|How to Use Webspiration] (Beginner's Video by a Beginner!)

**List of Sources** __Content__ //Graphic Organizers// by www.eduplace.com  __Videos__ //Inspiration Video// by www.inspiration.com