Sketch-Notes: Turn a Paragraph into a Diagram
Comprehension monitoring for secondary text: if it cannot be diagrammed, it was not understood.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Enforce the word limit. Eight words or fewer forces the student to decide what matters, which is the comprehension work; without the limit they will copy sentences and learn nothing. The redraw-from-memory card is the strongest item, because the gaps it exposes are precisely the parts that were not understood. Twenty minutes covers one paragraph properly with the redraw.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- RepeatRepeat the direction once, at the same speed, stressing the key words.Log as cued
- Chunk itBreak the direction into its steps and give them one at a time.Log as cued
- ModelShow the steps yourself, then the student does them.Log as cued
Adjust it
Give one step at a time, with a picture or a written list for each step.
Add a step, or a concept word such as 'before', 'after' or 'except'.
Matching IEP goal
Given spoken or written directions, Student will complete every step of the direction in order in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one repetition.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Eight tasks that turn text into diagrams: listen to a paragraph, then draw it as a diagram using eight words or fewer; draw the main idea in the centre with three details branching off; draw a cause-and-effect map using arrows, not sentences; cover your notes and redraw the diagram from memory, then check what you left out. The premise is simple — if it cannot be diagrammed, it was not understood.
What to listen for
Watch what shape the student chooses. A passage that is a comparison drawn as a list means the structure was missed, and the diagram makes that visible in a way a summary does not. Notice whether arrows carry meaning — a cause-and-effect map with arrows pointing the wrong way shows a reasoning error the student's prose might have hidden.
Carrying it home
Any textbook section works. Asking a student to draw what a page said, in eight words, takes five minutes and shows immediately whether the reading landed.
What's in this activity
- Listen to a paragraph, then draw it as a diagram using eight words or fewer on the page.
- Draw the main idea in the center, with three supporting details branching off it.
- Draw a compare-and-contrast diagram for two things from your current unit.
- Draw a timeline of the events in the section you just read.
- Draw a cause-and-effect map for the passage. Use arrows, not sentences.
- Draw the problem and the proposed solution from an article, side by side.
- Draw a cycle diagram for a repeating process from science class.
- Cover your notes. Redraw the diagram from memory, then check what you left out.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Seventh through twelfth, where dense expository reading becomes the main source of content.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all eight tasks are free to use here.
- Why diagram rather than summarise in writing?
- Because a diagram forces structure. A written summary can restate sentences without organising them; a diagram cannot, which is what makes it a comprehension check.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.