Emily Bryson shares how visual templates can enhance learning by providing a creative way for students to brainstorm and plan projects, such as podcasts. This episode includes practical demonstrations and tips on incorporating visual templates and graphic facilitation into classrooms.

Key talking points

Visual Templates versus Graphic Organisers

Emily explains how visual templates differ from graphic organisers which tend to centre on tables and diagrams that students fill in or label. Visual templates often incorporate a backstory or metaphor, making them more engaging and story-driven.

Playfulness in Visual Learning

Visual templates add a playful, creative element to learning, inspiring students to think outside the box by using doodles, words and phrases to populate the template. Emily emphasises how doodling can make the planning process less intimidating and more accessible.

Practical Application in Classrooms

Emily suggests how teachers can use visual templates for brainstorming and project planning. Suggestions for interactive classroom activities, such as pitching podcast ideas and using them to scaffold speaking activities.

References & Resources

Download and use the visual templates used in this episode to plan a podcast with your learners (or perhaps plan a podcast for your creative project).

Watch the video with closed captions or refer to the transcript below.

Transcript

00:00:00:09 - 00:00:20:20
Laura
TESOL Pop season nine, episode nine. Hello and welcome to TESOL Pop, the Mini Podcast for Busy Teachers. My name is Laura and joining me today to talk about using visual templates to support learning is Emily Bryson. In this episode, Emily demonstrates how we can use visual templates to support learning in discussing and planning projects such as a podcast.

00:00:20:22 - 00:00:35:08
Laura
We talk and draw using different templates that you can download in the show notes, and you can follow along by watching this episode on YouTube or Spotify. Now let's join the conversation where I asked Emily about the difference between graphic organisers and visual templates.

00:00:35:10 - 00:01:00:04
Emily
So this is a visual template. you might think it's very similar to a graphic organiser. I would say in many ways it is a graphic organiser. For me, the difference between a graphic organiser and a visual template is that there's a bit of a visual backstory or a visual metaphor attached to it. So for example, in this particular visual template.

00:01:00:09 - 00:01:26:14
Emily
So I'm using Canva whiteboards here. And in this particular visual template there's person who is your listener and you can write inside the actual person. So instead of, for example, maybe a graphic organiser is maybe a bit more, square or circle, like right in the box, right in this table. maybe you've got like a Venn diagram, for example.

00:01:26:16 - 00:01:28:21
Laura
I see a lot of Venn diagrams.

00:01:28:23 - 00:01:58:00
Emily
Yes. But yeah, those are kind of, graphic organisers that work very similar, familiar with, whereas, visual template uses a bit more of a story and a container. So this is a container. This person here is a container and has a bit of a backstory because it involves having a person there or and here you've got what do you call this, the cable that goes into the headphone socket.

00:01:58:02 - 00:02:10:04
Emily
If you are still using those kind I, I'm, I'm a big fan of wired headphones and it goes all the way around to here to the headphone jack, which is listening to the TESOL Pop podcast.

00:02:10:04 - 00:02:30:16
Laura
You mentioned, earlier, the difference between graphic organisers and visual templates. And I think a lot of listeners who may be not watching the visuals to this podcast will be like, oh, yeah tables, Venn diagrams and all that, are quite familiar. What we're looking at with this visual template, there's a lot more playfulness I see in this that I don't necessarily associate with graphic organisers.

00:02:30:16 - 00:02:35:04
Laura
Would you say that that's true or is that more of your style?

00:02:35:07 - 00:03:00:24
Emily
Yeah. So in graphic facilitation, I think there is a bit more play and playfulness. The visual storytelling aspect adds a bit more fancy, adds a bit more inspiration in a way. It kind of makes it snazzy and brings it to life. So yeah, adding that extra story element for that extra metaphor, I think it makes it gives it a little bit more inspiration and gets people thinking in a different way.

00:03:01:04 - 00:03:23:20
Laura
Yeah, I was going to say, is there it's not like you're having to fill in a box. Whereas where I think about tables and diagrams, it's usually you having to write a specific thing in a specific box. And it also has that, impression that there's a correct answer to fill in that said box as well. Whereas looking at this template we're looking at here, it's it really is like a, like an artist's canvas.

00:03:23:20 - 00:03:27:24
Laura
It's, you know, it opens up invites creativity.

00:03:28:01 - 00:03:57:02
Emily
Yeah. I've never thought of it as being a yeah, it's a blank canvas for an artist and actually so you can use it with your students with, or with your podcasting, podcasting candidates. and they can add words. Just they can just add writing if you want. You can write your ideas or if you don't want it to write ideas, you can also ask them to draw as well, so they can maybe add some little drawings in there.

00:03:57:04 - 00:04:13:16
Emily
And it's up to them. They can draw if they want to. They might feel comfortable drawing. There might be some super love it. They might not really like drawing, in which case the writing is perfectly fine. And so it's entirely up to you. So you want to use it. You can read the entire sentences as well if you want.

