I love a good color coordinated, outline format, highlighted sheet of notes as much as the next teacher, but let’s face it: not all kids are that giddy about note taking.
There are a plethora of reasons why students don’t enjoy or outright refuse to take notes. Students may have never learned how to take effective notes, or they learned a way that feels boring or not conducive to their learning. Before I learned which notes best helped me retain and recall information, I felt as though I was swimming in a notebook of words in a different language.
Thankfully, sketchnoting offers an additional format for students to organize their thoughts and learning. For students who have a passion for art and those who struggle with stick figures alike, sketchnoting can be a creative alternative for students to better obtain and truly learn the information.
Students in elementary school have much more creative opportunity than they do in secondary school, however creativity doesn’t become any less important. Creative thinking and processing is highly significant in developing critical thinking and problem solving skills in students and as such, educators need to recognize and support student creativity.
Sketchnoting gives students a creative outlet that may even excite them about taking notes. The best part: it is so easy to learn and takes minimal artistic talent. Vlogger Verbal to Visual created a simple video to get anyone started on their sketchnoting journey.
Not every student will feel sketchnoting fits their learning style and that’s okay! What is most important is that we as educators come around our students and support their learning styles individually. Take some time throughout the year to provide various structures and tips for note taking that students can adapt to their individual learning styles. Whether it is outlining or sketchnoting, looks like a masterpiece or is illegible to anyone but the student, what matters most is that students have to resources to improve their learning through their notes.
The Journey 
I love the Verbal to Visual YouTube channel! As a matter of fact, I have used some of his videos this year to teach my 6th graders about sketchnoting. What the Verbal to Visual videos make clear is that sketchnoting fits all types of students—the more wordy or the more sketchy types of students. I have seen firsthand the various notes they come up with, and I feel that it gives them a means without a concrete method; it allows for creativity. Have you tried a Cornell Notes/Sketchnoting hybrid? That is by far my favorite.
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