Today we’re going to talk about five simple strategies for teaching students how to take better notes.
Teaching this skill is important because it helps students focus, provides them with the space to elaborate on their ideas or ask better questions, organize their thoughts and learn the material in a different way. It also helps them think more deeply as it commits their work to long-term memory.
Teaching students to take better notes also has the added benefit of providing teachers with a way of referencing if a child is understanding a concept. If you don’t have time to find or create exit tickets for your class, this is a great method of formative assessment.
The following are five strategies that students can use to take notes. Based on your students’ learning style, teach the ones that work for them. Since all of them learn in different ways, these five will cater to a variety of needs.
Actionable Steps:
#1. Comic Strip
So many children enjoy reading comics or graphic novels, and enjoy drawing. Taking that into consideration, students can draw out their learning and make notes in each comic strip or block. This way, children can learn by listening to you, drawing and writing – 3 forms of learning.
#2. Interview Style
They can take point form notes and then go back and write a question for different chunks of information. Even though this method only uses two forms of learning- listening and writing, it helps students prepare for possible short form question and answer questions if you give quizzes and enables them to think on a deeper level.
#3. Decorative Journal
Children LOVE colors.
They can grab some of their colored pens, highlighters, etc., and have them make notes using different colors. The best way to do this is to use the colors to segment groups of facts. For example, pink can be for opinions and green can be used for facts. This provides a visual and written form of the work for learners.
#4. Done For You
Find templates that have already been created so that you can just print and teach. This allows you to vary up your lessons. If you print two or three templates, give your students a choice so that they have more ownership over their learning. This also helps students explore different types of note-taking options that work best for them if they don’t have a starting point.
This method develops a child’s listening and writing skills.
If you’d like a done-for-you template pack, either CLICK HERE or the CLICK THE FOLLOWING PICTURE.
#5. Talk It Out
Once your students have finished writing their notes, group them up into pairs or put them in small groups to discuss it. If they’re missing any points, they can add it to their notes.
This way, the material that’s been taught is now repeated to them multiple times. When using this method, children will explore their work through listening, reading, writing and speaking.
Recap:
Let’s recap really quickly. Today, we looked at the following:
- The reasons why it’s important to teach note-taking in school.
- We looked at five strategies for teaching it to your students: comic strip, interview style, decorative journal, done for you, and talk it out.
- How to implement each of the strategies.
- The different forms of learning styles that each of them caters to.
Free Resources:
In the mean time, if planning so that you’re ahead is not your jam, then check out the following: FREE MASTERCLASS: Systematic Plan to Super Passionate.
Next Steps:
If you found this video beneficial, would you do me a favor? Share this with your family, your friends, your loved ones, your co-workers or someone who you think could benefit from this. Thank you!
I’ll see you next Friday at 5:30pm PST.
Until I see you next time, remember to create, experience & teach from the heart.
Take care,
Charlotte
