Graphic Organizers Aha!

 I'm teaching a class on writing. One of the assignments is to help a writer. Here's a portion of the sample and its source: 

It's obvious that the writer needs paragraphs. But what feedback would help the writer most. They are past the prewriting and composing phase, so suggesting a graphic organizer at this point would be frustrating because the writer would feel like they have to start over. No, we need something that helps at the editing/revising phase. 

I examined the lesson a bit further to find that the teacher was using Empowering Writer's graphic organizer called the Opinion Pillar. (See figure 2. ) While I think that there are better organizational structures than the flawed five paragraph essay formula, there's something I never noticed about graphic organizers. John used this formula. He should have had paragraphs. Why didn't he? 

Because the paragraphs are implied on the graphic organizer. 

Figure 2.

AHA! John didn't realize that the structure of the graphic organizer told him where his paragraphs needed to be. 

What if we did these things after composing the paper?

John, I want you to return to the graphic organizer that we used to plan this essay. There's something hiding. (Previously, I had taken lemon juice to write some notes on the paper. I placeD the paper over a light bulb to let the heat turn the lemon juice brown.) 

Next to Main Reason #1 appears: the pilcrow editing symbol. Keyboard strokes of enter and tab appear. New line and finger space appear for handwriting. 

John, see what happens when you put the main reason 2 and 3 over the lightbulb. Isn't that cool. Now let's go back to your writing. Take a highlighter. Where did you write your main reasons? Now that you have identified them, you can make the paragraphs visible for your reader!