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Teaching with Doodle Notes:
​A Video Tutorial
Brigid, creator of Math Giraffe and developer of the doodle note method (TM), teaches how to use doodle notes in your own classroom, shares strategies to help you take full advantage of doodle note templates, and offers plenty of tips for making your own simple visual note taking resources for your own students.

Hear from teachers who are using the doodle note
​strategy each day in their own classrooms
​

-- tips, tricks, and testimonials --
​Doodle notes have changed my stats class forever and students are able to connect with math like they haven't been able to in other traditional lecture formats.  Many of them say this is the first time they have been able to understand math and that the notes give them visual clues and ways to remember what they learned.  I find that , just like with interactive notebooks, if you do it- you have to do it alllll the time. 

​ Students need organization and routine.  If you just do something once or twice it won't mean as much unless you stick with it, follow through, and are consistent (kind of like discipline in our classrooms). 

This also puts more of an ownership on students to keep track of everything, make sure all notes are taken and homework done if they know they are going to be held accountable.  We have a test grade at the end of each quarter.  I was hard on them and had a rubric that usually covered about 50-60 pages in their notebook.  They had to have it neat, organized, every Note filled out, every activity, homework, review done. 

No credit was given if they put in a blank worksheet or notes.  I kept a box of all the extra copies and it was the students responsibility to get the missing papers they needed from that or get them off our schoology or google classroom site where all the blank copies were as well as pictures of each page and table of contents for each unit.  There was no excuse for them to fall behind.

​I don't let them  dilly dally and they know they need to keep up.


The kids usually start coloring as soon as they get their notes while I'm doing all the housekeeping items at the beginning of class.  A lot of time too, they are usually their own self monitor and color in between me talking or doing examples.  They've learned to multitask and it keeps them on task.  Believe it or not, by doing this my kids usually don't have their phones out while taking notes. 

The draw of coloring while we're taking notes usually outweighs taking selfies and texting their friends.  Don't get me wrong, cell phones are a pain, but my students use them a whole lot less this year doing Notes, activities and the notebook.  They are kept busy and on task and worry less about their phones.

I love doodle notes and I'll keep using them forever.

- Michelle, Doodle Note Club Member
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I began using doodle pages November 2016 to reach students who just don't get it, like it or enjoy math. A fellow middle school teacher and I have been searching for ways to help our students learn math concepts like the back of their hand. We were currently using foldable notes but wanted to jazz up the curriculum.  She found Math Giraffe doodle pages and now we are hooked. Our entire secondary math department is new members implementing doodle pages. It is a work in process. My students love the doodle pages. They like the color and our scores have increased because of the new method.

Helping the students take ownership of their composition notebook is crucial.  They will enjoy coloring the doodle pages, and keeping it neat and organized especially if they notice a change in their academic recall.  Students glue all of the doodle notes into their composition books by folding them horizontal and labeling the concept to the outside and decorating the half page or quarter if they fold it horizontal and vertical.

I use doodle pages to introduce a new concept and as a review.  The review is usually jam packed with information.  I also include a practice question over the concepts.  Doodle pages are fabulous.  They can be as simple or complex as needed.  The variety of color,  decorative concepts and examples help students to use both sides of their brain to enhance retention.

- Susie, Doodle Note Club Member

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​My students have a "doodle notebook" where they keep all their pages. It is a very organized system, and it helps when they are studying for a test. The parents are aware of the notebook, as well, so they are able to see what their child has been doing in my class. And my students really like the pages saying it makes studying easier...and they like the coloring!

It’s hard to adequately express how much I love using the doodle pages.  They fuel my creativity in making them, my students' creativity in doodling on them, and just their general appeal of making routine note-taking SO much more fun!

The students now will even ask me if this is one I made!  And they provide a nice way to kick-off new info...a way to warm them up and subtly start "owning" the new material. And the students just like studying them more when they've been able to embellish them as they like.  This is with both the boys and the girls.

- Cindy, Middle School Teacher

I first bought the geometry notes to use a few years back with a young man from El Salvador.  He moved here thinking that he could go to community college, but they put him back in high school (strange...).  But he failed Geometry and if he didn't pass it was not going to be able to get a diploma before he turned 21.  He was going to "age out" of our local district without a diploma.  So the principal asked me if I would take him on as a Home Hospital student and give him a crash course in Geometry so he could graduate.  His English wasn't great and my Spanish wasn't great.  But I found the the Doodle Notes really worked well.  We met in the library after school which was a zoo, because it was the detention "study hall".  But we started getting kids walking up to us every week and checking out what we were doing.  One friend of his said, "How's come none of my teachers ever taught like this?"  That is a serious compliment from a tough kid in a rough school!!

I used the geometry notes again last year with my 19-year-old gang member in jail.  He showed up for our first meeting all tough in his gang clothes and sauntered over and sat down in a corner of the room.  I had to ask every young man in the room if it was him before I actually located him.  Ugh!!  I just dumped out my markers and pens, pulled out the Doodle Notes and told him that was how we were going to have class.  He started out using just two colors that first day.  But...the second meeting, he showed up on time, dressed neatly, polite as could be, and started using ALL of the colors!!  It turned out that he was super smart and totally earned an A+ in my class.  It was a complete turn around between the first meeting where he had to play it cool and the second meeting where he was eager to participate.  I ended up writing him a few job references and really enjoyed working with him. 

I totally credit the Doodle Notes, because it could have been a really long semester if I had just brought boring worksheets.  He did plenty of practice problems, but he got in the habit of colorizing the parts of problems on regular worksheets, too.  We could have been done a few weeks earlier, but I know he was stalling because he was enjoying getting together.

I have used the Algebra notes (and Calculus) with a LOT of my kids that are on Home Hospital because they have attempted suicide.  My youngest was in THIRD GRADE.  I actually still work with him as a private tutor now, and he is in 7th grade.  He was adopted from social services as a baby by an older lady, and they told her nothing about his health history.  He was actually born addicted to drugs and alcohol and has most of the characteristic issues of a fetal drug and alcohol baby. 

He's dyslexic, dysgraphic, ADHD...a whole list of labels.  But he is funny, smart, loves art, and I keep telling Mom what my headmaster used to say: the cure for ADHD is graduation.  I used a lot of the elementary Doodle Notes with him last year and made some in the Doodle Note Club when I didn't find what I needed.  He has serious retention problems and it was actually math that was making him suicidal.  He felt so bad about the fact that he couldn't add and subtract (let alone multiply or divide) in the third grade that he just lost it when anyone mentioned math and threatened to kill himself.  The nice thing about Doodle Notes is they don't say Kindergarten in the corner when you are working with a 4th grader who can't add!

For my kids that are in the hospital, Doodle Notes are a bright spot in their schoolwork.  I have had one girl for 5 years who has deteriorated physically over the years until she is in a wheelchair with limited hand mobility.  But as she says, there is nothing wrong with her brain; it is her body that doesn't work.  I used Doodle Notes with the blessing of her Occupational Therapist to better explain Algebra and to give her hand exercise at the same time.  She aged out of the district before she could graduate, so I'm using the notes now to help her study for her GED.  Unfortunately, she is at Ronald McDonald House in Baltimore, so I don't get to see her very often.  I don't even remember how I found out about you in the first place, but Doodle Notes have been a lifesaver for so many of my kids.  As I make more of the higher level math pages, I'll share them in the club.

- Sara, "Home Hospital" Teacher

Want to dive deeper and hear from even more teachers?
We've got an entire group on Facebook where we chat and compare notes,
and you're invited! >> 
Doodle Notes Teacher Network

​I have been using coloring, sketching, and doodling from day 1 of teaching, but I never thought to make it a central component of the notes – it was always in the periphery. I started using them in that capacity this year, and it's brilliant! The students love it!

I’ve noticed that doodle notes or other left-brain/right-brain learning approaches are wonderful for using imagery to help reinforce concepts.

​They help with vocabulary and focus, so they're good for films and lectures. They are also a more fun way to set up book work.

I love it when the kids say they're not going to color (too cool), but they do anyway. :)

- Leah, High School History & Sociology Teacher
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​I am in my 11th year of teaching Kindergarten. Since my students are 5-6 years old I introduce the doodle note topic the first day. The second day we begin with just one section or concept on the doodle note. For the 5 senses, we covered one sense each day. As we doodled the section we discussed the sense and each person named their favorite item for that sense. When we covered the sense of taste we named our favorite thing to taste and our least favorite thing to taste. By talking through the concept as the students are filling in simple words and coloring or drawing they remember and retain the information.

My students love them and get very excited when we start a new one.  I am impressed with how neatly my students work on the doodle notes. They seem to really enjoy them and they take pride in them. It is a nice change of pace  since they are calm and focused on what they are doing. I like to make our doodle time different than other times so I often have the students sit together at tables or sit on the carpet using clipboards for a more intimate time. We always discuss the section we are working on and the students get to share a lot during the time. I think making the lessons personal to them as they engage both sides of the brain really solidifies the ideas for them.

- Virginia, Kindergarten Teacher

One of my favorite ways to let students do doodle notes is with the stickers.  (And it's by far the easiest!)  They can create their own visual note from scratch on any sheet of notebook paper.  These are so versatile!  

​The students love them. The number one thing it has done is create organization for them, kept them on task, and paying attention. Most of them have told me if it weren't for coloring during the down seconds, when it might take 1 or 2 students to catch up writing or answering questions, they wouldn't have paid attention. It kept them focused and all I would have to say is " remember the page with the car on " and it would trigger what we learned that day. They liked being able to use color for different parts of their notes and they were thrilled I was giving them permission to embellish and draw all over their page. 100% doing the notebooks and doodle pages has changed my stats classes for the better. When there were fun pictures and things to color in on the page, difficult material didn't seem so scary to them.

Students were more focused, engaged, creative, and learning at the same time. 

As far as strategies for teaching with doodle notes, my advice is…
Just try it.  We have a variety of students in class and using different teaching tools appeals to all kids. 

- Michelle, Doodle Note Club Member
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​Many students also struggle with traditional note-taking so I have been looking for a way to incorporate information with visual reinforcement to really help cement some of the science concepts that can be really challenging. 

I have only used Doodle Notes a few times, but the students definitely seem to like them.  I am by no means an expert.  I would say that the doodle notes pages shouldn't come right at the start of the unit, but somewhere in the middle to help synthesize the information or towards the end as reinforcement/review.

I have noted that some of the kids' faces do become a bit more animated when we use doodle notes and many like to make them "pretty" or make them their own. 

Since I already do interactive notebooks, I have bins with supplies like scissors, tape, colored pencils, and hand sharpeners on the tables so that the supplies are readily available and students aren't wandering around to get what they need, I think this is very important. 

I have table groups with 4 students per table.  I also don't give the whole class period to color.  We start the coloring in class, I show an example of a completed page on the board, and then I tell students to finish the coloring as homework. 

​I also encourage them to underline, outline, or highlight key pieces of information to really make them stand out.

- Jennifer, Science Teacher

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