Google Docs for graphic organizers

One of the central goals I have each year is to teach my students to articulate themselves well.  They need to be able to form cohesive, well-supported arguments as they draft their responses.  A critical part of this is the graphic organizer - getting them to plan their work, test each part of a paragraph to make sure it supports a central point, before they type it up.

My vehicle for teaching this is the Essay Map:





Students learn the acronyms, and then create their own version of the map to help internalize how the parts all fit together.  Then, when we get to a writing assessment, they are given graphic organizers that look like the images on the slide.

Up until last year, these organizers were strictly on paper.
Here is what my paper organizer for a paragraph looked like:

This worked fairly well, but it did have some limitations:

• Students would often be crowding information into the boxes - especially kids with large, "poofy" handwriting (the sort that can fit little faces inside the dots over their "i's")
• It became messy, as items were crossed out or adjusted based on suggestions - an arrow to indicate one idea needed to come before another one, etc.
• Those who had either more or less examples than the number of boxes felt locked in, or pressured to have a regimental number of points in each paragraph.
• Fitting everything on the organizer meant there was room for just the boxes, not any real guidelines.

So, during the second major unit last year, I decided to try out using Google Docs to create a digital organizer.  I started by uploading the original doc, and converting it into Google Docs editable format.  Once it was in there, I was freed from the constraints of the 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper - I could add in more specific instructions and reminders for my students as they filled in the boxes, giving them more direct instruction in the organizer itself.
The online version looks like this:


This new format worked well - by changing the share setting from private to 'anyone with the link' and making sure no one else could edit it, I enabled my students to create their own copies for their use.  I took a few minutes in class to walk them through the process - go to the link on our discussion board, make sure you're logged in to your Google Docs account, and then click 'make a copy.'  Rename it with your period, name, and the assignment, then share it with me.  I then walked them through some basics - how to add in more boxes if you need them, how to delete ones you don't need, etc.

Students were now able to organize their papers online. The new format gave them more guidelines, and was adaptive to their needs - as they filled in a box, it became larger as they typed - no more squeezing information into a set size.  They could add, remove, or move items without the organizer becoming cluttered... and it has these added benefits:

• I can pop in and give feedback at any time - in the sidebar, or the document itself.
• Student work is always saved, always accessible - no lost papers
• Through the revision history, I can monitor how much time someone is spending on the organizer, and offer feedback accordingly.
• Once the student is done organizing, they can take the raw material and copy it into a new document, to convert into a full draft - no more writing things out twice.
• At the end of a unit, I have sample organizers and drafts, to help teach other students the writing process.

This works well for me -- I would love to hear how others are approaching online organizing.