Letters and Numbers
Shapes and Lines
Containers
Faces
People
Objects
Animals
Nature
Page Layouts
Transportation
Buildings
Maps
Six drawing-to-learn strategies
Beyond learning these image vocabularies, I also taught six drawing-to-learn strategies that I thought would be most helpful to students across the curriculum. Each strategy was related to a specific purpose:
Dr. Laurence Musgrove • Drawing-to-Learn
Drawing-to-Calm: Coloring
Drawing-to-Listen: Doodling
Drawing-to-Record-Learning: Sketchnoting
Drawing-to-Create-Learning: Handmade Thinking
Drawing-to-See: Representing
Drawing-to-Present-Learning: Illustrated Speaking
Coloring has recently experienced a rebirth as an effective practice in achieving a calm state of mind. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article by Hagerty and Trachtenberg, “[e]ight of the top 20 selling books on Amazon currently are coloring books designed for adults.” Many of my students have difficulty slowing down, focusing their attention, and exhibiting the necessary concentration their studies require. Drawing-to-calm through coloring offers the opportunity to develop these habits of mind. In preparation for this lesson, I downloaded several mandala image files from the web, made copies of each, and distributed them to my students so that they had several options of mandalas to choose from. Then for 15 or 20 minutes, we colored in class. We repeated this practice over the course of three class meetings. The purpose was not to create beautifully colored mandalas. The end of drawing-to-calm is to create habits of quiet concentration and a unified sense of embodied mindfulness.
Doodling can provide students the opportunity to focus their listening and learning. I take my definition of doodling from Sunni Brown’s book The Doodle Revolution: “making spontaneous marks (with your mind and body) to help yourself think.” In this lesson, I asked students to doodle in their composition notebooks as they listened to TED Talk lectures. After the video clips were completed, I asked them to recount what they had learned from the lectures, such as the main idea, the overall structure of the lecture, and what they took to be the most important thing they had learned or remembered. We also repeated this practice over a number of class meetings to gain confidence in doodling or drawing-to-listen.
Students practicing drawing-to-calm with mandalas
College students are expected to know quite a bit about what it means to be a college student and how best to learn in school, but many of those expectations are based upon uninformed assumptions. One of those false assumptions is that students know how to take notes in class. Drawing on the work of Mike Rohde, I introduced students to the five common ingredients and four common layouts for capturing learning from lectures or reading assignments via sketchnoting. The five common ingredients are text, lines, containers, images, and layout.
The four common layouts I found most helpful for my students included the radial, path, division, and top-to-bottom/center-and-out layouts.
We practiced sketchnoting in class while listening to a number of TED Talks, and then students attended a selected public lecture on campus and captured that lecture via a sketchnote.
A fourth drawing-to-learn strategy, drawing-to-create-learning or handmade thinking, is a practice I developed after encountering Dan Roam’s The Back of the Napkin. In this fine book on the power of drawing to solve problems and present solutions, Roam argues that there are six basic visual formats for investigating problems, each relating to the six common questions: who or what, where, when, how, how much, and why.
I drew this image on the whiteboard to depict the five
common sketchnote ingredients
I drew these images on the whiteboard to depict the four common sketchnote layouts
Dr. Laurence Musgrove • Drawing-to-Learn
A student’s sketchnote in response to a public lecture by visiting speaker Colonel Eileen Collins
A student’s sketchnote in response to a video presentation on early Latinos in the US
The corresponding visual formats are the portrait, the map, the timeline, the process chart, the bar graph, and the multivariable chart.
I thought that these formats would be excellent ways for students to capture their responses to reading assignments, but I thought it would be helpful to offer students more options than these six. Thus, I created a series of 21 visual formats for students to use when drawing their responses, including portrait, map, comic, comparison/contrast, Venn diagram, seesaw, scales, tree, web, organization, genealogy, bar graph, pie chart, multivariable graph, timeline, before and after, equation, process chart, Freytag’s plot pyramid, positive/negative plot, and layers.
For this practice, I assigned students a number of brief articles to read in class, and then had them draw their responses using one of these formats. Then, they incorporated a handmade response into their two reading summary assignments as part of the drafting process for those summaries. For more on this drawing-to-read strategy, see my book Handmade Thinking.
Using drawing-to-see, representing was the next strategy I briefly introduced. For this lesson, I asked students to draw a picture of me and try to include as much detail as possible. After they completed and shared their drawings with each other, I asked them to identify those physical attributes they were able to see more clearly through drawing.
I also displayed a painting by John Singer Sargent titled “The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit” and asked them to sketch the painting as a way of looking closely at the relationships between form and content. After a period of drawing as a means of close inspection, a number of students noted the clear connection between the shapes of the tall vases in the scene and the shapes of the girls’ dresses, suggesting that both represented delicate and fragile objects of beauty.
My image to demonstrate the power of six basic questions
to interrogate a problem and define possible solutions
My image to show how simple pictures can also represent
the power of six basic questions to interrogate a problem
and define possible solutions
Dr. Laurence Musgrove • Drawing-to-Learn
Twenty-one formats for handmade thinking
Tree
Process
Venn Diagram
Bar graph
Timeline
Web
Portrait
Comic
Freytag’s Pyramid
Seesaw
Pie chart
Before & After
Organization
Map
Comparison/Contrast
/- Plot
Scales
Multivariable graph
Equation
Genealogy
Layers
The final drawing-to-learn strategy was drawing-to-present-learning or illustrated speaking. Given all that students had learned and practiced up to this point, I felt they were adequately prepared to present a live drawing in class that illustrated a brief two- or three-minute speech. Prior to this assignment, I presented for the class an illustrated review of the six drawing-to-learn strategies in a radial layout format on the board. I also brought several extra erasable markers to class and gave students free time to practice writing and drawing on the whiteboard so they would get a feel for what it’s like to stand and draw with a marker. Also in preparatio
n for the assignment, I gave each student an index card. On one side, I asked them to write out the outline of their speech, and on the other side, I asked them to sketch the images they would draw as they spoke. They used these cards as reminders as they delivered their presentations and handed them in to me after the speech was completed. These brief speeches were given on the last four days of the course, and most of the students explained some process they knew well and could easily draw, such as how to shoot a free throw, how to procrastinate instead of studying, how to be an effective grocery store cashier, and how to fold a T-shirt.
Student feedback
On the last day of class, I asked students to provide me with feedback on the course via a simple one-page comic in which they drew a self-portrait and included a speech bubble with their comments. I prompted them to let me know what they liked best, what they thought could be improved, and what they might remove from the course.
A student’s note card for the illustrated speaking presentation
Dr. Laurence Musgrove • Drawing-to-Learn
An example of a student’s comic-format course evaluation
In general, these comments reflected students’ desire for more opportunities to practice sketchnoting, draw presentations, and share their work in class. Several students said they liked best the drawing-to-calm strategy, and others mentioned they enjoyed the mini-lessons on 12 categories of images. Two students said they would have preferred only one summary assignment, and one student said there were too many videos. Another student wanted to learn how to sketchnote PowerPoint lectures, and a few mentioned they were already using sketchnotes in other classes.
I also emailed students during the subsequent semester and asked them if they might provide me feedback on the degree to which they were incorporating these strategies into their other courses. One student responded as follows via email:
Hi Dr. Musgrove,
Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to voice my feedback on the general studies course Drawing to Learn.
This course has helped me in my other classes on campus by allowing me to take quicker, more concise, and more effective notes. When I use the skills I learned in Drawing to Learn, ideas seem to flow and connect better than they used to. Also, I am now able to pre-write for essays more successfully than before, allowing the writing process to require less time and less revision overall.
In life, this course has allowed me to pay closer attention when listening to a speaker give a presentation and has allowed me to be more inclined to express myself in various forms besides writing.
I hope this feedback can be helpful to you in some way.
Thank you so much for offering this course; I enjoyed it very much. (Dunlap 2016)
I find this response helpful because it points to four learning objectives I can emphasize when I teach the course again:
Students will learn time-saving strategies for taking notes and planning projects.
Students will learn to more effectively understand and relate ideas.
Students will learn to listen more effectively to lectures and speakers.
Students will learn to express themselves in forms other than writing.
Changes to future courses
Based on these responses and on my own evaluation of the course, I believe that when I teach the course again, I will reduce the drawing-to-learn strategies from six to four, and as a consequence, restructure the assignments. I remember feeling most rushed in the course when we were practicing drawing-to-create-learning (handmade thinking) and drawing-to-see (representing). Removing those strategies from the course will allow more time for sketchnoting and illustrated speaking, which are more immediately useful to first-year students who often take large lecture sections and are required to give presentations in introductory public speaking courses. I will also adjust the summary assignments to utilize sketchnoting rather than handmade thinking, and provide students more time to share their work and to practice drawing-to-present. And of course, I will reinforce the four learning goals mentioned above.
