Sketchnotes are a way to take notes that organizes thoughts and ideas in a visually stimulating way, without requiring artistry skills.
The ability to summarize or synthesize what we have learned is an advanced skill and sketchnotes are one way of teaching and practicing this skill. They allow the listener to focus on what they are hearing so that they can pick out what were the most important things to remember.
Keywords can be bolded, arrows & lines allow eyes to follow sequences, boxes or bubbles can help categorize thoughts that are related but might be thought-tangents, and icons are the visual pieces! None of these require master drawing skills but the more practice occurs, the better your sketchnotes will appear.
Students aren’t always taught how to take good notes which can cause them to write EVERYTHING down. The practice of sketchnoting is really just a way to learn how to paraphrase, summarize, and refocus to what’s really meaningful. The can be used in PD events, taking notes for various classes, and even a way to present information.
Decide on your medium!
– Paper, pens, pencils, highlighters, rulers
– Tablet, digital stylus, sketching app
Popular Digital Tools
– Apps: PaperBy53, Sketchbook, ProCreate, AdobeDraw, and Forge but any drawing app will work (even Explain Everything or Book Creator!).
– Styluses: Apple Pen, PencilBy53, Adonis Jot Pro, Targus, **or find any cheap/free pen with a touch-sensitive tip!
What Can I Sketch??
– Visit sketch50.com and try a different sketch over 50 days – you can view what other’s are sketching too using the hashtag #sketch50
– Check out what other educators have done with their students
– Visit Sylvia Duckworth’s website (A Canadian Teacher) or read this quick visual guide to get started by skethnote-love.com
Practice the Elements & teach them to your students!
Many of these elements are great for teaching basic art skills too!
– Lettering & Fonts
– Bullets
– Frames/Dividers
– Connectors & Arrows
– Shadowing/Bolding/Highlighting – when is it too much or too little?
– People & Icons
