See It, Say It, Teach It: Visual teaching tools that make ideas land
A practical, welcoming training for teachers who want to use visual thinking in the classroom. Explore simple visual tools that make learning clearer, more engaging, and easier to remember through hands-on activities, classroom examples, and shared practice.
Modules
The visual alphabet: the basic building blocks
You begin with a visual alphabet. Handwriting that stays legible on the flipchart, simple shapes, frames and containers, arrows and connectors, figures and pictograms. The aim of day one is to break the belief “I can’t draw” and show that this is a technique, not a talent.
Icons for your subject
How to turn the concepts of your subject into a small, reusable set of icons and symbols. Each participant builds their own visual vocabulary for maths, biology, history, languages and so on.
Visual structures: organising complex material into a simple visualisation
Layouts, templates and ways to organise information visually, so a complex topic becomes a simple, clear image.
Visual facilitation of classroom discussion
Leading a discussion with a marker in hand. Capturing students’ contributions live, mapping opinions on the board so every voice is visible, and a fast “quick and dirty” technique that keeps the group talking. Passing the marker to students.
Visual storytelling for better recall and retention of information
Turning a lesson into a visual story. Sequence, emotion and an image that carries the main message. Grounded in the principle of dual coding.
Students as visual recorders
Visual note-taking and sketchnoting in the students’ own hands. It is precisely when students create the visual themselves that they remember the material best. Templates and graphic organisers support even those who claim they can’t draw.
Transfer to practice and your personal toolkit
Each participant assembles their own set of techniques and a concrete plan for their next lessons. Micro-teaching with feedback and an exchange of ideas with colleagues from across Europe.
Learning outcomes
Explain how visual language and the principle of dual coding support understanding and retention of teaching material.
Create your own set of icons and symbols for your subject, turning complex material into a simple visualisation.
Use a fast “quick and dirty” visual capture technique that encourages students to share their views and keeps them in the conversation.
Compose a lesson as a visual story that helps students remember the material better.
Judge which visual note-taking techniques best suit your students, so they can process and remember the material themselves.
Evaluate the techniques you have tried together with teachers from across Europe and compare approaches across subjects.