How do you plan to teach note-taking from lectures (or do you)?

[FairProspects]

I realize I have a few years to think about this, but one of my concerns with long-term homeschooling is teaching dc to take appropriate lecture notes. In my prep school we were doing this by the middle grades and working up in difficulty by graduation. I'm aware of the Teaching Company videos, but those seem to be very much geared toward high schoolers. What are you doing with your logic stage/middle schoolers as far as teaching lecture note-taking? Do others teach this skill (beyond WWE)?

 

(I'm confident I can prepare lectures in my own subject specialties, but not in science or math.)

[Ester Maria]

If you do not lecture, maybe have them watch some lectures on various topics - maybe even better documentaries could work - depending on the age and the grade. Then go over the notes with them and see what needs improvement (are they too detailed? not detailed enough? can they tell more important information from less important information?).

 

As for the source, you can use TC lectures, or some of hundreds of introductory college lectures put online by various universities (many of them can be followed by a middle school student due to their general nature, especially very first lectures in the series).

[abbeyej]

Several things... First, learning to take notes (outlining, summarizing) from written work is helpful. This is covered well in Writing With Skill.

 

We use Derek Owens for upper level math, and he provides the kids with fill-in-the-blank notes. It's a good transitional step.

 

Teaching Company videos are, indeed, another good source. It's also helpful that they all come with printed outlines of the lectures, which you can use either for comparison with the notes your student takes, or to create your own fill-in-the-blanks notes as you're transitioning them to taking their own. Many of the courses are accessible to middle grade students.

[coffeefreak]

I started in 4th grade with my daughter taking notes from the whiteboard. So, for example, in English, I would re-write the rule we were learning on the board with my own example and have her copy it into her English notebook. After she got comfortable with that, I started having her take notes out of her book herself. Learning outlining really helps with that. This year, in Science, she's taking her own notes from the book, and then we discuss them. I'm teaching her how to study from those notes for her tests. Next year, she'll be taking some online classes and I'm a little nervous, but some things are best learned on the job :001_unsure:, right?:lol:

 

I would also review TWTM. I know SWB talks about note taking, but I'm too lazy to find it right now :D

 

HTH!

Blessings!

Dorinda

[Dahliarw]

Sermons at church, when he's old enough.

[Donna]

My dd does her science with PLATO science and though it is more a lesson than a lecture at this point, she does her own note taking then uses her notes to do the reviews and tests. Last year we took notes together.

 

I started out doing the note-taking to give her an idea of how to outline then we moved to doing them together with me making the basic outline and her filling in. This year she is independent and is doing a great job catching all the important information. She is still a little slow and needs to go back and re-watch a section now and then or stop the scene to write or type (she likes to put up a second window and type her notes because she is faster typing) but as she gets older and more practiced I think she will get faster.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

Wordsmith Craftsman is a writing curriculum (cheap) that has note taking lessons from different sources. My oldest used this and said it was helpful.

[Homemama2]

Sermons at church, when he's old enough.

:iagree:

[regentrude]

My DD learned to take notes from a life lectures when she attended her first lecture classes last year.

Before that, I taught them to take notes from a textbook (we do not use outlining, but note taking in phrases, not complete sentences - much faster; using bullets, color, lines for structure).

I would find it easier if the student's first exposure is not just to a lecture, but to a class where the lecturer writes things on the board or uses visuals. that way, the student can begin by copying the notes on the board and gradually include more of the information that is delivered only verbally. You can find open courseware classes where the teachers not just talk but also write important things on the board.

I see this as an important stepping stone towards lecture-only, which, btw, is a format I did not encounter until listening to technical talks in graduate school: every professors I had at the university would also use a blackboard or visuals.

I would not start by having children take notes on audi-only lectures.

[morosophe]

I see this as an important stepping stone towards lecture-only, which, btw, is a format I did not encounter until listening to technical talks in graduate school: every professors I had at the university would also use a blackboard or visuals.

 

This has been my experience, too. Actually, grad school had Powerpoint in abundance, which had certainly never been an option in high school, and which none of my college teachers ever tried to use. What makes it worse is that many teachers started teaching to the Powerpoint, instead of to the students.

 

I loathed Powerpoint, for the record. It doesn't allow you to get a good lengthy outline, which means that all you really get are soundbites, instead of an in-depth discussion. That's great for an overview, but not for the nitty-gritty.

 

Of course, like several posters above, sermons are the exception to this. Even then, our bulletins always (unless it was a guest pastor) had the three points of the three-point sermon, which is a good starting-off point. Of course, my father-in-law's church uses Powerpoint. So even there, it's not like you're always starting cold.

 

By the way, outlining from written works may actually be a more useful skill than you think, and one that would have benefited me immensely if I'd done it more in college. And it's not like the skill has no carry-over from written to oral presentations.

[Jen the RD]

Here are some things we've been doing since 5th grade:

 

1. I "lecture" on a topic (could be any school subject) and write notes on our whiteboard. These are words/phrases/diagrams/etc that help understanding, and hold student's attention. DD copies these.

2. Use DVD lectures in which student takes notes. This is a great way to introduce student to different teaching styles plus student may stop/start DVD (helps the beginner). Then go over notes together.

3. Take notes from textbook. I have done A LOT of hand-holding in this area to build these skills. If we're sitting together I may write down important points on a small (lap style) whiteboard. DD then copies. Like regentrude, I don't require "outlines", because some books IMHO, are difficult to outline, and lend themselves better to writing bullet points, phrases, definitions, etc.

4. Use notes or texts to make flashcards. This has been especially helpful in science because of all the vocabulary.

 

Some of these may seem like YOU are doing much of the work and that is true. But I believe that the process of modeling "how" to do it along w/discussing "why" I chose what I did to write down is what's missing in much of our educational system. Modeling builds the skills gradually, until the student gains the confidence to do it on their own. This takes time and effort, but I can see how far my own dd has come in this area.

 

HTH,

Jennifer

Edited November 19, 2011 by Jen the RD

[lauracolumbus]

The Super Star Student dvd has ideas on notetaking. I watched them w/ds and took notes from those dvds and we 'compared notes.' We'll continue to do this w/other TC dvds or other lecture dvds.

 

Laura