Wordtoons

Prior to the Christmas holidays staff at our school were given some PD options, 2 - 3 different things with most people & needs catered for. I was intrigued by 2 of the options and a solid recommendation from my colleague @Generalrudd had me signing up for a Learning Network session with Dr Rich Allen.

I was sculpted into a 'Female' pose,
thanks @General Rudd for the photo.

Its too early in the year to be getting all reflective on this session, suffice to say that I enjoyed the PD and the day flew past. There was plenty of music, movement and laughter, some even captured on camera.  So instead, here is one of the great ideas/resources discussed today. Given that are some of my readers maybe a little longer in the tooth, if this is not 'new' I hope that my enthusiasm may renew your acquaintance with the tools.

Wordtoons
The principal of creating 'Intentional Doodles'. As someone who fidgets, I could instantly see the benefit of these. There is plenty of time when someone is talking that I start doodling on a page, but I had never considered using these as a teaching tool. I imagine that the more artistic children or those ESL kids who are still trying to create their own understanding of some words may find this beneficial. Here's one of my own from today, as well as a video from the professional.

A wordtoon of cat 30/1/14 by R Walker

It is a technique that I know will be successful in my room as it alters the recording of learning  and it allows students to personalise their learning. I can visualise it being used successfully for adjectives, action verbs and areas like the PB4L programme our school operates. Dr Allen had seen it used as an effective end of unit assessment and as a supplement to traditional note-taking (where students are able to add intentional doodles in the margin to aid retention.

Hope you enjoy the tool and try it out in a classroom sometime soon.