Summarizing+&+Note+Taking

Read and Reflect
How do you currently apply this strategy with(out) technology?

A note taking strategy I used with my classes is Cornell style. There are four sections to the notes that help students chunk information. However, I have modified the structure and directions of the strategy to fit my classroom needs. The main section of the notes is for students to record important ideas and details I give them. There isn’t much creativity to this task, and I write a lot of information on purpose. I don’t tell students to write everything that is writing on the board or overhead. They just do it instinctively. As we work through the note taking process a few times, I ask the class if they like writing down everything in the notes. Of course, they all say, “NO!” So at that point, we start working on techniques to take notes such as abbreviations, main points, and highlighting important ideas. Another section of the notes I have modified is the cue section. I usually pose questions about the note ideas for them to respond in this section. The purpose of this method is to have students think about what they are learning and apply the information immediately with their own examples. They are also told to write questions for themselves to answer later as a way of reviewing the information in the notes. The last section of the notes is for summarization. My students have a difficult time with this task. Of course, if I spent more time on learning how to summarize information, they probably would be able to do this section better. However, I don’t consider summarization as important for this task as I would when reading a section of text So, I tell them to write how they would use the information they just recorded in a job situation or in college. This way, students are kind of summarizing what they just recorded, but also making it relevant to their lives.

Apply and Reflect
Provide evidence of the tool you learned media type="custom" key="8444938" I like how this tool can be used to encourage sharing of ideas on a given topic. Students post their ideas to a collection of images and learned from each other as well as the information that is presented. This activity helps students to picture the information and learn from other perspectives. This could validate what a student already knows, correct misunderstandings, or build on student knowledge.