Showing posts with label sketchnoting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sketchnoting. Show all posts

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Meeting Students Where They Are: DIY Literacy Ch 5-6 #cyberPD

It's the final week of #cyberPD.  Our community is reading DIY Literacy by Maggie Roberts and Kate Roberts.  This week we're discussing the final chapters:  chapter 5 & 6.  These two chapters helped me to solidify my thinking around using these tools to "tailor teaching (p. 71)" and to effectively shape the tools we use with students.

In both my time in the classroom in large learning communities and then in supporting readers reading intervention, I continually worked to differentiate for learners.  No two learners are ever the same, and as Kate and Maggie remind us this can be challenging to balance in classrooms.  Using tools like charts, demonstration notebooks, micro-progressions, and bookmarks help to not only make learning more concrete for students but also allow for greater differentiation and personalization.  These tools help to develop "a sustainable practice that meets kids' needs (p. 72).  Working to meet the variety of needs in a classroom takes thoughtful practice.  The authors help us to see how tools can not only support students who need help, but they can also extend learning for students who need more push.  

These chapters reminded us to:
  • Look for signs tools are working:  use, struggle, shifts, growth, engagement
  • Look for signs tools can be removed:  automaticity, awareness
  • Build effective tools:  co-create; use popular culture, metaphor, kid language, space, color, branding
  • Be intentional about location

Thinking About Tools to Support Learning
I created this visual representation of key points from the reading.


In Closing
I can't thank the #cyberPD community enough for all they have shared during this event.  I'll be weeks browsing through the posts and will return throughout the year for the many ideas that have been shared.   



My Past Posts
Becoming Strategic Chapters 3-4
DIY Literacy Tools Chapters 1-2








Sunday, December 13, 2015

DigiLit Sunday: Sketchnoting in Evernote

It's been awhile since I've had something new and exciting to say about Evernote, but today is the day!  This week, while in a meeting, I once again noticed the small pen icon at the top of my note.


I gave it a click to discover it would be possible for me to handwrite notes while working in Evernote.  That's going to be big news for some of my friends who prefer to handwrite their notes.  It was pretty exciting news, but honestly my handwriting is sometimes hard to read; it's often reason I type in the first place.

However I've been playing a bit with sketchnoting.  Though I'm not an artist, I find the way sketchnoting requires me to think visually to be a fun challenge.  I decided to give sketchnoting a try during the meeting.  Creating a sketchnote requires much more synthesizing of information.  It really requires me to listen in a much deeper way.  I'm not sure as teachers we would find a student drawing to seem like they were truly listening, but I promise if you try it yourself you will begin to realize the challenge involved.

Here's a note I created:

The handwritten information or sketchnote then lives within the Evernote note page that has been created.  You can reopen the note to add more information.  

What I liked:
  • ease of use (much easier than using the Skitch app embedded EN)
  • palette had several color possibilities
  • I could change the width of the pen/marker
  • dots on page make it easier to add lines and consider space
  • saves within a note in the same way images do 



What I might improve:
  • the bumpiness of some parts  (That could have been my stylus.)
  • a way to enlarge parts of page for more detailed sketching
  • a way to share just the sketchnote or writing page without sharing the entire note or taking a screenshot (Maybe it's there and I haven't figured it out yet.)
  • I missed the ability to pull up the shield that allows you to place your hand on the iPad while  you work
I'm so excited about the possibility of this new tool within Evernote.  If you love Evernote, you'll want to give it a try.



As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learningMargaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections on the Teche.