Lesson 3:

Selecting and Organizing

INFORMATION
 INTRODUC
TION

You are surrounded with lots of information. Finding ways how to effectively
process this information is a challenge to overcome for everyone. Thus, reading and
writing require abilities to generate, select and organize ideas through the use of
different techniques such as; brainstorming, making a graphic organizer and
outlining would help you to interpret the information around you. Let us further
study about these techniques.

OBJECTIVE
S

By the end of the lesson, you will have been able to

 differentiate the techniques in selecting and organizing information
 practice brain storming techniques
 prepare a graphic organizer
 prepare a topic outline: and
 prepare a sentence outline.
 PRELIMINARY
ACTIVITY

Study and look at the box below. Sort and categorize each word according to the
group where they belong. Create 5 groups that represent they class.

mother, cricket, baby, child, toddler, lion, tiger, bear, coffee shop, dog,
cat, table, truck, book, grandmother, pencil, iPad, restaurant, computer,
zookeeper, coat, boots, alligator, bird, wolf, teenager, student, teacher,
minister, businessperson, salesclerk, patriotism woman, city, state,
continent, park, envy, love, hate, father, respect, pride

DISCUSS
ION
Brainstorming is the most popular method for generating ideas. It is commonly
used to solve a problem and usually involving a group, led by a facilitator. A
simple talk with your friends thinking and planning what and where you should it
is an example of brainstorming. If you have complicated problems, brainstorming
is the best to use because it produces better ideas through the member’s
contribution of knowledge and experiences.

There are ways how to brainstorm;

 Create a list- It simply requires you to write the main topic and list all the
related concepts about it.
 Create an idea map- Idea map is a visual representation of ideas and
representation about the topic.

Idea list Idea Map

Now that you have known how to do brainstorming, proceed on how you can
categorize our ideas and learn more about graphic organizers.

Graphic organizers are visual and graphic displays that depict the relationships
between facts, terms, and or ideas within a learning task come in many different
forms, each one best suited to organizing a particular type of information. It is also
sometimes referred to as knowledge maps, concept maps, story maps, cognitive
organizers, advance organizers, or concept diagrams. The following examples are
merely a sampling of the different types and uses of graphic organizers.

Types of Graphic Organizers

1. Venn Diagram is used to compare and contrast. It enables you to organize
information visually and see the relationships between ideas, concepts and
events. It can also help you identify similarities and differences. The outer
circles are the differences while the middle is the similarities.

2. Network Tree- is used to represent hierarchy, classification and branching.

It is useful in showing relationships of scientific categories, family trees, and
even lineages. Used to show classification of information (causes of
poverty), a hierarchy (types of insects), or branching procedures (the
circulatory system).
3. Spider Map- A spider map is a brainstorming or organizational tool that
provides a visual framework for students to use. Sometimes, this graphic
organizer is called a “concept map” or a “spider web graphic organizer”. A
spider map has a main idea
or topic in the center, or the
body, of the diagram. Each
detail or sub-topic associated
with the main idea has its
own leg, or
branch, surrounding the main
idea.
4. Problem-Solution Map – displays the nature of the problem and how can it
be solved. It helps you to compare different solutions to a problem.
5. Timeline-used to show how events occurred chronologically through a long
bar labeled with dates and specific events.

source: google photos 1

6. Plot Diagram- a tool that is commonly used to organize a story into certain
segments. Once the parts of the plot diagram are identified, it is easier to
analyze the content.
a. The exposition or the introduction introduces the characters, describes
the setting and establishes the problem in the story.
b. The rising action is where the suspense builds and the problem gets
worse and becomes more complicated. There are often multiple steps or
parts in the rising action.
c. The climax is the turning point in the story. It is usually the most exciting
part in the story and the part that makes the reader want to keep reading.
d. The falling action is the events that happen after the climax that lead to a
resolution or ending to the story.
e. The resolution is the outcome of the story. It is how things end up or turn
out for the characters.
7. Series of Events Chain- can help you organize information according to
various steps or stages. You must be able to identify the which happened
first and all of the resulting stages in the procedure as they unfold, and the
outcome (the final stage). In this process, you realize how one step leads to
the next in the process, and eventually, to the outcome.

