Sketchnoting - how to teach it?

The fact that the teacher is methodically prepared to impart knowledge and skills in his or her own subject does not automatically mean that the student is equally ready to acquire this knowledge. So how do you Sketchnoting learn to learn?

It is not just about theory, remembering sequences of dates, definitions and cause-effect relationships. First and foremost, it is about acquiring skills that will enable the student

In the future, find yourself on the labor market, retrain, develop your own interests and passions, function in multicultural societies, keep up with the ever-changing reality.

In this context, the ability and willingness to learn throughout life seem to be much more important than even a decade ago. This is where the challenge for teachers comes in LEARN. One of the starting points is a note...

Taking notes is an art, or rather a trick

In most cases, students cannot take notes. For them, taking a note means mechanically, thoughtlessly rewriting a fragment of a textbook or writing down the content provided by the teacher in a linear fashion. As a result, we get (in the version of the diligent student) a few pages covered with a fine texture or (in the more negligent version) one paragraph at the beginning of our speech. Why one? Because he got lost at the beginning when he was wondering how to write "benefits".

With this type of listing, it is also impossible to avoid constant requests to repeat this or that information. "And from what point to repeat?", We ask. And we hear the answer, after which nothing but wring your hands: "It's best from the beginning, ma'am!". Anyway, from such a note, the student will also read it only once or twice, the more ambitious ones will try to memorize it and recite sentence after sentence when answering, but when we try to change the structure of the question or ask for a problematic approach - they will fail. So how do you persuade students to try something new, something that requires initial effort and work but is sure to produce better results in the long run? How to encourage them to draw, which has so far been associated so "not seriously" and "not-school"?

Sketchnoting in fashion

When it comes to graphic notes, a whole list of possibilities may appear. After all, a table comparing Enlightenment with Romanticism, a diagram of the circulatory system of mammals, a representation of a hydrochloric acid molecule or the geological system of the seabed - this is a graphic note. Until a few years ago, the mind map was triumphant, as it allowed for a non-linear approach to the topic, and at the same time organized knowledge in a transparent way. We currently have a boom for a drawn note, or (Anglicizing): sketchnoting.

The speech is both attractive in appearance, content gradation using graphic markers and colors, the need to think over and select the noted content, greater involvement in creating a note, which translates into the quality of its remembering. Sometimes there is a counter-argument that sketchnoting is intended mainly for visual learners, but is such a simplified division into three types: visual learners, auditory learners and kinesthetics still working? There are seven types of intelligences and each of us is a mixture of them, so it is not possible to schematically assign specific learning tools to a given type of learning. On the other hand, it seems reasonable to offer students various options and leave them free to choose.

But do we have to ...?!

At the very beginning, when the slogan: we draw!, I hear murmurs of disbelief and groans of dislike. Because how is it? To draw? Just like in kindergarten? For what? There are few, if any, enthusiasts in the class. Usually the flagship argument is the statement: "But I can't draw!". And then what to answer? That: "Circles and lines are also a drawing!"

But why such reluctance? After all, younger children draw willingly and without hiding behind their own incompetence or inaccuracy. For them, drawing is great fun, which (from the teachers' point of view) stimulates creativity, exercises patience, accuracy, sense of color, visualization of abstract concepts, building a narrative structure...

You can exchange endlessly.

Then why the reluctance of the older students? Maybe this is due to the fact that the pen is used less and less, or maybe nobody has inspired them to sketchnoting before?

Must Read: The benefits of cooking with children for the whole family

So how do you convince students to this form? By the method of small steps. The tower was not built in a day, the student will not immediately become a sketchnoting enthusiast. Therefore, it is worth giving him a strong foundation for this key skill, which is learning, and introducing the class step by step to the secrets of graphic notation.

1. The first step is ready-made lesson notes prepared by the teacher. Such activities take place in the normal way, students make their own notes and there is no drawing at all at the beginning. However, at the end of the lesson, they receive either pre-printed cards with a graphic lesson note, or a link to a website on the Internet, where they can download them. Then the teacher is sure that everything that is most important will be included in the student's notebook.
2. The next level of initiation is a note made by the teacher on the blackboard on an ongoing basis. In this way, I present the content, discuss it with the students and, additionally, in the so-called "mean time" - draw on the blackboard. Upon completion, students have time to redraw the note. What does it do? They are involved in the very process of text analysis, but do not feel pressured yet to come up with their own way of visually presenting it. However, by redrawing - they already practice some typical graphics, icons, frames, etc., which they will later be able to use in their own works.
3. The worksheets are a step further. How many times do we use them in lessons? This time, however, I suggest you make them yourself in the form of a graphic note. In this way, we impose the organization of space, but also leave free places to be filled by students. These are the first almost independent notes. The degree and quality of these restorations depend on the creativity of individual people, but the effects at this stage are already very satisfactory.
4. The last stage is a fully independent graphic note. It can be made on the basis of text fragments from the textbook, both at home and on the fly during the lesson. The student, instead of filling the margins of the notebook with zigzags, eyes, dragons and other monsters - focuses the same creative energy on learning, because this is science!

It is also worth showing students websites on the Internet with ready-made templates for download or examples of ready-made implementations. They can treat them as inspiration for their own creative activities and maybe they even like it...?