Dr. Laurence Musgrove • Drawing-to-Learn
As I continue to reflect upon this course, I’m grateful for the opportunity to follow this path of inquiry blazed by many explorers in the field of drawing-to-learn who have argued for its value in problem-solving and communication. Overall, I have found that my students have appreciated the joy and power drawing-to-learn offers. I’m also grateful for the chance to explore what an introductory course on what that joy and power might look like.
Laurence MUSGROVE is professor of English at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, where he teaches creative writing, literature, visual thinking, and comics. He is the author of Handmade Thinking, offering students ways to depict their responses to literature visually. His recent collection of poetry, Local Bird, is from Lamar University Literary Press. His poems have appeared in Southern Indiana Review, Buddhist Poetry Review, Inside Higher Ed, and elsewhere. He blogs at www.theillustratedprofessor.com and cartoons at texosophy.com.
References
Agerbeck, B., The Graphic Facilitator’s Guide, Chicago, Loosetooth.com Library, 2012.
Barry, L., Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor, Montreal, Drawn & Quarterly, 2014.
Brown, S., The Doodle Revolution, New York, Portfolio/Penguin, 2014.
Dunlap, K. (2016). Drawing to Learn—Following Up.
Hagerty J. and J. Trachtenberg, “Adult Coloring Books Test Grown-Ups’ Ability to Stay Inside the Lines,” Wall Street Journal, 27 December 2015. www.wsj.com/articles/to-relax-grown-ups-try-to-stay-inside-the-lines-1451250613, (accessed 10 January 2016).
McCloud, S., Understanding Comics, New York, Harper, 1993.
Musgrove, L., Handmade Thinking: A Picture Book on Reading and Drawing, San Angelo, CreateSpace, 2011.
Musgrove, L. and M. Musgrove, “Drawing is Learning: To Understand and To Be Understood,” Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning, vol. 20, 2014-2015, pp. 91-102.
Musgrove, L. and M. Musgrove, “My Song,” INKBRICK, no. 3, 2015, pp. 16-19.
Roam, D., The Back of the Napkin, New York, Portfolio/Penguin, 2009.
Rohde, M., The Sketchnote Handbook, San Francisco, Peachpit/Pearson, 2013.
In Front of the Wall
Alfredo Carlo
At the age of three I used to draw on paper. At 16, I started painting in the streets and on trains. At the age of 24, I expanded this passion to draw on walls during business workshops and meetings.
I always enjoyed taking a pencil and a piece of paper to sketch, not caring what I drew, just liking the act of drawing. I guess all kids share this kind of joy and then, at some point while growing up, tend to lose the freedom to be whatever they want. Most of the time drawing is the first practice to go.
I almost completely quit drawing during high school, thinking there were more important things to do and take care of (really?). I didn’t draw very much at all until falling in love with graffiti marking. I remember suddenly seeing this phenomenon appear in my city of Rome, around corners and on trains. I really liked the spontaneity of it and the colorful pictures—not to mention the fact these drawings were illegal! For a 16-year-old, what more could you ask for?
I then started painting in the streets and on trains, first copying and learning from others and, at the same time, practicing alone in my bedroom or with friends. The sense of community-building and belonging, combined with the pleasure of developing the quality of what I was doing, are feelings I carry with me to this day.
I remember spending afternoons taking time to sketch a piece I would paint on a train. Then, when encountering that steel at night, I would make the piece exactly the same, as quickly as possible. It was a great feeling to get it done and admire it t
he next morning, get the photos developed (that’s right, there were no digital photos at the time—I still have all the negatives!), and share them with friends, and often family.
While getting better at graffiti, I learned that the best part was not reproducing at night what I was sketching in the afternoon, but instead the process of always painting something fresh, based on my constant practice. This was called “wild style,” literally going wild with a style—just creating in the moment, sensing into it, and listening for an inner spark. That was a great feeling to experience, because I could love the results or hate them; the style brought a connection with the practice, and was really the only way to get better. Of course, it was also the best way to be quick and not get caught by the cops!
The only way to get comfortable with what we do is practice; the practice of repeating something, especially if it makes us feel uncomfortable,
Drawn Together Through Visual Practice Page 3
