Note-taking skills? Teaching Co. DVD?

[Night Elf]

I was searching the forum for help with ds14's lack of study skills. What exactly is Teaching Company's How to be a Superstar Student? The reviews at their website are mostly good, but others complain the examples are unclear, the video is outdated and old looking, and the presenter is dull and flat.

 

Would this be helpful for a student who has zero motivation or interest in his work? Ds14 just has so many issues that this would turn into an entirely different post if I were to start on that! :)

 

Did this video help your student learn how to study and how to take notes from reading and lectures?

[gingersmom]

You might want to check your local library. My library was able to get me a copy through inter-library loan.

[regentrude]

Let me preface my post by saying that I do not know the video

However, I prefer teaching my child those skills on a concrete example. The first time my 12 y/o started working with a regular textbook, I sat down with her and taught her how to take reading notes. We then revisited this after a few weeks of her working with the book, pointed out where she was taking inefficient notes, taking too long, writing too much. I believe that this is a skill that needs to be acquired by doing, not just by watching a demonstration.

In order to acquire good note taking skills in lectures and presentations she will sit in on a college class this semester. She will need to take notes on the assigned reading and in class. I will review her lecture notes and give her suggestions. Again, I think this is best learned by actually following a lecture. If you do not have the opportunity for your son to take life classes, you could use a Teaching company lecture (but one with actual content) for him to practice this.

I am sure the video is useful; but I personally would not spend $ on something explaining theoretically a skill that needs to be acquired through practice.

regentrude

[Night Elf]

I will review her lecture notes and give her suggestions. Again, I think this is best learned by actually following a lecture. If you do not have the opportunity for your son to take life classes, you could use a Teaching company lecture (but one with actual content) for him to practice this.

 

Thanks, I appreciate your response. However, I've been teaching him for numerous years and I cannot teach him this. Successful homeschooling for our family is knowing MY limits and strengths, not just those of my children. I'm not comfortable teaching this without some sort of guideline and he works best with an auditory method. I firmly believe study skills are learned, but that means they must be taught and I don't know enough to decide what is important to teach.

[Moni]

I own this video.

 

My son was receptive to start taking textbook notes as described in the video.

 

If you son is not "receptive" to your imparting your Wisdom toward his direction....:tongue_smilie:...it might be a helpful DVD

 

:seeya:

Edited August 13, 2010 by Moni

[tex-mex]

Thanks, I appreciate your response. However, I've been teaching him for numerous years and I cannot teach him this. Successful homeschooling for our family is knowing MY limits and strengths, not just those of my children. I'm not comfortable teaching this without some sort of guideline and he works best with an auditory method. I firmly believe study skills are learned, but that means they must be taught and I don't know enough to decide what is important to teach.

 

My 10th grader has dysgraphia. I had to teach him back in junior high the study skills of notetaking. He is just now being confident in doing this on his own. I used my old study skills text from college and the method I was taught in:

 

A. Main idea 1

- detail 1

- detail 2

- further detail 2.1

- detail 3

- further detail 3.1

- further detail 3.2

 

B. Main idea 2

C. Main idea 3

 

I suggested to my son he have a W-I-D-E left side margin marked by a pen to separate the outline notetaking format and the empty "space" for drawing, questions, or details. I used to DVR old episodes of Mythbusters and have him keep notes on Jaime and Adam's experiments. I also took notes. We would then compare notes and I would gently hint the outline could be simplified or added. It was fun.

 

Another good resource is this site:

http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/howtostudy.html

 

Teaching Company's How to Be a Super Star Student:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Become-SuperStar-Student-School/dp/B000MF2PEW

Edited August 12, 2010 by tex-mex

[amtmcm]

DD13 and I have watched through lecture 7 of How to Be a Super Star Student and we both think it's wonderful. She immediately began applying the note taking to her Life Science textbook and is getting much more out of the textbook reading. She will have the opportunity to apply the "taking notes in class" suggestions when classes start in the next few weeks.

 

Today we watched how to manage time. She almost had her nose pressed to the screen with interest since time management has always been a struggle for her.

