My Journey Into #Sketchnotes: Part 1

My journey into the amazing world of #sketchnotes began when I signed up to do #DitchSummit, presented by Matt Miller (@jmattmiller).  I watched all the videos and when I started following the hashtag, I saw people making these cool things called #sketchnotes.  I thought, wow these are cool but I could never do something like that.  I have never been artistically talented and rely on stick figures and doodles to get things done.  I share freely with my students that we all have different talents and art is not mine. However, I have been embracing growth mindset in my classroom this year, and thought "wow, that is not very growth mindset."  I needed to push myself out of my comfort zone, and try something new for the students that are more artistic and creative.

I read a couple blog post about #sketchnotes from @SteinbrinkLaura on her blog Rockin The Boat (She is fantastic by the way, you really need to go follow her right now.)

Brain Science + Share + #Sketchnotes=1-2-3 Win for Students!
Cranky Student Makeover: Graphic Organizer + Sketchnotes=This Doesn’t Suck

I started researching it a little more and searching around on Twitter and the Internet, and something clicked for me. 

💡 It is not about the quality of the art, it is about the IDEAS represented on the page. 💡 

I hated doing traditional note taking with my students because it was ALWAYS a struggle.  They used every avoidance technique in the book, and the end product was often incomplete or unusable.  They were doing it to get it done, not to learn the content presented.  Sketchnoting is a way to connect text and visuals in an organized and connected way. 

I made the decision right then to give it a try in my class.  We were starting a new unit next week, so I decided to have them create a sketchnote for the first reading passage, a 3-page overview of Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures ( I know, exciting right 😉)

I prepared myself by watching some of the videos made by @HeckAwesome on YouTube and created my own sketchnote to see what the process felt like.  I am not an artistic person, but I am a Doodler from way back.  Once I started it was easy to map out the ideas and organize them how I wanted.  I decided to use graph paper since I am a crooked writer, and need lines to stay straight.  It took me about 30 minutes to complete.  Was it perfect, NO, but it was a good start.

Feeling confident that this could work with my students, I prepared myself to present this in class.  I decided to show a YouTube video from Sketcho Frenzy that explains the basics of Visual Notetaking, and then just let them get started.  I didn't want to give then too many constraints or suggestions and wanted to see what they could really do with it.  I did show them my example so they could see me trying something new as well.

I gave students about a class and a half of time to work on it and created a short formative assessment with check-in questions using EdPuzzle to be able to assess their learning and give them feedback.  Some students realized after doing the EdPuzzle that their sketchnote was incomplete, so they went back and made additions and revisions before redoing the questions.   The next class day we went on to do an activity that took their learning and applied it to some models of matter to identify elements, compounds, and mixtures.  

Overall the results showed that all students had at least demonstrated some level of proficiency on the concept, with many approaching mastery level.  But most important of all, when I gave a Socrative to ask them to provide feedback, the response showed me a lot of the students LIKED IT!!!

I asked 3 questions for the students to give me some feedback using Socrative.

Question 1:  Compared to doing traditional notes, I liked doing Sketchnotes

Question 2: I think creating the sketchnote help(ed) me understand the content.

Question 3:  I would like to do sketchnoting more often in this class.

I also asked students "What would you like me to do differently next time we do sketchnoting?"

Some of the feedback from students that I took into consideration included:

• "I liked the way sketchnoting went this time. Maybe if we did sketchnoting with a longer article it would make it slightly easier since we would have more information to provide."
• "Giving a list of things we need so we can understand how to format it (only basics) to make sure we have the most important parts so we don't run out of space."
• "Give us more time in class."
• "Have a bigger page"
• "I would give people a choice of doing regular notes or scetch notes because regular notes are a lot easier to study from and easier to understand."

and there were many who said

• "Keep it the same, it was really fun and I enjoyed it."

Anytime I am implementing something new in class, I always ask for student feedback in some way so that I can improve for next time.  My students are always honest and respectful when giving me feedback, because they know I read it and take it seriously. 

SO....what are my next steps.

I have already done this again with my students, and I took many of their suggestions into consideration.   I showed students how to tape 2 pages together to have more space.  I talked about how the sketchnotes can be made however they need them to be to WORK for them.  If your sketchnotes did not work for you last time, try a different format or approach.  I did insist that they include some form of drawing but stressed it was about the ideas, not detailed pictures.

After the second implementation, I will do another assessment, this time through GoFormative, so that I will be able to see how students are doing on their way to proficiency before the activity.

I am excited to continue to learn about this process and can't wait to learn from others who are on this path as well.  There is a lot of great information out there, and I would love to talk sketchnotes with anyone interested.  Just reach out on Twitter and I would be happy to talk #sketchnotes!

Thanks for reading.  Until next time

Melissa