00:04:13:19 - 00:04:24:08
Laura
I’m really excited to actually put this to the test. I know we've got another template that we could use. Should we have a go at using that second one for you to test out with me to show it in action?

00:04:24:11 - 00:04:44:11
Emily
This iis the second one. This is the different words that describe your podcast. So this is a way of getting maybe if you're a teacher and you're wanting to start podcasting with your students and you want them to have a good brainstorm, a good think about, what they want their podcast to be. Elements of what words describe your podcast.

00:04:44:11 - 00:05:15:07
Emily
So for me, when I think about TESOL Pop I think that was bright pink happy here. Very bouncy and happy way of presenting and talking to people. So for me, I would describe TESOL Pop as fun, very succinct as well. It's you've managed to, like, summarise quite a lot of information into a very short time. What else would you use to describe for your particular podcast?

00:05:15:09 - 00:05:33:16
Laura
Well, I hope it's inspiring. So by talking to other people, I want people to feel like, oh, I can do that. Oh, I already do that. That's really cool because I know it's it's mainly primarily aimed at teachers who don't have a lot of time. And I've been that teacher and, you know, so much, so many challenges. You you're faced with every single week, every single day.

00:05:33:19 - 00:05:38:20
Laura
So it can get a bit demotivating. So I hope they tune in and think, oh, how would you do that? Yeah.

00:05:38:22 - 00:06:06:07
Emily
Yeah, I find it very inspiring for sure. And anything else that you think about, what other word would you use? Definitely practical. Yeah. I’ll add fun out there, practical. And the beauty of this template is that you can just keep bouncing ideas around. You can write as many as you want. anything else.

00:06:06:09 - 00:06:09:19
Laura
I think we’ve got the fun, succinct, practical, inspiring.

00:06:09:21 - 00:06:12:18
Emily
The and.

00:06:12:20 - 00:06:18:01
Laura
Teacher led or educator led it's very much about the guests and and the list is not.

00:06:18:04 - 00:06:37:18
Emily
Not about myself. Okay. Yes. And there are so many amazing. You've had so many amazing speakers on, over the over time. You've got so many different perspectives on there as well. So yeah, educators led.

00:06:37:20 - 00:06:44:17
Laura
I think that idea of sharing as well, like it's always great different ideas from different people. So like the idea of sharing.

00:06:44:19 - 00:06:45:20
Emily
Yeah okay.

00:06:45:22 - 00:06:46:20
Laura
It’s almost like the virtual staff room

00:06:50:08 - 00:07:16:02
Emily
I like who. Yeah. Virtual staffroom. Is actually a lot of podcast episodes on social media when you like people add a lot of comments and I think it brings people together. Some of your viewers shared a podcast episode and then I love reading all the comments about, how different people have responded to it.

00:07:16:07 - 00:07:25:18
Laura
Nice. I see how this comes together. And you mentioned the whole aspect of doodling as well. It can be used. Yeah. this is a really good example of that in practice.

00:07:25:20 - 00:07:47:17
Emily
Yeah. I'm like doodling doesn't need to be art. Like right here I'm using Canva whiteboards. And usually when if you've seen my professional sketch notes, you'll notice that they're much more polished and tidier. the little drawer drawings are on this whiteboard right now. so yeah, don't be afraid of just being using really simple doodles to add things.

00:07:47:17 - 00:08:10:03
Emily
So like here you've got like this. These are just like three little ‘n’ shapes. So sorry for people that are just listening and not what are watching. These are three perfect elements and if you want to draw multiple people, if you draw them or link two M's together and they add little circles on top, and then that's a group of people.

00:08:10:05 - 00:08:17:11
Emily
So it's really quite simple. The way I draw the graphic facilitation style uncle drawing, it's very simple.

00:08:17:13 - 00:08:32:22
Laura
It's like it's definitely makes drawing a lot less scary. Like like, yes. Incorporating visuals. I mean, in the notetaking, you just demonstrated how simple it is. And actually, when I was watching you do it, I was like, what is that going to be? Then I saw it completed with the the circles I like. Oh yeah, that looks like a staff room.

00:08:32:22 - 00:08:35:12
Laura
Perfect. Yeah. So actively.

00:08:35:14 - 00:09:02:22
Emily
Yeah. And like this light bulb here, for example, it's just a U-shape and then a little on top and then an M and then is it. And that works, a lightbulb. Yeah. You can add little to turn it on, turn the light bulb on. And then that can mean like creativity ideas critical thinking and inspiration can mean so many different things, which is so cool.

00:09:02:22 - 00:09:07:03
Emily
Easy easy easy one to start with.

