Education World® Creating Graphic Organizers with Word
Creating Graphic Organizers with Word
By Lorrie Jackson
WHY A TECHTORIAL?
What will I learn today?
You will learn how to use Word to create flow charts, concept maps, and other graphic organizers.
What hardware and/or software does the techtorial apply to?
The techtorial applies to most newer versions of Microsoft Word (PC or Mac).
Which National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers does the techtorial address?
The techtorial will help teachers accomplish standard IIIb in particular.
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has developed a set of National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers.
Standards or Performance Indicators are included for each techtorial to help teachers and administrators improve technology proficiency. For a
complete description of the standards indicated, go to NETS for Teachers.
WHAT'S A GRAPHIC ORGANIZER?
Educators often use symbols like arrows, boxes, and circles, as well as images, to explain concepts.
A Venn Diagram, for example, can show students how two concepts are similar or different, while a
flowchart can show how a process -- like osmosis -- works from start to finish.
Inspiration, Kidspiration, and other programs help K-12 students organize information. They're easy
and fun to use. Imagine a middle school language arts class learning how to organize book reports
with a point-and-click brainstorm web! And, with one click, students can transform that web into a
traditional Roman-numeral outline.
For some classrooms, however, purchasing software might not be an option, and teachers are left
wondering if they can imitate some of the features of those programs using what they already have?
You bet you can!
In fact, Microsoft Office might be all you need. Its Drawing toolbar (View > Toolbars > Drawing) gives
teachers and students dozens of choices for flowcharts, shapes, and more. We'll use Microsoft Word
for this techtorial, but keep in mind that PowerPoint and Excel can be used just as easily.
CREATE A FLOWCHART
First, let's make a simple flowchart for a recent field trip to the zoo.
q Open Microsoft Word.
q Click File > Page Setup, select Landscape orientation, and then click OK.
Education World® Creating Graphic Organizers with Word
q Click View > Zoom, type 100 percent, and click OK. (The goal is to see the entire page at
once, so you might have to go back and adjust the percentage.)
q Click View > Toolbars > Drawing
q On the Drawing toolbar, find the Autoshapes tool. (It might resemble a grey circle, triangle, and
square, but you also can mouse over each icon to see which one it is.) Click Autoshapes >
Flow Chart. Select a box for the first item in the flow chart. (The box at top left is called
Process and is a great choice.)
q Click the selected box, hold down the mouse button, and drag the mouse on your document to
create a box. Try to place the box at the far left of the document.
q Click the Text Box icon.
q Click in the first box and type, "The school bus drove us to the zoo." (You can click and drag a
corner of the box to enlarge it, if necessary.) Click outside the box.
q Click Autoshapes > Flow Chart and draw a second box just to the right of the first box. Click
the Text Box icon and type in the second box, "We saw the tigers."
q Create a third with the words, "We ate popcorn." and a fourth box with the words, "The sea
lions splashed Mr. Williams!"
To save time, you can create three duplicate boxes by clicking the first box and
then pressing CTRL-D (Apple-D on a Mac) three times. Then you can just click the
Text box and click inside each box to type the correct text.
Education World® Creating Graphic Organizers with Word
MAKE CONNECTIONS
Your page should look something like this:
Now, let's connect these events. Click Autoshapes again and then click Block Arrows. Select a left-to-
right arrow. Draw an arrow between each box and the box on its right. Tada! A simple flow chart:
ALL THAT JAZZ
You can adjust some of the visual elements in your flowchart to personalize it or make it more
attractive. Try a few of the tips below:
q Font: Change font color, size, and style just as you would in any Word document. Not sure
what look you're going for? Highlight a few words and play with the tools on the Formatting
toolbar (View > Toolbars > Formatting).
q Boxes: Use the paint can icon on the Drawing toolbar to add a fill color (play with the Gradient,
Textures, and Patterns options), or select another drawing tool to change line width or color.
Use a different Autoshape (smiley faces and other fun shapes are available) or adjust the size
of the boxes.
q Arrows: Change line width or color.
This is what your flow chart might look like now:
Education World® Creating Graphic Organizers with Word
BACKGROUND MATERIAL
Now, let's do something about that white background!
If all you're going to do is view or present the flowchart on your computer -- and not print it -- click
Format > Background > Fill Effects and pick a really cool background.
To print a flowchart with a background, however, you'll need to:
q Click View > Zoom > 80 percent and OK to make sure you can see the whole page.
q On the Drawing toolbar, click Autoshapes and a rectangle, and then draw a rectangle that
covers the entire document. (Your flowchart now is hidden.)
q On the Drawing toolbar, click the paint can to select color, gradient, texture, and so on for the
rectangle's background.
q Click the first icon on the Drawing toolbar. On some versions of Word, it's a blue A; on others,
it's the word Draw. Click Arrange > Send to Back. (or, in this case, Send Backwards, which
moves you back one layer.)
This is what your chart might look like.
Education World® Creating Graphic Organizers with Word
q Save your work.
KEEP STYLIN'
Let's take the look of our flowchart up another notch by substituting clip art and photos for boxes and
shapes!
q Click Insert > Picture > Clip Art. The Microsoft Office Clip Art Gallery should appear. Look for
an image of a school bus. If you can't find one in the gallery on your computer, click the Online
(or Globe) button to access Microsoft's online Clip Art Gallery.
To use an image from the online gallery, check the box below the bus; click
Download; read the License Agreement and click Agree; and then click Download
again if necessary. You also can right-click the image and then copy and paste it
into the document (PCs), or, on a Mac, drag the bus from the Web site to the
document.
q You might not see the school bus immediately after inserting it into the document; be sure to
click the Draw (or Arrange) icon and select "In front of text" or "Move to the front."
q Note: When using clip art or photos, Microsoft Office wants to force the image into a line where
text would be, preventing you from moving the picture wherever you want. To counteract that,
double click the image of the school bus, and when the Format Picture window (pane)
appears, click Layout, select Tight, and click OK.
q Delete the original autoshape and put the school bus in its place. Click the Text box icon and
type, "The school bus drove us to the zoo."
q Replace the other three boxes with either clip art or photos.(Look for resources for educator-
friendly photos at Free Photos on the Web or Discovery School's Clip Art.
q This is what your chart might look like now:
Education World® Creating Graphic Organizers with Word
LESSONS WITH GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
In this techtorial, we used a flow chart to illustrate the process of creating graphic organizers in
Word.. We could have created a concept web, a Venn Diagram, or any other graphic organizer you
can imagine. To see examples of other graphic organizers that can be created with Word, see
Newton's Law of Physics, Water Cycle, and Safety. (All these actually are made with Excel, but
Word will work fine too!)
See additional resources at Curriculum Integration at the Inspiration Web site. You might not be able
to duplicate a given chart exactly, but you'll get some great content- and age-specific ideas for…
well, for inspiration!
TELL ME MORE!
Where can I find more information?
Are you looking for a quick, printable graphic organizer for your classroom? Check out the dozen or
so Venn Diagrams, concept maps, and more at Education World Templates. Or are you wondering
what else you can do with Microsoft Word and Office in general? Check out the many other
wonderful ideas at the Techtorials Table of Contents.