Advance Organizers - PAMSInstructionalTraining - … types of advance organizers produce different results. WHAT IS AN ADVANCE ORGANIZER? An advance organizer is information that is

ADVANCE ORGANIZERS

Princess Anne Middle School

Instructional Strategies Training

April/May 2011

GENERALIZATIONS FROM MARZANO

Advance organizers should focus on what is

important as opposed to what is unusual.

“Higher level” advance organizers produce deeper

learning than the “lower level” advance

organizers.

Advance organizers can be very useful with

information that is not well organized.

Different types of advance organizers produce

different results.

WHAT IS AN ADVANCE ORGANIZER?

An advance organizer is information that is presented prior to learning and that can be used by the learner to organize and interpret new incoming information (Mayer, 2003).

The mind arranges and stores information in an orderly fashion. New information about a concept is filed into an existing framework of categories called schemas that contains specific information about a concept. So, when prior knowledge is retrieved, this schema provides a framework on which to attach new knowledge (Bromley, 1995).

If no previous knowledge is available, advance organizers are used to give knowledge to the students in order for this framework to be followed and new information retained for recall and transfer.

WHY USE ADVANCE ORGANIZERS?

Advance organizers place the most

general and comprehensive ideas at the

beginning of a lesson and progress to

more structured and detailed

information. They can be useful devices

at the start of a unit, before a

discussion, before a question-answer

period, before giving a homework

assignment, before student reports,

before a video, before students read

from their textbook, before a hands-on

activity, and before a discussion of

concepts based on students' experiences.

THINK OF THEM AS APPETIZERS!

HOW ARE THESE OBJECTS LIKE ADVANCE

ORGANIZERS?

WHY USE ADVANCE ORGANIZERS?

An Advance Organizer helps to organize new material by outlining, arranging and sequencing the main idea of the new material based on what the learner already knows.

Advance Organizers use familiar terms and concepts to link what the students already know to the new information that will be presented in the lesson, which aids in the process of transforming knowledge and creatively applying it in new situations.

This process helps to embed the new information into long term memory.

Advance Organizers don't have to be lengthy or complex, just clearly understood and related to the material.

RESEARCH SAYS…

Advance organizers, including graphic ones, help

students learn new concepts and vocabulary

(Stone, 1983). Presenting information graphically

as well as symbolically in an advance organizer

reinforces vocabulary learning and supports

reading skills. (Brookbank Grover, Kullberg, &

Strawser, 1999; Moore & Readence 1984).

WHAT IS A “DO THIS BECAUSE IT REALLY

HELPS” STRATEGY WITH ADVANCE

ORGANIZERS?

Give the students a clue!

Who says that what they are going to learn is a big

secret?

Tell the students what the advance organizer will

help them to do—it’s okay to let them know about

brain science!

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF

ADVANCE ORGANIZERS?

Expository Advance Organizers

describe the new content to which students are to be

exposed

Narrative Advance Organizers

present information to students in story format

Skimming as a Form of Advance Organizer

present information for students to skim over to get a

sense of “what’s coming down the pike”

Graphic Advance Organizers

Non-linguistic representations can be used effectively

as advance organizers to help students think about

new knowledge before experiencing it

NARRATIVE ADVANCE ORGANIZER

Listen to the story I am going to tell you.

Think about how you might organize this

information—what connections can you make?

EXPOSITORY ADVANCE

ORGANIZERS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmCGQWfBM-U&NR=1

Here is an example of using a YouTube video as an expository advance organizer. Several science classes deal with severe weather and the preparation for and aftermath of these storms. How could watching a two-minute video of someone describing new (future) content help students to start organizing information?

How would you debrief the students after the video to help them organize the information if your purpose was for the students to begin thinking about what to do to prepare for a severe weather emergency?

SKIMMING AS A FORM OF ADVANCE

ORGANIZER

Skimming information before reading can be a powerful form of advance organizer.

List of facts

Photos

Maps

Skimming can help students become familiar with some of the patterns of information that they will soon learn more in depth.

SKIM THESE PICTURES TO ORGANIZE YOUR

EXISTING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HOW TO

PREPARE FOR A TORNADO

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

Refer back to last month’s training on graphic

organizers! Many examples are located on the

wikispace for down-loading. Several are useful

as advance organizers.

The key is to make sure the non-linguistic

representation model you choose will be the best

instructional choice for the purpose of using an

advance organizer.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER AS AN ADVANCE

ORGANIZER

Chain of Events

Draw and write!

CONNECTIONS TO ASSESSMENT

How can you use advance organizers for

formative assessment purposes?

What do my students already know about the topic?

What connections are they already making?

What gaps in knowledge or experience are they

lacking?

What does this tell me about what needs to be

changed in my upcoming lessons?

Where can I save time because the students already

know this?

What vocabulary terms do they already know?

Ticket Out of the Room: Reflection on LearningTeacher Name: _____________________________________________________

Session: Advance Organizers

Date: ____________________________________________________________

With respect to our work today, please reflect on the following:

1. What changes might I make in my

classroom related to use advance

organizers?

2. In what ways can my PLC use

advance organizers as we plan our

units?

3. What was an important “a-ha”

from today’s seminar that resonated

with me? Why?

4. What questions do I still have

about using advance organizers and

their effect on student learning?

Comments about the Marzano Strategy Trainings this year:

Suggestions for topics for next year: