At the conclusion of this study, students were asked to describe how they felt about graphic organizers. Student responses can be seen in the graphic above. This simple question was eye-opening to the impact I was able to make on my students by implementing something so small and simple into my classroom.
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Through the process of this study I have grown immensely as a teacher. I have been able to experience first-hand the impact research based methodology has on a classroom. Through intensive research I chose to implement graphic organizers in my classroom. Through this research process I learned about not only the types of graphic organizers that student work well with, but also about the best practices in implementing them. I was able to take this learning and apply it to my students and see the immediate impact it made on them. Along the way I faced many different challenges and successes. At first, I struggled to manage my time in using them with the students. The use of the graphic organizers instigated a lot of thoughtful conversations with my students, and I struggled to find the time to complete the organizers at first. As much as this was a challenge, it was also a success in itself. The goal of implementing graphic organizers was to improve my students' reading comprehension, and by using them I was able to generate deep conversation with my students. This deep conversation is evidence of increased comprehension.
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As I continued to do my research on graphic organizers, I became very excited to start implementing them in my classroom. I read a countless number of studies that all showed the positive impact that they have and I wanted to see what type of impact it could make in my room. Since this study has ended, I have seen an impact not only on student learning but also on my teaching. My students now use a richer variety of vocabulary when discussing a story. I notice them using transition words, names of text features, and making more connections within and beyond a story. As a teacher, I have noticed myself become more intentional in the questioning that I use during small group reading, and I have become more intentional in the language I use while teaching. By doing this, I think I have become a better teacher and was able to be the driving factor for the progress my students made. Finding the tool to use is only half of the work. The teacher then has to implement it in a meaningful way for it to make a true impact on students. This study has proven to me that doing research is necessary if you plan to improve your teaching ability. An impact can best be made when a teacher follows through with their professional responsibility of continuing their education through research and practice.
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In the coming school year, I plan to continue to use graphic organizers in my classroom as a tool to impact reading comprehension. By doing so, I feel I will be able to build on the knowledge I gained this year and make graphic organizers have a greater impact in my classroom. I also plan to find ways to incorporate the same type of format into other content areas in my class. I observed the level of engagement my students had while using graphic organizers during reading, and I would like to see how they work with other content areas.
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"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results."
- Albert Einstein
In order to generate better results I feel that a few adjustments should be made in the study. As I picked books to read with my students I simply read the books that went with my district's curriculum. These books are good books and contain the other elements of our reading instruction and make for great small group books. One downfall I saw with this as I analyzed my results was the imbalance in fiction and nonfiction texts I read with the students. I assessed them on both fiction and nonfiction but over the course of the study I read more fiction texts with my students than nonfiction. In order to truly impact both types of reading comprehension, I should have read an equal number of both, or just focused on one. From this point to the end of the year, I plan to include more nonfiction text into my instruction so my students are given the opportunity to grow. You can't expect a student to grow in a skill that they are not exposed to and allowed to experiment with.
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Another way to narrow the focus of this study would be to focus on only one or two comprehension skills. In this study, I wanted to look at overall reading comprehension, I was able to measure growth and progress in each comprehension skill, but I wonder about the impact and results I would have if I were to narrow that focus. This research was conducted in a very broad sense, which was beneficial for the purpose of the study, but as future research is conducted with graphic organizers, researchers should look closely at the types of comprehension skills being addressed.
Questions Still Remaining
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Which graphic organizer made the greatest impact on the students?
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Which graphic organizer made the lease amount of impact on the students?
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Would using different graphic organizers create different results?
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Should the style of graphic organizer change as students get older?
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