Richard D. Solomon's Blog on Mentoring Jewish Students and Teachers: How Freeology a website that provides free and downloadable graphic organizers, can be utilized to promote instruction in the blended learning classroom

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

How Freeology a website that provides free and downloadable graphic organizers, can be utilized to promote instruction in the blended learning classroom

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (i.e. online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. The combination of face to face instruction in a physical setting and online learning is called blended learning. In this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will discuss how Freeology, a website that provides free and downloadable graphic organizers, can be used to promote instruction in the blended learning classroom.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers or iPads. Given parental and school approval, and the development of specific guidelines, smartphones can be used to enhance instruction as well.

Note: Although Freeology can be applied in the Judaic Studies blended learning classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators. For example, here is a CoP you might want to join.

Note: can be used in a face to face and virtual classroom.

What is Freeology?

Freeology is a website that provides free and downloadable graphic organizers to enhance teaching and learning.

Where is Freeology located on the web?

http://freeology.com

How Freeology, a website that provides free and downloadable graphic organizers, can be utilized to promote instruction in the blended learning classroom

Click on the links below to find resources explaining how graphic organizing websites like Freeology can be used to promote instruction in both the face to face and virtual classroom:

http://www.inspiration.com/visual-learning/graphic-organizers (graphic organizers can be used to teach students cause and effect, note taking, comparing and contrasting concepts, organizing problems and solutions, relating information to main themes and ideas, organizational skills, vocabulary knowledge and sequencing)
http://www.slideshare.net/ulamb/using-graphic-organizers-to-differentiate-instruction(can be used to differentiate instruction)
http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/graphic_organizers.php (helps ESL students acquire language skills)
https://mcsold1.monet.k12.ca.us/Academics/el712/Graphic%20Organizers/Q%20and%20A%20about%20G%20O.pdf (improves academic achievement)
http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic73.htm (motivates and inspires learning)
https://www.ed.psu.edu/news/news-items-oct-dec-2011/graphic-organizers-aid-students-with-learning-disabilities.html (helps students with learning disabilities)
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/using-graphic-organizers-literature-based-science-instruction (facilitates literature-based science instruction)
http://www.worksheetlibrary.com/teachingtips/usinggraphicorganizers.html (enhances learning)
http://www.naeyc.org/tyc/article/using_graphic_organizers_in_preschool (enhances learning in the pre-school)
https://wvde.state.wv.us/strategybank/GraphicOrganizersforWriting.html (facilitates learning to write)
http://www.hoover.k12.al.us/hcsnet/rfbms/makessense%207.4/donotopenfolder/implmnt/dontopen/msstrats/stuf/TheoreticBasis.pdf (research correlated to graphic organizers)
http://education.wm.edu/centers/ttac/documents/packets/graphicorganizers.pdf (guiding principles for using graphic organizers)

Click on the links below to find examples of how graphic organizer websites like Freeology can be used to enhance Judaic instruction and staff development.

On the next blogpost we will discuss how Freeology, a website that provides free and downloadable graphic organizers, can be utilized to promote Judaic instruction and to mentor/train Jewish educators.