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NOTE: Return visitors will notice that the links to blank tools are missing; this is because my book Tools for Thought is now available. Virtually the entire book was on here, something my publisher had a bit of a problem with. The good news is that these tools are now available in one book, with directions and multiple exemplars. I even aligned them informally with standards for different subjects! Click here to visit the Heinemann site and find out more about Tools for Thought.
Overview
Academic success requires various competencies, among them the ability to know and use a variety of tools and techniques to generate and organize information and ideas. I refer to the tools and techniques on this page as "notemaking" because "taking notes" is passive: just as we must make meaning, so we must make notes---in our head, on the page, and in our notebooks. None of the ideas here are new, though I hope the way I have designed these "school tools" helps you use them more effectively. To see how long people have been using graphic notes and Cornell Notes, check out these excerpts from Leonardo da Vinci's journals. With few exceptions, the tools and techniques listed here are appropriate for all classes; many use them in grades as low as fourth and fifth with success, though I do not have exemplars. The tools here are intentionally free of directions because their intuitive design allows for multiple uses. Over time I will try to add more exemplars for the different techniques so you can see these different uses.
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Cluster Notes Used for just short of one million ideas. Used to generate and organize ideas in early stages of reading or writing or thinking process. For a wonderful program that does this, visit www.inspiration.com. Example: My brainstorm of Tools for presentation and poem |
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Conversational Roundtable I use the Conversational Roundtable more than any other tool. It is appropriate for any class, any level; it works for groups or individuals. The principle behind it is to have four (ideas, authors, books, characters, eras, etc.) sit around the table and see what they have to say to each other, how they relate to each other. Several different types of examples are included below. |
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Cornell Notes Traditional notetaking format. To teach them how to take Cornell Notes, download and use the Cornell Notes Intro. |
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Episodic Notes Students use this notemaking method for a variety of text types and purposes. It asks them to identify distinct scenes or moments in the text they are reading (or subject they are studying) and then explain what is happening and why it is important. |
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Hierarchical Notes A useful, familiar tool for organizing ideas into a hierarchy. Maslow's hierarchy of human needs and Kohlberg's moral stages come to mind as examples that conform to this format. The tool is, in short, a means of organizing information or ideas into a hierarchy. |
| Idea Cards Use these cut-out cards for many different purposes. They work well to help students manipulate ideas and test out different relationships. For example, write all the names of important characters and places on them; then cut them up, and arrange them in clusters to show who is related to whom. |
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Inference Notes This tool is specifically designed to help students analyze a fictional character by finding and interpreting quotes by or about the character; then a space at the bottom of the page asks students to make inferences about the character, incorporating examples from the graphic organizer. Click here to download a pdf version of the Inference Notes Click here to download a pdf version of the Inference Notes Intro |
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Judge's Notes In one column, write down the questions you think will help you make the right decision and understand the issues in the case. In another column jot down personal observations and responses about the defendants. In a third column note evidence or other details that would support your final decision/opinion. Use this graphic organizer in the same way; these notes will prepare you to write a subsequent paper in which your state your opinion and support your argument with evidence from your notes. Appropriate for any persuasive assignment. |
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Linear Array Works very well for the study of words, discussion of probability. Example: I will have my students generate words along the continuum like: Impossible, Unlikely, Possible, Probable, Certain. This continuum of probability allows us to discuss how a character might act, which of all the possible events might be on an exam, etc. Very useful tool that helps them develop an important way of thinking. |
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| Outline Notes A blank generic outline page that I use to help student organize info, take notes, and generally think in an orderly fashion before or while writing, reading, or thinking. |
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| Plot Notes Graphic organizer designed to be used with fiction. |
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Reporter's Notes Reporters always ask the questions their readers will ask. Readers using this notemaking method while reading will be sure to get more than "just the facts, ma'am" and arrive at a deeper understanding of what they read. Appropriate to all subject areas. |
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Sensory Notes Good readers use all their senses to help them fully grasp what they are reading. They use their imagination to help them see what the author is writing, to hear what the language sounds like. This notemaking method asks readers to pay specific attention to the sensory details of what they read to help them better understand what the text is saying. Appropriate for any subject area, but especially useful for reading literary and narrative texts. |