 

DD13 is a diligent, enthusiastic learner and she is very appreciative of the tips on how to work smarter, not harder. I can't say that every student will be as willing to apply the techniques, but it's certainly working for us.

 

These DVD's go on sale every few months. I think I bought mine new for around $45.

[Night Elf]

My way of taking notes is to try to take down nearly everything the teacher says. That's why I did so well in my Econ class using my laptop. I can type faster than I can write. I always write everything the teacher puts on the board, but I'm listening as well. And I write in complete sentences. Phrases drive me nuts. I always feel like I'm missing something. When I study, I rewrite everything and say it aloud several times.

 

I do take notes from books sometimes, but it's rare that I do it without some kind of guide that tells me what I'm looking for. My econ teacher gave us study guides for the tests. It made it very easy to do well on the tests.

 

So obviously, I'm not the one to teach him how to do this. I don't think my way is effective. It's actually rather tiring. ;)

[choirfarm]

My son is watching the Advanced Communication through IEW. He is going through the notetaking session right now and it seems helpful. Like a previous poster, I wrote EVERYTHING down that the professor said. IEW has this branch method that actually makes more sense to me and would have been easier.

 

 

christine

[1Togo]

Here is a link to the most commonly used systems for notetaking:

 

http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/notetaking.systems.html

 

Since strong notetaking, both from oral and print sources, is an absolute must for college, it is a good place to start, and you don't need a video to teach it. Just choose a section of your son's history or science and try one of the methods witih him. See what works for him. Cornell has worked for all our children, especially the guys. However, we tried other methods; i.e. branch, outlining, writing it all, etc.

 

I am planning high school for dd, now in 8th grade, and while she is motivated, I can see she needs improvement in many skill areas before she can enjoy learning. At this point, school is completed more from checking off the boxes than enthusiasm. Diane Lockwood has a book that looks interesting -- Trivium Mastery. She discusses a classical education in terms of three areas with a progressive list of skills in each area. Her book, which covers through 8th grade, includes a list of the skills, and she is working on a high school book now.

 

You might try searching amazon for books on college study skills. I made a list and ordered several from our library.

 

Bonita

Edited August 14, 2010 by 1Togo

[Elinor Everywhere]

 

So obviously, I'm not the one to teach him how to do this. I don't think my way is effective. It's actually rather tiring. ;)

 

:lol::lol::lol:

[ma23peas]

See if any of these would help, IEW also promotes the Cornell method or some of their instructors do, I found helps on the Cornell note taking method by googling and plan to use it with my writing classes...

 

http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/notetaking.systems.html

 

Tara

[tex-mex]

My way of taking notes is to try to take down nearly everything the teacher says. That's why I did so well in my Econ class using my laptop. I can type faster than I can write. I always write everything the teacher puts on the board, but I'm listening as well. And I write in complete sentences. Phrases drive me nuts. I always feel like I'm missing something. When I study, I rewrite everything and say it aloud several times.

 

I do take notes from books sometimes, but it's rare that I do it without some kind of guide that tells me what I'm looking for. My econ teacher gave us study guides for the tests. It made it very easy to do well on the tests.

 

So obviously, I'm not the one to teach him how to do this. I don't think my way is effective. It's actually rather tiring. ;)

Hmmm. Understood. :D

 

I tend to listen to the lecture and then write a brief phrase or summary of the idea on paper. Mnemonics also work. I tend to be weak in my auditory skills and it would be frustrating to try to write every word down on paper -- unless I had the skills of a courtroom stenographer.

 

Have you considered equipping son with a digital voice recorder? That way he could go over his notes from class and review the lecture on tape -- while typing his notes on a computer. Some digital voice recorders have Dragon software to do the typing on a PC. Due to my son's Dysgraphia, we are using this method along with having him take notes in class the old-fashioned way on paper. The extra review of the lecture at home helps him a lot.

Edited August 13, 2010 by tex-mex

[Mom2boys]

These DVD's go on sale every few months. I think I bought mine new for around $45.

 

My catalog says this is on sale right now, through August 30th, for $34.95.

[lakerks]

Here is a link to the most commonly used systems for notetaking:

 

http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/notetaking.systems.html

 

I found this link very helpful. :001_smile: