WHY?

This activity is good for organizing because they help students organize information appropriately, such as color coding. Students are able to find their own strengths and weaknesses (Hartjes). It makes it easier for them understand and retain information because it is all in one place and it separates them into different categories. They also help students to organize their thoughts in a more simple and visual way (Enchanted Learning).

Strategy
The strategy that best represent the fishbone organizer is nonlinguistic representation. A subsection of this strategy is organizers. Organizers are good for developing summaries, taking notes, identifying similarities and differences, generating and testing hypotheses, and organizing information that may difficult or poorly organized (Dean, 2012). Materials Needed: Fishbone Worksheet Different Colors to represent each subtopic An overall topic for students CREATIVE THINKING!!!!

DIRECTIONS
Give students a topic that they can write a paper about. Have them write the topic in the middle line of the fishbone. Then have students come up with four sub-topics of the original topic. They should write these on the slanted lines of the fishbone. You should then have them come up with at least 3 different supporting details for each sub-topic of their paper. They will write these in the space provided beside the slants in the fishbone. One example of this for writing would be to have students think about what they want to be when they grow up.

Sources
Dean, C.B., Hubbell, E.R., Pilter, H., Stone, B. (2012). Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Students Achievement. Denver: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning. Fishbone Organizers. Enchanted Learning. <http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ graphicorganizers/fishbone/>. Graphic Organizer: Flip Chart Activity Book. Learning Resources, Inc. Hartjes, E. Graphic Organizer- Fishbone. Teachers at Risk. <http://www.teachersatrisk.com /2007/01/01/ graphic-organizer-fish-bone/>.