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Spreadsheet Notes Endless uses for this generic spreadsheet in all subject areas. One quick example: using it in an English class to take notes of common features/themes across five different novels or stories. Can also be used to organize a project. |
| Story Notes I use this before we begin books and during to study the narrative design of the stories. |
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Summary Notes This tool is designed to be used while reading a book or article which must then be summarized. It prepares students to write a précis by providing sample prompts, questions, and tips on what a good summary/précis must include. Click here to download a pdf version of the Summary Notes *Revised with Student Example) |
| Syntax Notes Organizing ideas according categories based on syntax might seem odd, but as the example shows, it can be very easy and most useful. Typically the notes fall into three columns: What You Do (Subject), How You Do It (Verb), and Why You Do It (Object). Especially helpful and appropriate for taking notes on a process or sequence. |
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Synthesis Notes This sheet is specifically designed to take notes while reading fiction. It is a useful one-page tool that directs students' attention to the crucial aspects of a fictional text and then has them evaluate these details in preparation for writing or discussing the text. |
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T-Notes (a.k.a. T-Chart) I use this organizer for a million different assignments. It allows readers to compare and contrast (books, characters, past and present, etc.); it also works as a useful notemaking tool when, for example watching a video that is connected to a book readers are studying. It also allows students to list causes and effects; I do, however, suggest your students use a think-in-three column organizer so you can include consequences or implications in a third column. |
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Target Notes By far one of my most commonly used tools. I use it for all sorts of different ideas. It is useful to generate/expand as well as narrow/refine depending on the needs of the assignment or task. Click here to see a sample of a student's Inference Notes Click here to get the "What Matters Most: How to Tell What's Most Important" Target |
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Textbook Feature Analysis |
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| Think Aloud Description forthcoming |
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Think in Threes (Columns) I sometimes use this tool as an alternative format to the think-in-threes diagram. I also use it sometimes as a variation on the two-column chart by putting a word in the middle---e.g., "friendship"---and then listing examples from two different books on the different sides. This helps provide structure to your notes. Science classes might, for example, put a compound in the middle and then write "before" and "after" atop the left and right columns, then describe the attributes of that compound before and after a particular process. |
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Think in Threes (Graphic) The principle behind this tool is that we need to consider ideas, characters, events from more than one (i.e., an either/or) perspective to better understand not only what happened but what could have happened. Either/or thinking simplifies; thinking in threes about, for example, a historical event invites us to consider not only how we see it today, but how people (from our and other countries) saw it back then. (Note: see 3-column organizer for additional examples in different format) |
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Timeline Notes Timelines, which can be used for a variety of purposes, including experiments in science and the study of historical events, not to mention novels, help readers identify important events in the story or process. At least as important, however, they invite readers to make inferences about how one event relates to another, how one event inspired or lead to another. This insight about cause-effect dramatically improves students' reading (and thinking, and writing) abilities. |
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Venn Diagram The Venn Diagram asks readers to compare and contrast different ideas, texts, authors, characters, eras---and to identify the ways in which they are similar and different. A variation on the Venn Diagram, the 3-circle Venn offers a different way to look at a subject and make connections with what the different domains have in common as well as what is unique. Also referred to elsewhere in my books as the Dense Question strategy. |
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Visual Explanations As notemakers get more independent and their tasks become more complex, their notemaking strategies must adapt. The examples included here show students explaining movement, processes, and stages. Example 1: Othello visual explanation of the first three acts (football diagram) |
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Vocabulary Squares This page, which holds six vocab squares, is the one I give my students each week for their vocabulary. I discuss the value of this approach at greater length in Reading Reminders, but the four squares help readers process the word in different ways, all of them proven useful through different research studies. |
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Webpage Notes A blank generic web page template. It works very well as a visual organizing device, espeically with kids who are getting more and more familiar with the web. Example: Give it to groups or an individual and tell them to draft up a home page for American History or Evolution. Same principle as an outline, just different format. |
