Media Make # 3

For my third media make I decided to make a sketchnote. After seeing Helen Dewaard’s awesome sketchnote on Tips to Integrate Media Literacy into the Classroom I became interested in creating my own. Shauna Burnie also gave me some useful tips on how to make my first sketchnote and showed me her blog. Similar to Shauna’s experience, I had some troubles setting up my iPhone to record my sketchnote. I tried about 15 different setups and positioning of the phone until finally, I was able to get my phone to sit on my bed with a bottle of cream holding it in place. It took me many attempts to get the sketchnote to turn out how I wanted it. When I recorded the sketchnote at night, the phone made a shadow on the paper, so I had to wait until it was morning to redo the filming. The next step was on to transferring it to iMovie to slow down the speed, add some music, and voice over. I’ve seen youtube videos of sketchnotes and people speaking at the same time I and always wondered how they did it. It was a neat experience being able to create something similar. I ended up adding some little extra pictures and doodles to the picture below. Next time I will definitely make sure to fill all of the white space and add more pictures and arrows/containers. I put a lot of work into it, so watching the finished product was a proud moment for me.

Once I saw Helen’s sketchnote, the first thing that came to mind was creating my own about math games, because I did so many of math games during my placement. When I went home that night, I received an email from Edutopia.org about turning math into a game, and that confirmed my idea (O’Malley, 2018). I summarized this article and created my sketchnote.

Sketchnotes in the Classroom

Students can make sketch notes when summarizing stories, learning new information, or doing research. When I was teaching lessons, Although off topic, I’d often see students drawing or doodling in their own sketch books. I think sketchnoting has a lot of potential for students who enjoy this type of media and creating things and doodling. Students can be on task while sketchnoting instead of doodling off task. I came across this article on sketchnotes, and it made me think of the students in my class. It talks about doodling purposefully, which I think is a great idea (Potash, 2017). According to the article, drawing pictures while listening to new information can lead to increased retention (Potash, 2017). If I were to introduce sketchnoting into my second placement, I would follow this article’s helpful ways to introduce it. Starting with letting your students know that you don’t have to be an artist to sketchnote. Then model to the students how to create a sketchnote, and then having students make their own and discuss it afterward in a small group (Hernandez, n.d).

The Impact of Sketch Noting

Sketchnoting connects to media literacy, and depending on the subject can be cross curricular too. Students can create sketchnotes in any subject, such as math, science, social studies, or physical education. While students are sketchnoting, they are creating a piece of art. This type of media making makes a difference in education because it takes maybe a challenging piece of writing and turns verbal into visual and that can help a lot of learners. It also gives students the chance to create this visual representation of their learning. For example, the grade 5’s that I worked with during my placement, did a social studies project on a current issue. Every student created a powerpoint presentation, however, some students weren’t interested in this form of media. I think it would be beneficial to offer students different avenues and give them a variety to choose from. Sketchnoting could be something that interests students because it’s hands-on and visual. I think it would increase students engagement.

Sketchnoting is very different to every individual who does it. This is because everyone has a different style. Sketchnoting can help to develop an individual identity because each is personal and unique.

Protecting Students

Educators can display their students’ sketchnotes on their class blog for the students and parents to see. I can see some parents being restrictive about this. If this is the case, then only parents who give permission for their child will have their work displayed. Edutopia suggests using parental consent/opt-out forms (Higgin, 2017). I don’t think this form of media negatively impacts students’ safety or privacy. There does not have to be anything identifiable on the work like names or photos of students (Higgin, 2017). Having students work on a class blog is a fun way for peers to see other classmates work. I think students would feel proud to see their work being displayed online. I do think it would be a way for students to begin creating their online identity in a positive and safe environment because the students are with their peers and in a safe space. In the classroom is the best way for students to learn about media.

What do you think about sketchnoting and student privacy and safety? Let me know what you think.

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