Try it, it will change your world!

Cartooning!

Ok, so it sounds silly, doubt it all you want, but please try it.  I had my doubts, too.  As I said before one of the books I am currently reading is called Make it Visual in the Classroom.  This book has really changed the way I think about thinking and learning.  It has also supplied me with the most valuable tool I've found yet--cartooning as an anticipatory set and as a teaching tool.  It's so simple.  It feels awkward at first, but my co-teachers and I were blown away by the attentiveness it supplies.  I had the rapt attention of an entire class of nearly 60 students.  You could've heard a pin drop.  All it takes: a clean sheet of white printer paper divided into eight sections, select a story in your life that illustrates and creates background and meaning for the lesson you are about to teach.  (I.e. I told a story about a time when someone broke into my car and I got angry for a lesson on anger management, and a story about going to the zoo and noticing that things come in groups--legs on animals--for a lesson on multiplication).  It takes just a few minutes and gives meaningful background to the lesson, creating a framework for students to begin thinking about the topic.  The illustrations should be simple and quick, they just need to show the idea.  Even better, the kids can learn this process.  I've also begun to use it with students that have a hard time visualizing themselves behaving appropriately (below).