Fishbone
“Fishbone” is a literacy strategy resource from the National FFA Organization featuring a graphic organizer that helps students identify and organize cause-and-effect relationships. The key event (effect) forms the “head” of the fishbone while the causes make up the “bones,” and the worksheet can be used with any assigned reading, video, website, or class lecture.
At a glance
- Learning objectives
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- Identify and interpret common themes and patterns in text, video or lecture information.
- Identify the key event and select the causes of the event.
- Description
- A graphic organizer strategy that helps students identify and organize relationships between causes and effects. The key event (or the effect) is the "head" of the fishbone, and the causes of the event make-up the "bones" or categories.
- Example Activities
- This strategy can be used with any reading students are assigned. It can be modified to help students summarize words or main ideas from a video, website or class lecture. This worksheet can also be completed in pairs to promote educational dialogue.
Downloads & Links
Aligned Standards
Common Core – Language
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.6Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
Common Core – Reading: Informational Text
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.1Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.2Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper).
Common Core – Writing
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.2Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.