Graphic Organizers, Pictorials and Comparatives: What the Big Difference?

Graphic Organizers, Pictorials and Comparatives: What’s the Big Difference?

Drawing while talking, isn’t that the whole idea?  Does it really matter what you call it?  While the title isn’t going to revolutionize the learning experience, the purpose behind what you’re doing will. 

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER INPUT CHART

Let’s start at the beginning.  The BIG picture.  When introducing a new unit topic we first orient the content in time and space. 

How does everything we’ll be learning fit together? 

This is the purpose behind the Graphic Organizer.  It might be a world map, a timeline, the kingdoms of living things, or any other kind of graphic organizer that gives the BIG picture of the unit.  

The graphic organizer is generally the first input chart presented in a new unit of study.  

Now, consider your emerging bmultilingual students.  What does a graphic organizer look like when you’re tracing the organizer and writing in the key concepts and vocabulary?  Basically, we have a bunch of times or shapes and words. 

Where’s the comprehensible input?

That brings us to the key difference in presenting the graphic organizer.  Students need to see pictures as you present the new information and vocabulary for it to make sense. 

With the graphic organizer, you’ll add pictures onto the chart the very first time you present it.  

What a difference!

PICTORIAL INPUT CHART

Now that we’ve presented the big picture, it’s time to hone in on one particular concept within that overarching anchor.  The wow factor that supports comprehension and retention, is that the concept you’re presenting is drawn as a picture or scene.  You don’t need to add pictures when you first present the strategy, because it IS a picture. 

Let’s compare the two.  

A Graphic Organizer would be a timeline of the American Revolution. In this instance we used both a timeline and a world map (left pic). 

The Pictorial would present ONE event in that timeline.  Such as the 1st Battle of the Revolution, at Concord, as you see here (right pic). 

A Graphic Organizer could be a World Map teaching various biomes and how the biomes impact the organisms living there (left pic). 

The Pictorial would focus on ONE of those biomes (desert) and the interactions and adaptations of an animal living there (kit fox) (right pic). 

COMPARATIVE INPUT CHART

Let’s get even more intentional.  Consider what type of writing you’ll be working on during the course of this unit.  The Graphic Organizer and Pictorial work great as a resource for informational or expository writing. 

What about opinion writing? 

Comparative writing? 

Argumentative writing? 

Introducing… the Comparative Input Chart.  The purpose of the Comparative is to compare and contrast two or more topics.  In the process, you’ll equip students with the content and terminology needed to write about those topics in a comparative, argumentative or opinion format.  

The first part drawn in a comparative is the line separating the topics.  On that line you write the comparative language you’ll be using while presenting the information, and students will be using during their 10:2 conversations and subsequent writing.  

Once the line is in place, then the topics are presented as pictures, just like in the pictorial.  Meaning, you won’t add additional pictures to the chart when first presented.  The only difference is that you might be presenting one category for each topic at a time.  

For example: "The description of the chameleon is that it has dry, scaly skin."  Draw scaly skin.  Then after you finish the rest of the chameleon description move over to the salamander side.  “In contract to the chameleon, the salamander has moist, smooth skin.”  Draw the salamander’s moist skin.  And so on…. 

While the Graphic Organizer, the Pictorial and the Comparative Input Charts may seem similar (and they are), there are key differences that change the purpose, the comprehensibility and outcoming of the lesson. 

Which one will you try next?  

Celebrating each small step and giant leap with you, 

Sara and Jody

Dr. Sara Martinez & Jody Bader

Project GLAD® Consultants