Sketchnoting is something that I know quite well; it is stuck in my head due to events that happened while my English 11 class was covering this unit. I can confidently say sketchnoting is the largest of the few things I remember from English 11 because halfway through our term, the lovely COVID-19 hit. With this being the last unit before the nothing during quarantine, it has latched itself inside my noggin. That being said, I do love sketch notes. I find it super useful for myself as my brain works better when there are colours and pictures to connect to the text we are learning. It has taken a long time since high school for me to be able to consistently utilize sketch notes because I would always get in my head and worry about the quality of the pictures and if it was up to the high standards that my high school English teacher set. Since coming to university, I have let go of those worries and remembered that the whole point of sketch notes is to help your own brain and not worry about nonexistent rules

Below, I have included a few pictures of different sketch note elements and how those elements can come together to create sketch notes based on an article titled The Scientific Case For Doodling While Taking Notes.

In my grade 5 L2P class, I believe that sketch notes would be super beneficial because nearly every kid in the class loves to draw and doodle during free time and read-aloud time. They are still learning how to take notes when reading or listening, and if we get them started on sketch notes now, they will gain the skill and confidence through middle school and into high school. In high school and university, note-taking is vital to understanding what you are learning and how to study for tests and assignments, so having the fully developed skill would give them a leg up over students like myself, who were not good note-takers going into high school and university. Using the art that they already love to make sense of new and confusing topics would be an easy way to broach note-taking in differing forms.

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The TPACK model could help me choose the best technology for each situation by making me stop and assess the three main types of knowledge and their intersections to determine what will benefit the most. The three types of knowledge are Technological, Pedagogical, and Content, each of which is essential in determining the best route for your students. The specific group of students and the teacher’s teaching style will also heavily affect what is implemented because they are the context that shapes everything. TPACK is a great way for teachers to assess their own teaching and how well they integrate technology that I look forward to using in the future.

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Don’t forget to come back for the next post,

-Kristen