I enjoyed reading chapter 7 just for the simple fact that I never actually learned how to take good notes. I learned a lot from this chapter about how to take good notes as a student and how to teach in such a way that it is easy to take notes. As an educator, it is important that I organize my notes in such a way that my students will be able to pick up on the flow and pattern of my lesson and can easily and effectively take notes as I teach. It is also important to stay focused on the important topics of the lesson and not get caught up on a portion of the lesson that is not as important as a lot of my past teachers were famous for. By making small comments like, "this is important", I will be able to help my students in the note taking process. In addition, I now realize that note taking is not something you should expect your students know how to do but it must be taught. Students need to actually experience instructional time on how to take effective and organized notes. If a teacher spends a little time in the beginning of the school year or semester to teach note taking then the students will learn more in the long run. I personally wish that I would have been able to have a lesson on how to take notes when I was in high school. It could have saved me a lot of unnecessary study time.
I also enjoyed that the text discussed note taking versus note making. I never really paid attention to the fact that there is actually a difference between the two. Note taking refers to the notes one takes when hearing a lecture or presentation whereas note making is when one takes notes while reading or studying a text or other writings. I was even worse at note making than I was at note taking when I was in high school. I would grab a highlighter and practically highlight whole pages of a text. It is important to point out to your students that this is ineffective. Students need to learn how to pull out the really important aspects of a text and not get so consumed by some of the smaller sub points. Again, I wish that someone would have taught me how to be a good note maker in school so I intend on spending some time teaching my students how to take and make good notes.
Ashley, I was never taught how to make notes either and I also agree that as a teacher we need to organize our lessons in a way that the students will be able to write notes that flow from one idea to the other. I also never really paid attention to the difference between note taking and note making. I enjoyed reading about the differences applying them to my personal experiences with note taking and note making. I used to highlight entire pages of a text as well because I thought since the whole page is important, I should highlight it. I now know that this is not an effective way of studying or note making, and that I would just need to highlight key words and not the filler words (or sight words) that aren't as important to the main message.
ReplyDeleteAshley, I was also a terrible note maker in high school. My Bible from high school is a great example. I would start highlighting a verse, but not know where to stop! I wish someone had taught me how to make and take notes. Taking notes was sometimes easier if the teacher or speaker made it clear what points were important. I have improved slightly over the years, but my notes rarely do me any good when it comes to reading them to study. I hope to teach my students to take better notes by teaching them organizational skills and structuring my lessons so that they can take notes on the important stuff. I also want to teach them how to filter what they take in so that they can determine what is important enough to
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