Drawing What You Read: Using Visual Notetaking in the ELA Classroom Sandra Burgess

The Idea (Or Just Trying to Find Something New) Looking for ways to improve: Differentiation The ‘doodlers’ Assessing reading comprehension The ‘skimmers’ The ‘sparknoters’ Realizing students images, animation

What is Visual Notetaking? (VNT) Definition A notetaking system which combines hand drawn images, symbols, and word art to represent ideas Includes images, symbols YOU can draw Represents YOUR understanding of material Aids in recall

Using VNT in the ELA Classroom Bloom’s Taxonomy: Synthesis and Evaluation Interactive Student Notebooks: Made to Go Together Student-Led Lessons Think, Pair, Draw Content Lessons Constructing Anchor Charts

Using VNT for Reading Assessment Differentiation and Rethinking Assessment Benefits of Methodology Steps Introduce VNT Model VNT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY9KdRfNN9w Give Guidelines and Requirements Allow In and Out of Class Practice Start Small Final Reading Assessment Make it Your Own; Let them Make it Their Own Quick 3 Minute Video

Examples of Student Work This student has to use speech to text software for writing, so he still found significant quotes and then drew images that helped him remember the main point of those quotes. This student used capital letters to designate figurative language, characterization, theme, and text connections.

Examples of Student Work This student used stick people for characterization! I can see how she ‘saw’ each of these characters from Merchant of Venice. The same student used shapes to categorize figurative elements she thought were significant to the play.

Examples of Student Work This student used emojis for her character analysis! She also used character initials to mark specific quotes which reflected the characters themselves. On the right, she mapped out Act I, Scene I of Merchant of Venice using emojis.

Examples of Student Work You can see his ‘word art’ for theme here. It is clear that he understand the main themes of the play. This student was my doodler. His love of drawing can be seen in his characterization of Lancelot and Jessica of Merchant of Venice.

More Ideas For Students, VNT For Teachers, VNT Is Adaptable and Personal Represents New Way to Take Notes Can Be Used in Many Disciplines For Teachers, VNT Can Be Shared Methodology Aid in Creating Cross-Curricular Assignments

Bibliography and Further Reading Pillars, Wendy. Visual Note-taking For Educators. Norton: New York, 2016. Rohde, Mike. The Sketchnote Handbook. Peachpitt Press: Berkley, 2012. Shrock, Kathy. “Sketchnoting in the Classroom.” Kathy Shrock’s Guide to Everything. 10 July 2011. Web. 2 October 2016.

Contact and Collaboration Sandra Burgess Curriculum Leader, English 7th and 8th Grade English, Creative Writing, Journalism Morgan Park Academy Chicago, IL 60643 sburgess@morganparkacademy.org Twitter: @SburgessMPA Instagram: @sburgessmpa Send me pics of your students trying this out and let me know what you find as you make it your own!

Professional Learning Hours Professional Learning Code: Session Evaluation Let us know what you thought of this session. Complete an evaluation electronically on the conference app, or complete the paper evaluation located in the program book. Professional Learning Hours Earn professional learning contact hours to maintain your teaching certification. Write down the code for every session you attend on the card located in the program book. Professional Learning Code: QC-94