8. Fishbone Map- also called a cause and effect diagram or Ishikawa diagram, is
a visualization tool for categorizing the potential causes of a problem in order
to identify its root causes. 

9. Cycle-
This graphic organizer will allow you to visualize events that occur in a
cycle, such as the rock cycle. This can be used to show the sequence of
events, as a pre-writing organizer, or to check for your comprehension.
 10. Persuasion Map- is an interactive graphic organizer that enables you to
map out your arguments for a persuasive essay or debate. You begin by
determining your goal or thesis then identify three reasons to support your
argument, and three facts or examples to validate each reason.

Outline is also a tool for organizing ideas. It is a plan for or a summary of a

writing project or speech and are usually in the form of a list divided into headings
and subheadings that distinguish main points from supporting points. It may be
either informal or formal, decimal or alphanumerical format.

Topic outline arranges your ideas hierarchically (showing which are main and
which are sub-points). As the name implies, it identifies all the little mini-topics
that your paper will comprise, and shows how they relate. Sentence outline does
all of this, it shows exactly what you will say about each topic. Each sentence, it
expresses the specific and complete. To further understand the difference between
the two, take a look at the example below and always remember that a topic outline
lists words or phrases and a sentence outline lists complete sentences.

Direction: Read the essay below and perform the succeeding tasks.
A. Make a graphic organizer appropriate for the given essay. Think as many as
graphic organizer you can use.
B. Summarize the given essay using a sentence and topic outline.
C. Give your own examples for each graphic organizer discussed in this lesson.

"Learning or Not: Active and Passive Classes"

 Everyone who has gone to school knows that some classes are better, more interesting,
livelier than others. We have all sat through classes where we learned little, accept the facts and
to be quiet. We also have been part of classes where we actively learned by being challenged by
teachers and the subject to learn for ourselves. Although classes often seem outwardly alike in
having a teacher, in having some students and in producing some results, the differences
between passive and active classes are enormous.

The passive kind of class usually has a teacher who lectures, puts outlines and terms on the
chalkboard, and dispenses information to the students. Like my sophomore biology teacher Mrs.
Noguida, who rarely looked up from the orange notebook in which she had carefully typed all
her lectures, a teacher in a passive classroom simply dictates information and answers. They tell
the students how to think and what to think. They pour facts into the students like water into a
sieve. The students are forced, usually by the teacher's authority, to sit, listen, take notes, and
regurgitate only what the teacher has said. The only kinds of questions are about form: "What is
the work in subpoint 3, a, (1)?" Or "How do you spell photosynthesis?" The results in such a class
are measured by multiple-choice or true-false questions, or questions that require memorized
answers: "What is Newton's First Law?" "What are the three causes or the American Civil War?"
The results in such classes are also measured by the quickness with which students forget the
facts they had poured into them.

The other kind of class, the active kind, usually has a teacher who stimulates students to learn for
themselves by asking questions, by posing problems, and most of all by being a student, too.
Such a teacher might plan the outline of a course, but doesn't force the class in only one direction.
Instead, like Ms. Cerrillo, my junior history teacher, a teacher in an active class uses the
discussion to lead to learning. Instead of lecturing on the causes of the Civil War, Ms. Cerrillo
gave us a list of books and articles and said, "Find out what caused the Civil War." We had to
search for ourselves, find some answers, then discuss what we found in class. From the
discussions, we all learned more than just the facts; we learned the facts but we also learned how
complex the causes were. Students in active classes like that become more involved in their
learning; they ask questions about why and how. The results in the active class are usually
measured by essay answers, individual projects, and a change in attitude on the students' part.
Learning becomes fun; although students may forget the facts just as quickly, their attitudes
toward learning and their excitement in developing answers for themselves don't end with the
last class.

We all remember having to learn that "4 X 9 = 36" and having to memorize dates like 1914-1918,
1776, and 1492. And those kinds of classes are important for laying some groundwork, but not
much true learning takes place there. There is a difference between knowing a fact and
understanding it. Despite their outward similarities, the passive kind of class is clearly inferior to
the active one for helping students understand the world around them.

I hope that you would find this module helpful.

You categorize in a daily basis when you organize
your things, your pictures in your gallery and so on.
Learning how to do it properly will also help you
sort information from the most important to the less
important.