So the other day I did eight back-to-back (to-back… ) graphic recording sessions for a high school teen summit. And I noticed something interesting.
Remember when you were in high school? In any setting, there were the kids that sat in the front – those kids that wanted to engage and asked a lot of questions. (Yes, that was me.) Then the bulk of the class tried to sit in the middle… it was safe, the just-like-everyone-else space. Then there was the back row. The kids that wanted to distance themselves as much as possible from class, because it was oh-so-boring.
Well, group after group of high school kids came into the library space where our breakout session was located. The facilitators were in the front of the space, then there were tables for the students, then there was me doing my graphic recording. Right behind the back row of students. The only people facing me were the facilitators.
Without fail, this same thing happened in each group:
About halfway into the session, a couple of the students in the back row would look at each other, roll their eyes, and mouth “this is SO BORING!!!” Then one would glance over their shoulder and see all this stuff that I was recording on the 4’ x 4’ sheet of paper behind them. And they would be mesmerized.
They’d elbow the students around them in the back row and say, “dude, check it out! She’s drawing what they’re saying!” And then they would spend a few minutes looking at the paper, noticing how I had captured the discussion about surveillance needs at the school, or the recent stabbing, or the need for better food choices. And they would start to talk with each other about those topics.
In other words, they stopped being “too cool for school” and got into the conversation!
I take this as a true testament to the power of graphic recording. I mean, if it can hook students in the back row into joining the conversation, imagine what it can do for your group!
