Sketchnotes

 

I am an avid Pinterest user, which as most people know can get dangerously addicting.  I have tried lately to channel my Pinterest addiction into something useful, so I have been scouring teaching pins.  Lesson planning at the beginning of the school year with a four month old can be a little bit scary, but I think I stumbled onto something AWESOME!

Sketchnotes are all the rage in tech land.  (BUT It's crazy hard to find examples that aren't done by insane artists or about conference type things.) Being a high school English teacher, I see that not all students are bullet and list note-takers.  This year I wanted to provide more options for notes, instead of just showing the same PowerPoint over and over.  That used to be tech savvy and hip... now the kids are bored of it! So I took last year's version of the notes and voila, I transformed them!

This is my teacher version of the notes we took today.  

 

These are the pre-reading notes that we discuss before reading "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson.  They are fairly short notes (3 literary terms and 3 "buzz words"), so I thought they would be ideal to try this new strategy with.

I began the lesson by showing the students some google image examples of sketch notes. I explained to them that sketchnotes were just a technique in lieu of traditional note-taking.  I allowed those linear thinkers to take notes in traditional bullets. 

I drew the sections on the board for them and actually sketched the notes out along with them.  (I modeled them this time, and I think I will the next couple of times I use this technique.) Eventually, I think my sophomores could do this without my guidance (and my terrible art skills). 

We took these notes in our interactive notebooks (composition books). 

Below is an actual student copy.  I think it was a successful day of notes! 

Our notes covered:
Irony: dramatic, situational, and verbal
Symbolism
Tone
Buzz words: tradition, community, lottery

PS Yes, I used Buffy as an example of situational irony!

Tell me, have you used this technique before? Would you be willing to try it in class?

First Week Ideas

Welcome back to school y'all! I cannot believe the first week is already done. I am still frantically trying to learn about 130 student names #secondaryprobz!

This is my second year to teach sophomore English. Last year was my official  first year of teaching (after teaching half a year of 7th grade English it was a cake walk!) I am really excited about some of the new things I'm trying in my room this year.

This new bulletin board is probably my favorite thing... Here is what it looked like for the first day of school. The picture isn't super, but it basically says if blank had twitter.  I will fill it in with different people, authors, or things we are studying.  For the first day I had, if our mascots had a twitter. Then, I made up goofy hashtags for them. (#yourmascotsuitsmells) I used sentence strips and had our librarians laminate them.  I used dry erase markers to write my different hashtags. 

I already updated it from their Root Words List for the week. One of their roots is "derm," so I wrote a a hashtag that said #mileyshowedtoomuchepidermis Many of my students noticed the board and got a kick out of it! I can't wait to keep updating it this year! 

The first day of school can be a little bit scary, so I always introduce myself to the students.  I want them to see where I come from.  I tried this last year and improved upon it this time around.  I used all different shirts from periods in my life (high school, college, runs, wedding, and baby pjs) to tell them all about me.  

Then, I had them create a t-shirt out of construction paper to describe themselves. I didn't give them a template or any very strict rules.  It is really cool to see who wants to use scissors, who wants to make a tank top, and that type of stuff! I hung a clothesline from the Dollar Store around the room and had the students hang their shirts on the line.

I really love how my personal area turned out this year.  I have a chair to sit in and teach from the back of the room, when I have to use the computer.  (So that I can control the mouse and all that without sitting behind my desk) I also reoriented my desk to create an "L". It keeps the students from coming behind the desk now, since I have almost a counter for them.  I stapled fabric right to the wall behind my desk since there was no bulletin board there.  I am using thumb tacks to hang things on it! Works for me...

This year I am trying some different things. Including dipping my toes in the "interactive notebook pool."  I will try to get some more pictures of what's happening in Mrs. Riley's class to show off my new improved systems management for the year. :) 

Good Luck to all!