Kathryn why a graphic organiser?

A graphic organiser could be useful for visual, linguistic and kinesthetic learners. By displaying the rough ideas of a concept in a graphic organiser one can get clear on which aspects are more important than others. As graphic organisers involve writing it would be good for linguistic learners and as they are mostly done on computers they would be good for kinesthetic learners presuming that they can type.
Bloom's levels of learning are easily reflected in the use of a graphic organiser: becoming clear on what one thinks about something by seeing it laid out on the page, this would also be good for experiencing the 'knowledge' one already has and restating the information helps lead to some 'comprehension'. Separating the items and making connections between ideas can be seen to be the analysis stage of Bloom's levels of learning.
Within learning a language I can imagine using a graphic organiser with the students working in pairs or groups to work on various subjects such as cultural differences in foods, cities or famous people for example. In year 9 the students do a project on a famous person from a German speaking country and these could certainly be brain-stormed in preparation for this. When working in groups the social environment would be active (Vygotsky) and the interpersonal learner would be stimulated.
As students mention famous people they know and admire the students become active, inspired and engaged.
I think the fact that with graphic organisers students work on a computer which means that whatever is written can easily be deleted is a positive aspect, as the fear of writing something 'stupid' need not be so strong. Also creativity leads to more creativity so as the layout becomes more interesting, together the students may become more confident and imaginative in their approach to the work.