Teaching · For Tutors

The right shape for the thinking.

Pick one of nine organizers, or say what students need to do and get the one that fits. Add labels, sentence starters and model answers, set the writing space, and print a student copy and an answer copy.

Build an organizer What you get

$12one-time · every device you sign in on

Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Tutoring business kit, $69 for 87 items.

The organizer builder

The worked examples are made up for practice. Organizers save in this browser only.

Loading the organizer builder. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Teaching · For TutorsAlso for Teaching · For TeachersAlso for Teaching · Special Education$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with: A printed graphic organizer with your labels and sentence starters, and an answer copy with model answers.
Who it is for: Tutors and teachers preparing a lesson, and special education teachers supporting reading comprehension and written expression.
Format: Browser tool: organizer chooser, box editor and live paper preview; prints of the student copy and answer copy; .txt outline; JSON export and import.
Access: $12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Tutoring business kit ($69) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives: The For Tutors space in Caveat Teaching; also listed in the For Teachers space in Caveat Teaching (teachers build organizers for a class); also listed in the Special Education space in Caveat Teaching (sentence starters and wide lines for written expression support).
Support: Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

Pick an organizer, or choose what students need to do and use the one suggested.
Give it a title and a question or direction.
Label each box. Add a sentence starter where a student needs a way in, and a model answer for your key.
Choose ruled, wide or open writing space, and large print if it helps.
Preview, then print the student copy and the answer copy.

Build an organizer

Choosing and using an organizer

Drawn for this page. An organizer shows how ideas relate before students have to write about them.

Match the shape to the thinking

Comparing needs a shared middle, a sequence needs order, a cause needs an arrow. When the organizer’s shape matches the relationship in the content, students see the structure before they write about it.

Model it first

Organizers help most when the teacher shows how to fill one in and students practice with support before working alone. The answer copy is that model.

Support for writing

For students who find writing hard, sentence starters and wide lines lower the load of getting started, so more effort goes into the ideas. Syntheses of research on students with learning disabilities report gains in comprehension and vocabulary when organizers are taught this way.

Sources

Kim, A.-H., Vaughn, S., Wanzek, J., and Wei, S. (2004). Graphic organizers and their effects on the reading comprehension of students with LD: a synthesis of research. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37(2), 105–118 (PMID 15493233).
Dexter, D. D., and Hughes, C. A. (2011). Graphic organizers and students with learning disabilities: a meta-analysis. Learning Disability Quarterly, 34(1), 51–72.
Ogle, D. M. (1986). K-W-L: a teaching model that develops active reading of expository text. The Reading Teacher, 39(6), 564–570.
Frayer, D. A., Frederick, W. C., and Klausmeier, H. J. (1969). A schema for testing the level of concept mastery. Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Cognitive Learning, Working Paper No. 16.

The worked examples are made up for practice; check any model answers against your course materials. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.