Teaching Note Taking Strategies

Taking notes during classroom lectures is a popular way for teachers and professors to present information. Research has shown that students who take effective notes and spend time outside of school reviewing those notes perform better in understanding and retaining information. There are many ways in which students in high school are expected to take notes. Sometimes a teacher will lecture and students are expected to scramble to write down what he or she is saying. Often a teacher will provide a transparency for students to copy during the lecture. Either of these note-taking formats can present a challenge to students with mild disabilities, who often have trouble with taking notes and organizing ideas. When choosing a method for taking notes, the teacher needs to be aware of all students’ strengths and weaknesses, even those who are not identified as having a disability. Some students may have fine motor weaknesses or a medical condition, such as sickle celled anemia, which makes copying and large amounts of writing painful. Teaching students effective note-taking strategies is crucial, as in the college setting students are expected to largely gain knowledge through class lectures.

One note-taking strategy involves using abbreviations. Notes are generally not taken up, as they are a tool for students to use when studying. As long as the student can understand what he or she has written, it is not necessary to copy everything as it appears on the overhead. Encourage students to use abbreviations and symbols for common words as well as ways to shorten words. For example, they can write “&” instead of the word, “and”. Longer words, such as “include” can be shortened in notes by simply writing the first few letters of the word: “inc.. The University of Central Missouri has compiled of list of abbreviations and symbols in PDF format that can be printed out as a supplement.

The Cornell Note-Taking System has become a popular way for teachers to present information during lectures. Cornell Notes, which divide the sheet of paper into columns and sections, are a good way for students to organize information in a sequential, orderly format. This method encourages students to review the notes outside of class to summarize the lesson, formulate questions about the covered material, and pull out the main ideas. For more details on Cornell Notes, including pictures of how pages are to be divided, click here. Some teachers ask students to formulate their questions and lesson summary as a homework assignment to make sure they follow through. Instead of taking up the notes, students receive credit for doing their work.

Providing students with an outline or skeleton notes is also helpful, particularly for students who cannot write quickly or who have other problems copying notes. This is a handout of the notes as they appear on the overhead with key phrases or words missing. Students are to fill in the blanks as the notes are presented.

Sources:
The Learning Toolbox-Cornell Notes, JMU
The University of Central Missouri