Two Creative Workshops for Educators

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Listening for long periods of time, no matter how interesting a subject is, my mind starts to wander. School was especially difficult, science lessons in particular. We had the subject for 90 minutes a day, 4 out of 5 days a week. It wasn’t interesting, and I had no idea what was going on. Having dyslexia didn’t make things easier, as I wrote very slowly. My teacher, Ms. Anderson (pseudonym), would spend most of the lesson writing on the blackboard while I and 30 other teenagers hand wrote it onto paper. She would explain things as she wrote them. I was about 15 minutes behind what she was talking about, still trying to get each word down before she would rub it away and use the newly cleaned side to write what she was now explaining. I missed chunks, and by the end, I just had sentences on a page, without knowing what it all meant. That was science class.

At some point during the 90 minute ramble the homework assignment was mentioned and I usually wouldn’t get it down in time because I was too busy trying to catch up. So more often than not, I would get in trouble for being wrong. I was used to getting in trouble, and after 5 years of science, I was convinced I was very bad at it.

30 years later, I’m a professional note-taker, and I’ve been commissioned countless times for the United Nations. The topics have ranged from climate change to global economics, and the speeches and debates would often last up to four hours at a time. Yet every time, I would submit the work promptly—often just minutes after the event had ended. The notes would then be sent to all participants: global politicians, UN spokespeople, CEOs, and NGOs.

I wish I could say that I became a master at writing and became a scientific genius. Ha! Take that, Ms. Anderson! But that's not it. I’m a visual thinker, and I focus better when I’m drawing. So when I listen to someone talk, I just draw pictures of what they’re talking about instead of writing about it.

I eventually stopped working with the UN, partly because it meant working between 1 and 4 in the morning on a school night. Most meetings were in line with New York time, and I wanted to focus on my teaching, spending time with family, on my illustrations, and on my children's books. Sketchnoting would have been incredibly useful if I had learned it at 15. So now I teach it to my students and to other teachers, in hopes that they will pass the skill on to others. This weekend, I held two workshops. One of them was called Sketchnoting for Educators. The notes are at https://www.magicstorybooks.com/21clhk-sketchnoting-for-educators.html