Card
Creative Annotations
This annotation strategy encourages students to be active readers and read with a purpose. Use this strategy to provide both structure and personalization options for students as they annotate a text.
Creative Annotations
Summary
Asking students to visually represent a concept encourages them to think critically about the content. Having them then use their visual representations to annotate a text helps students be actively engaged, increasing comprehension and retention. These personalized images will add meaning and help with recall.
Procedure
Before assigning a reading, determine and share with students what elements they will need to focus on.
Have students create simple illustrations or symbols to represent the 3–5 separate concepts they are focusing on. For example, if you want students to identify different types of imagery in a poem, a student might choose to draw an eye for visual imagery and a hand for tactile imagery. Allow students to choose their own symbols or signifiers for the chosen elements. This allows more student choice and encourages individual engagement with the text.
Have students create a chart or legend to show what each of their symbols signifies.
Have students highlight or underline the specific text they are identifying and draw the appropriate signifiers in the margins to annotate the text. In other words, have students draw their illustration next to the text that represents that corresponding concept.
This strategy can also be used digitally using clipart, emojis, or icons.
Gehr, L. (2019, May 2). More than highlighting: Creative annotations. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/more-highlighting-creative-annotations/
Publisher
Downloads
Placement In Lesson
- Evaluate/Assessment
- Explain/Closing
- Extend/Additional Learning Activity
Intention/Purpose
- Activate Prior Knowledge
- Critical Thinking
- Identify
- Infer
- Student Choice
- Synthesize
- Text analysis
- Text evidence
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