1- Read
First I skim the book, making note of the table of contents and what’s to come. This makes for a sort of “mental filing cabinet” by knowing how the book is organized and what to look for in terms of major content and subtopics. It is easy to dive “too deep” by over highlighting and annotating so sometimes I intentionally skim first then dive deeper on a 2nd read.
2- Summarize
A technique I used to teach my 4th grade students to help with recall was to put a post-it on the first page of each new chapter BEFORE reading the book. This intentionally slowed them down from speed reading without taking time to process what they just read. So post-it served 1. as a physical barrier from starting the next chapter, and 2. as a small space to capture a few main ideas while it was fresh in their mind. When I know I am reading a book with the purpose of sharing the main ideas with others, I tend to use this post-it summarizing trick to help keep a record of the main ideas since it typically takes me a few weeks (or months!) to read through teacher texts such as this one.
3- Synthesize
Next, I take those chapter summary post-it’s and scan for major categories or main ideas. For this sketchnote, I opted for that WHY-WHAT-HOW categories in order to summarize the founding research and principles (“start with why”) then invest the majority (top half of the Sketchnote) on the how… the practical ideas and takeaways. This stage is when I often thank myself for taking the time to do those chapter summaries. I often look back to the text for quotes/details, not main ideas since I already documented them.
4- Conceptualize
This is where YOU shine in this process. Anyone can do a basic summary. Anyone can read and outline a text, but your creativity, your organization, and your icons/fonts/flair (if you’re sketchnoting) is where the true personality shows. Deciding how to conceptualize an entire multi-hundred page text in a “one page” sketch is difficult. You have to take an Essentialist approach in identifying the key gems and cut out the extras. For this sketch, I opted to take Doug Neill’s recommendation and try out the app, Concepts. I learned it in my Digital Sketchnoting online course and decided to try it out after learning about the “infinite canvas” ability that allows you to keep sketching in any direction. Usually I have to intentionally sketch within the confines of a page, and have to be intentional about size/layout so I don’t run out of space. This mind mapping app actually allowed me more flexibility, and I opted to start in the center and branch out in more of a radial approach. You can see more of my initial thoughts on the app/sketching process on my Instagram post.
5- Vocalize
Lastly, while a sketchnote is great, a static image is elevated so much more when you get to hear the commentary behind the visuals and text. I found that panning through/screen recording the mind map actually led to some serious motion sickness from the zoom in/zoom out needed. Instead, with this one I opted to screen shot and sequence the sketches by putting them in order on slides. This text was a required reading for the EDUO 9944 Compassionate Classrooms professional development course I taught this summer, so the initial audience was the 39 K-12 teachers in the class. In the hopes to share with a larger audience (my school district + PLN on Twitter), I decided to re-record and post to YouTube. This is newer for me to share my videos and work but I hope that the investment in reading/sketching/sharing helps YOU with taking a strengths-based approach with your teaching and inspires you to learn more about the topic!
To my fellow sketchnoters- what is your work flow for synthesizing big ideas? Do you have a preference in mind mapping or sketching apps? Share a comment below! 🙂