Smash Doodles: A Creative and Engaging Way for Students to Demonstrate Comprehension

Are you looking for a new and fun way for students to demonstrate what they know and understand about a text?

Comprehension is an essential aspect of learning, especially when it comes to reading.

While traditional methods of testing comprehension such as quizzes and summaries are useful, they can also be tedious and unengaging for students.

As teachers, we are constantly looking for new and creative ways to encourage students to demonstrate their comprehension in fun and engaging ways.

Smash Doodles are a great way to do just that.

What are Smash Doodles?

I learned about Smash Doodles a few years ago from Martina Bex.

Smash Doodles are a fun combination of graphics and text that demonstrate understanding of a piece of text whether it be an extended reading, a novel chapter, or an entire novel.

You can have students create their own from scratch or you can use my FREE digital template for them to fill out.

The main objective of a Smash Doodle is to encourage students to showcase their creativity while demonstrating their understanding of the text.

5 Main Components

There are 5 main components of a Smash Doodle.

The first is it must include the name of the text, chapter, or novel, and if it’s a chapter, the chapter number as well.

Second, there should be a main image that depicts the text, chapter, or novel as a whole. This image can be drawn by the student or, if using the digital template, it can be clipart or other graphic that represents the text.

The third component is vocabulary. The student should write down three new vocabulary items from the text along with their translations and a simple image for each.

Fourth, the student chooses three main sentences from the text that represent the beginning, middle, and end of the text.

They’ll copy these down exactly as they are from the text and include an illustration to demonstrate that they understand what each sentence means.

And finally, the last component is two reflections using two of the following sentence starters:

• It surprised me that…
• It bothered me that…
• I learned that…
• I already knew that…

Except for the translations, all components should be in the target language.

Evaluating Smash Doodles

There are two different ways to evaluate a student's Smash Doodle.

The first method is to check how complete the Smash Doodle is and how it looks overall.

This method is the easiest but not as effective as a tool for learning.

The teacher should look at whether the Smash Doodle has all of the components, and if it is well laid out and visually appealing.

The second method is to evaluate the Smash Doodle in more depth.

Again, the teacher should check if all of the components are there but then look at the individual components to see if the things they chose to include truly demonstrate their understanding of the text.

This method allows the teacher to assess the student's comprehension of the text more thoroughly.

Here Are Some Examples

Here are a few of my students’ Smash Doodles from various texts.

Overall, these Smash Doodles demonstrate how creative and engaging this activity can be for students.

By combining text and visuals, students are able to demonstrate their comprehension of the text in a way that is both fun and effective.

Additionally, this activity can be used across all levels of language learning, from beginner to advanced.

Smash Doodles are a fun and creative way for students to demonstrate their comprehension of a text.

By incorporating visuals and text, students are able to showcase their understanding of the text in a way that is engaging and effective.

Smash Doodles are a great addition to any language classroom and are sure to be a hit with students.

Have you done Smash Doodles before? If so, let us know how it went in the comments!