Read Write Think's Student Interactives

Organizing information and thoughts is one of the major challenges of getting students to write. One trend has been the development of graphic organizers, a very useful way of displaying information. But this one-sized-fits all approach may not benefit all students. It is a fact that our student's brains work differently, compared to our own. Often printed copies are fixed and permanent, limited the amount of customization a student may need. For example, the visually impaired student may need the zoom feature built into the software program or browser. The gifted student may need more opportunities to add information.

When our students can interact with content and have the ability to customize the display of information, students learn better! Read Write Think, a site developed by the International Reading Association (IRA) has developed a website to provide new ways of teaching literacy.

I was particularly impressed with the Student Interactives section, which helps students organize their thoughts or learn the language. From grades K - 12, your kids will be inspired and interact with content like no other time before! Here are just a few (from the site in it's own words):

• The Essay Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to organize and outline their ideas for an informational, definitional, or descriptive essay.

• Create Venn Diagrams that contain two overlapping circles, enabling them to organize their information logically.

• Interactive Compare and Contrast Map allows you to interact with differences and similarities.

• To see many more click here

Check this site out. It's well worth the time spent browsing!