00:09:07:05 - 00:09:25:14
Laura
Thinking about list listening to. You've been following on to this point. They're probably thinking, how can I get this into my classroom? Like, I'd love to get my students using these templates in a way that gets some generating ideas for podcast, whether they're going to record it all, perform it because it didn't have to be recorded. It could be like a performance based, place project.

00:09:25:16 - 00:09:33:08
Laura
How could this fit into, the classroom setting? Where would you suggest they start or how they, how they use this, resource?

00:09:33:12 - 00:10:15:16
Emily
I would use it at the beginning of the kind of brainstorming process. So if you'd either you could you could either copy this idea and use it on the whiteboard and get teachers to or get students to come out and actually add their ideas on the whiteboard. So you can download Laura's PDF, and then display on the whiteboard, and get students to come up if you've got an interactive whiteboard and draw on it or if you take a screenshot of it, put it into Canva whiteboard or like Miro Mural, Miro or Mural or also really good online whiteboards.

00:10:15:18 - 00:10:50:16
Emily
Sadly, Jamboard is no more. But yeah, my favourite one at the moment is Canva, because I use Canva for so many other things that I don't need to pay extra for. Yeah, you could use it, to add ideas initially and then get students to use that as a basis of the discussion. And then from that discussion, you could get them to write it up and maybe write, summary, maybe a summary email of what their podcasts would be or like a summary like notes.

00:10:50:16 - 00:11:11:08
Emily
You could even get them to sketch, not pay off what their podcast might look like or the words that describe their podcast. There's all sorts of different activities that you can do with this, and so that would just this would just be for this particular template, what words would you describe. And then they could move on to the other template.

00:11:11:10 - 00:11:45:14
Emily
who is your ideal listener template. What challenges do they have? How will my podcast serve them? and again ask them to add their ideas, who is the ideal listener. So I would start with like the brainstorming part where they filling their ideas and then get them to discuss it and share ideas. And then maybe get them to take notes or add notes, or maybe write about it or present about it.

00:11:45:16 - 00:11:55:05
Laura
That could be the lesson in itself. Couldn't it just come up with the idea and then pitch an idea? And then students. I give feedback on the idea, a bit like Shark Tank or Dragon's Den sort of version.

00:11:55:07 - 00:11:55:17
Emily
Testing.

00:11:55:17 - 00:11:57:01
Laura
Ideas.

00:11:57:03 - 00:11:59:02
Emily
Yeah, exactly. It's a great idea.

00:11:59:02 - 00:12:33:02
Laura
I love this. I think this is a really, great facilitator of conversations, and I can see how flexibility it could be used for teachers. I'm thinking back to my teenage students classroom and the young adults I've taught before. I could literally take it to that point of pitching ideas. Or I could revisit this and recycle this, getting students to look back at the template that they've used to then complete, a template for an episode that they're planning, and making sure that the content and the style aligns with what their vision was, which is what the first template of describing a podcast alludes to.

00:12:33:02 - 00:12:53:13
Laura
Like what's really important to you? Is it going to be upbeat and short and kind of funky in a way? Does the content you planned reflect that, or do you need to make some changes? Exactly. And I really hope listeners today that tuning in that go and download this template, actually give it a go. So the link to this is actually in the show notes for people to easily find and to give it a go.

00:12:53:19 - 00:13:16:21
Laura
And we'd love it if you actually shared it with us or shared versions of what your students created, with their permission, of course, with us. By tagging myself and Emily, we'd love to see what they create. Emily this has been so fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing this. Before we close today's episode, could you please tell listeners where can they find out more about these wonderful, visual templates that you create and graphic facilitation?

00:13:16:23 - 00:13:42:11
Emily
So yeah, thanks. It's been amazing, happy being on. I love coming on TESOL Pop. So my website is EmilyBrysonELT.com I’ve got lots of freebies on there. which, some are visual templates, some are a little drawing videos for how to do simple icons and things like that. And it's also got quite a lot of sketch notes on there.

00:13:42:13 - 00:14:06:06
Emily
And you can download my visual template book, which I've, created, which is called Pathways to Success. And there's lots of different visual templates for helping students to map out their goals, to look at their progression and to get where they want to be, really. So that's available on my website. EmilyBrysonELT.com. And you can also follow me on socials @EmilyBrysonELT

00:14:06:06 - 00:14:30:03
Laura
That's lovely. And as always, I've included those links in the show notes so you can find those easily. If you have a question that you'd like us to answer or an idea that you'd like to pitch to TESOL Pop then you can contact us via Instagram, Facebook or the website. TESOLpop.com. Finally you can support the work we do by sharing today's episode with your teaching community by leaving us a rating, a review, wherever you listen to the podcast, or by even buying the coffee.

00:14:30:03 - 00:14:36:24
Laura
Now wouldn't that be nice? ko-fi.com/tesolpop

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