Drawing in Class - The Power of Sketchnoting

Like a dutiful teacher, I've been using my summer vacation for my professional development and to up my game as an educator!  Among the many things on my radar is the concept of sketchnoting.
You've probably seen what I'm talking about...a visual representation of concepts using drawn images, icons, and words.  I read "Ditch That Textbook" by Matt Miller, who does a lot of great sketchnotes in his book, and I was motivated to learn more and to encourage my students to take notes in this way.

I  subscribed to the Sketchnote Army Blog and came across a great TED talk featuring Rachel Smith who does visual note-taking professionally. Her story about being called out for drawing in the back of the class resonated with me.  Rachel makes the points that by making visual notes, a person has to really listen to what's being said, understand it, and connect it to something he or she already knows.  It turns note-taking into something more than the passive activity it often is, and it can help students remember concepts later more readily.  As teachers, we should allow and encourage students to take notes in whatever form will help them most. 

There's no one way or right way to do sketchnotes.  The three main steps are to pick a tool, develop a few basic icons, and to listen for and capture key points.  You don't have to be an accomplished artist to do this.  If you can look at your visual notes later and tell back the story or main points, then you know you did it right.  As a scrapbooker, I've used this same technique to capture memories with no idea what it was called.  Those sketches and notes are precious to me now, especially the one-pager I drew during Army basic training,

The best advice I came away with was not to spend too much time on any one image, because then you're not listening anymore.  It's all about listening and capturing the speaker's key points.  For more on visual note-taking, check out the video:  Drawing in Class: Rachel Smith at TEDxUFM.

Happy sketching!

Writing is Thinking! Why I’m Excited about Using Blogs with my Students

I had already decided that my 7^th graders were going to write next year.  Those dismal writing scores on the ACT Aspire had teachers across the county and state talking about what needed to happen to bring them up.  So already I was planning on less objective tests and more open-ended, essay responses for assessments.  I had also considered having my students keep a learning journal.  Then I really started considering a familiar idea which I had never tried in my social studies classes:  blogging. 

According to Kristen Kennedy, students will write when they have something to say, an audience, and feedback (Writing with Web Logs, 2003).  As I consider how that could possibly be different than any other writing assignment, it struck me that my students might be more aware of their thought process and what they’re writing when there is an audience who actually read and respond to their words.  It might take writing beyond just an assignment that only a teacher is reading into a whole different level of connectedness to the larger community and world. 

And they might even learn something in the process!