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Notetaking Strategies
We have students take notes for many different purposes and in many forms. This page shows you some of the different ways you can use notetaking in your classes.
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Notetaking Strategies
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Reading for Changes: Introduce the idea using a text familiar to all. I used "Cinderella." After that, move away from familiar to a text of personal interest that will make success almost inevitable yet challenge them. I used the newspaper since on Tuesdays we get a class set (for free!) of the San Francisco Chronicle. I showed them the different parts of the text (e.g., header, subheader, etc.), modeling how to complete the first column of the interactive notetaking sheet. Then they moved on to read the assigned article, "Hi-Tech Detour." During this time I circulated around the room and evaluated their understanding, guided their use of the interactive notes strategy, and kept the restless focused. I taped the newspaper to
Click here to see an example of students "reading for changes" |
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Title Talk: Prereading that focuses on the title of a literary text gets students thinking about the text to come. Such thinking teaches them how to generate ideas, make connections and predictions. Here is a recent example form an initial discussion of Lord of the Flies. |
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Episodic Notes: This notetaking technique is perfect for any process that falls into stages or scenes. Thus it can be used in any number of courses. Use the space between the episodes to examine the transitions from one scene/stage to the next. |
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Thinking in Outlines: Taking notes in outline form in my Reading Workshop class has helped them to build organizational structures in their head. These habits of mind (i.e., thinking in outlines) help them not only write but read better, as well. |
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Post-It Annotations: This alternative to marking up a text with notes is ideal for students using textbooks. Have them stick a portion of a Post-It pad to the inside of the book's cover. They then have the Post-Its readily available when they come across material worth commenting on or returning to when they write a subsequent paper. |
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Interactive Notes: Introduce the idea using a text familiar to all. I used "Cinderella." After that, move away from familiar to a text of personal interest that will make success almost inevitable yet challenge them. I used the newspaper since on Tuesdays we get a class set (for free!) of the San Francisco Chronicle. I showed them the different parts of the text (e.g., header, subheader, etc.), modeling how to complete the first column of the interactive notetaking sheet. Then they moved on to read the assigned article, "Hi-Tech Detour." During this time I circulated around the room and evaluated their understanding, guided their use of the interactive notes strategy, and kept the restless focused. I taped the newspaper to the board and used a bright red marker to make sure all students could follow along while I identified the parts of the article they needed to list in the pre-reading column of the Interactive Notes. I had to go around and remind them to keep their notes page on top of the paper while they read; some were inclined to bury it. This student was a model to his neighbors. They had to read two articles, "High-Tech Detour" and one of their own choosing
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What's the Big Idea: Reading Workshop students use the following document to build on recent work in the area of asking questions and identifying the main ideas in a paragraph and the whole t ext. I notice that many of the kids tend to cover over their notes and/or the assignment (both of which they WHILE they read the article). I stopped everyone to use these two students as models of how everyone should be set up to work. The assignment took most of the period and appeared to be very successful. Key elements of its success:
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Reading for Style Across Translations: Students in my freshman honors class read five different parallel translations of the same scene from Homer's Odyssey. The assignment is available with four of the five translations (they have the Fagels translation in their book). The assignment demands careful modeling of how to read across translations and texts, as well as how to read for style and semantics. I will pick a useful example like the suitors whose assault on Odysseus's house is described alternately as "trouble," "evil," and "misfortune." They skim through first one their own (see picture on the left) and then collaboratively, comparing what others have and what meaning they can make from the differences. |
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Use Reciprocal Teaching: These students in my freshman honors English class work together (as everyone else in class is doing) to read, discuss, and make notes using a graphic organizer designed to help them learn who all the characters are. The novel Jasmine, which we read as part of their integrated world cultures course (taught by the Social Studies teacher), has many characters, jumps in time, and shifts in location. I used reciprocal teaching here to allow students to get a solid understanding who is who and how the text works before moving ahead in the text. Setting up a good foundation early on prevents confusion and problems later. |
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Annotate the Text: In my freshman honors English class we have worked hard to learn how to read more closely. Each Friday I give them a poem (click here to see an example of one of the weekly poem assignments, complete with alignment to the standards-ooh!) Periodically I take students' responses and type them up as examples for the others. We discuss these to determine why they are good; students then have examples of what I expect them to do and, generally, their work improves that week. Then a few weeks later I will take a few more examples from the best and try to move them up a notch. This is what I refer to in English Teacher's Companion as the continuum of performance: i.e., moving them from novices to mastery . Click here to download a pdf. example of these exemplars from early in the year (i.e., I tell them these would not be strong examples a month later.) |