I could talk about sketchnotes all day. I could also really talk about how I think sketchnotes merge seamlessly with thinking maps. Both of these tools create a visual method of note-taking for students that defies the traditional norms of the column notes or teacher-guided notetaking. They also have the power to transform assessment in our classrooms. Students light up when they are able to complete a formative assessment or a summative assessment in a way that isn’t standard. It is outside-of-the-box. It is necessary.

Sketchnotes is visual note-taking.

If you need to be sold on the love of doodling watch this TED Talk, or simply check out any of Lynda Berry's work, like Syllabus. I love Verbal to Visual because they have made an entire center for teachers to become familiar with sketchnotes. This post is a gallery post of examples of sketchnotes and applications from my classroom. This post is meant to be an inspiration to infuse art into your literacy classroom.

Coming off of the 2017-2018 school year, one of the areas that I know I need to read more on, reflect on more, and gain strategies on is working with my English Language Learner students. I attended a SIOP or Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol training last week and took away a few strategies. I was also left with wanting more areas of ESL instructional strategies to be taught more directly to teachers; this will be more to come in another blog post. One strategy that I immediately took away from the training was the use of Visual Thinking Strategies.