graphic organizer is a branch organizer, with three subtopics/categories. It should be drawn on the chart paper to the right of the circle-in-circle organizer. (Always emphasize a left-to-right progression when teaching reading and writing.)
The branch organizer is going to look like this:
Get the free print PDF of the bear photo and this page at http://fhautism.com/arc.html.
After you’ve drawn both graphic organizers, the next step is to hold up the picture of that lesson’s animal for the children to see. Since the lesson is going to start with a “conversation,” it’s best to gather the children in a less formal, circle-time-style arrangement. The first question you’re going to ask your class is, “What animal is this?”
If no one is able to identify the animal, that’s fine. You can cue an adult aide to answer the question, or you can even answer it yourself. Once the word “cat” has been spoken aloud, write the word “Cat” in the smaller, inner circle of the circle-in-circle chart, like this:
Your next goal is to write down nine observations about the cat in the bigger part of the circle, in the form of words or short phrases (usually no more than two words). The nine observations should fall into three different categories, with three observations in each category,
The three categories are can, has, and likes.
In the lesson plan, I provide three sample observations for each of the three categories:
can jump run say meow
has a tail four legs fur
likes milk fish cat food
You will start the lesson with spoken language, trying to elicit these observations from the children. Start with the “can” category by asking, “What can the cat do?”
The first few times you attempt this, you’re probably going to be met with stony silence and blank stares. Persevere! They’ll get better at it. There’s also no need to worry about that stony silence—you, as the teacher, know exactly how the conversation should go and which observations need to be made. Chances are it’s going to be rough at the beginning. Yet, even if you (and your aides) have to do all the talking in the early stages, that’s fine. The kids are still hearing the language and watching spoken language being transformed into written language and, ultimately, coherent sentences.
If students do not answer, prompt them. You can say something like, “Can the cat fly?” If still no one answers, have an aide answer or answer yourself: “Can the cat jump? Yes, the cat can jump.”
Write this first observation in the larger circle, like this:
Throughout the exercise, continue to prompt with leading questions/conversations such as, “The cat likes to drink this white beverage. We like to pour it over cereal. Sometimes we like to put chocolate in it so we can have chocolate________”
The lesson plans will provide the nine observations you need to make the lessons work. Those plans will serve as an instructional foundation you can rely on. The words I provide you with have been pre-selected to create manageable sentences—the ultimate goal. In the beginning, it’s hard for children who have autism to generate their own conversation. As the kids get better at this activity, they might come up with observations and sentences even better and more creative than those provided by the script. That’s great! The script is just there as a “back-up.”
Once all nine observations have been spoken aloud and written down, the circle-in-circle graphic organizer should look like this:
Make sure the outer circle is large enough to contain all the words. Do your best to keep the handwriting legible. The kids will copy these words once they get back to their desks. Also, I advise against adding more than nine words or phrases. You need to keep the graphic organizer looking organized. If you have more than nine words (or short phrases) floating around in the larger circle, it could get messy, especially when the kids copy the words onto their own circle charts—which brings us to the next phase of the lesson.
The children (after much praise over their observation/conversation skills) now leave the conversation area and return to their desks. Have them take out a pencil (and only a pencil!), and distribute the students’ graphic organizers, printed from http://fhautism.com/arc.html. Your students now have their own graphic organizers that match the ones on the chart paper.
Have them write their name on the top of the paper (or their initials, or just the first letter—whatever they can do). The first step of their seatwork is to copy the words from the circle-in-circle chart onto their own circle-in-circle chart. If they don’t write all the words, it’s okay. Especially in the beginning, it’s more important that they become familiar with the process of using these graphic organizers to arrange words into sentences.
Once they’ve done their best to copy the words, move to the second graphic organizer, the branch chart.
Write “The Cat” on the top line and “can,” “has,” and “likes” on the three spaces on the second row. Have students do the same on their version of the branch chart.
Now it’s time to fill in the rest of the branch chart. You will do this together. The time for free floating conversation is over. It’s time for the first question: “What can the cat do?”
We stay on this topic until the first “can” column is filled with the appropriate three items. I found that this combination of graphic organizers worked particularly well together with my kids because the information is right there in front of them. When someone inevitably answers that first question with “milk,” for example, you can form that question back for him or her to hear: “The cat can milk? Does that sentence sound right to us? Let’s think again—what can he do? Let’s look back in the circle and find something the cat can do.”
Everything stays on a concrete, visual level, which works great for these kids. It’s hard to veer very far off course.
Continue in this vein, first asking the students, “What else can the cat do?” until you’ve transferred all three answers to that question, found within the larger circle of the circle-in- circle chart, to the branch chart.
When all three blank spaces in the “can” column have been successfully filled in, move on to the next column. Say, “Okay class, what does the cat have?”
If someone answers, “jump,” you can ask, “The cat has jump? Does that sound right to us? Why don’t we look inside the big circle to see if we can find something that sounds better than that sentence? How about ‘The cat has four legs.’ Does that sound better to us?”
Every time you transfer a word from the circle-in-circle chart to the branch chart, take your students through the formation of the sentence. As you say each word of the sentence, point to the corresponding word on the branch chart. This way, they can become familiar with the way we use the chart to form
