Estimated Reading Time: 3 min 30 sec, 646 words
Audience: teachers, coaches, administrators
How We Got Here: Once upon a time there were classroom walls full of anchor charts that fostered student learning. Then, an evil pandemic swept through, eliminating physical walls and ushering in a new era of digital slides. Once the monster was tamed, teachers and students were allowed to return to their beloved classrooms. But the walls have never been the same. Slides in the classroom are not a bad thing, but the loss of paper charts is a very real detriment to our students.
Here’s Why: Charts are permanent, slides are not. When charts are hanging on the wall, they are accessible whenever students need them. They act like a second teacher in your classroom, reminding students of the things you have already taught them, prompting them about what to do and try. In this way, they build student independence. Instead of coming to you when they get stuck, students can turn to the charts that capture all the teaching and learning that has taken place
Charts also increase engagement. Constructing charts in front of students leads to brain imprinting and stronger neural pathways because the information is presented verbally and visually. Co-constructing charts gives students ownership over the chart and their learning. It also saves teacher time! While you should always have a plan for what will be on your chart (I like to sketch mine out on a sticky note when I’m planning), you don’t need to make the actual chart in advance.
Tips for Charting:
When it comes to language, less is more! Don’t put too many words on your charts. Match the language of your chart to the reading and language levels of your students.
Use a minimum of 2 colors on your charts to make them easier to read. Use different colors to chunk information or to separate items in a list.
Visuals are a must! They increase comprehensibility for all students, especially multilingual learners and emergent readers.
- Simple sketches are the quickest and easiest. You don’t have to be a great artist to sketch. All you have to do is tell students “this is supposed to be a dog” and they will remember that your blob with 4 legs is a dog. I highly recommend you check out these 1-minute videos from the Smarter Charts authors Marjorie Martinelli and Kristi Mraz on drawing people and common icons to increase your sketching confidence.
- Print photos or images from online to tape onto your chart.
- Make copies from mentor texts to include on your chart.
Spacing is important. Don’t crowd too much onto your chart or it will be hard to read.
The Bottom Line: Charts are critical to learning. In the words of Smarter Charts authors Mraz & Martinelli (2014), “When teaching is never made visible and accessible, we communicate an unintentional message: If you don’t get it this time, you will never get it. By teaching with charts, we say: This work is hard and will take practice, but here is a way to do it and it is right here whenever you need guidance” ( p. 15). So make a chart during your next minilesson, hang it on your classroom wall, and let students know you believe they can do it!
Go Deeper: Want more ideas for creating charts? Check out any (or all) of these books…
- Smarter charts, K-2: Optimizing an Instructional Staple to Create Independent Readers and Writers by Marjorie Martinelli and Kristi Mraz
- Smarter Charts for Math, Science, and Social Studies by Kristi Mraz and Marjorie Martinelli
- Chart Sense for Writing by Rozlyn Linder
- K-2 chart sense: Common Sense Charts to Teach K-2 Informational Text and Literature by Rozlyn Linder
- Chart Sense: Common Sense Charts to Teach 3-8 Informational Text and Literature by Rozlyn Linder
References
Mraz, K., & Martinelli, M. (2014). Smarter charts for math, science, and social studies: Making learning visible in the content areas K-2. Heinemann.
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The “stickiness” of charts is so critical to how charts are used. If charts are slipped into slides as a reminder for a chart on a wall or a chart in the writing notebook, the chart is reinforced. The community building a chart also adds to the “stickiness”.
So much to love in this post today. The two colors. The resources.
Thanks, Shawnda!
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Yes, you are absolutely right! We must keep our anchor charts alive by revisiting them, otherwise they just become wallpaper. Thanks for reminding us of this very important point.
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