sketchnote

My new stylus came this weekend:

Simply put, it is amazing. It feels and writes like a pencil (or pen, paintbrush, whatever you wish!). You can even use the eraser as…well…an eraser! I have long been a fan of Paper by FiftyThree and this stylus is helping me enjoy it even more. Paper by FiftyThree now has Think Kit built right in – a simple tool for diagramming.

What I enjoy, however, is the ability to remix. I love drawing and doodling, and remix allows a user to draw a picture and share it, OR remix something someone else has drawn and change it. Mix by FiftyThree is a great collaboration tool where users may “learn, sketch, play, write, design and think” with others. Click here to view a remix I enjoyed and be sure to click “replay” to view the original picture.

I have always been a doodler. Whenever I am at a meeting, I can listen for so-long, then feel the need to start drawing. If I am taking notes, I will often draw what I am thinking. About a year ago, I found out there was an actual name for what I was doing – taking a sketchnote!

Sketchnoting is taking visual notes while listening to a presentation, video, or even reading! I have started taking sketchnotes for my morning devotions and have found that I am remember more what I have read because a visual representation is sketched in my mind.

Sketchnoting is a mixture of texts, fonts, and images. The images can be very simple and you do not need to be an artist to create a sketchnote. If you look at my picture above, I drew a stick figure with a circle head and triangle body because I can’t draw people! If you can draw a square, line, and circle, you can certainly create a sketchnote. Graphic organizers have been used for a long time in note-taking and a sketchnote considers how thoughts and facts connect. Watch this quick video about sketchnoting:

Braindoodles has some great lessons on visual note-taking. Mike Rhode’s book on Sketchnoting is the one that started me on visual note-taking. This article also gives many ideas for sketchnoting and offers some technology solutions. My absolute favorite source is Kathy Schrock’s page on Visual Note-taking. There you will find links on research, article, books, and videos.

I gave a sketchnote assignment to my teacher candidate students. They had to find out their multiple intelligences and create a sketchnote about MI in the classroom. I received many outstanding sketchnotes. Here is an amazing example: