Encouraging Doodling in the Classroom

You know the kid...usually a boy...instead of hanging on your every word, he sits there drawing army tanks in his journal, on a scrap of paper, on the corner of his worksheet, even the inside of his forearm.  You say something snarky like "Does this English class look like a tattoo parlor?"  Then, to embarrass prove a point, you ask him to repeat what you just said, and he does.

You thought he wasn't paying attention, but it turns out that he's been paying attention all along. Recent studies have shown that when people doodle while listening to a lecture, a serman, a presentation, they are 29% more likely to remember what was said than those who don't.  It seems that doodling is not just random marks on a piece of paper, but part of a thought process that keeps people engaged, more likely to process the information, and better able to communicate that information onto the page.

So how can we as teachers harness this tool and make it work effectively for us?  I've come up with a few ideas for using this tool more extensively in the classroom.

This week I'm teaching the four principal parts of verbs: base form, present participle, past, and past participle.  I'm going to encourage my students to incorporate doodling into their note-taking.  Then, on Friday, I'll have some student volunteers come up to the author's chair and share their doodle learning with the class.

Students can work together to "power doodle" as they collaborate or discuss their learning in a small group. Students could then come up and share their collaborative ideas with the whole class.

I've been having students symbolize their learning for some time, but I'm going to encourage them to make it a regular part of their note-taking strategies in the classroom.

As I read aloud, I'll have students doodle what they "hear;" then, students can work with their groups to discuss their doodling.

I will ask some students to come up to the white board and give a "doodle" book talk or restate the learning on the board.

But whatever I do, I'm going to stop thinking of doodling as just a mindless activity and try to capture that creativity.

Melissa Reese Etheridge

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