How do you teach note taking?

[Wabi Sabi]

My 10 year old is taking a class, and the instructor is a bit perturbed that none of the students are taking notes while she teaches. Granted, this instructor is used to working with college students and the fact that NONE of the 9/10 year old kids in this class are taking notes should tell her that maybe her expectations are a bit high, but nevertheless I'd like for my son to at least attempt some basic note taking. 

Any good resources or suggestions on how to introduce note taking during class to younger kids? I don't recall taking notes in class until high school, and I'm having a hard time explaining the process to him in a way that he really understands. 

[Dory]

Start Communications has a little course on note taking. That's how I'm teaching my kids anyway.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Start-Communications

http://www.startcommunicationswriting.com/2013/06/blog-post.html

[Ellie]

My 10 year old is taking a class, and the instructor is a bit perturbed that none of the students are taking notes while she teaches. Granted, this instructor is used to working with college students and the fact that NONE of the 9/10 year old kids in this class are taking notes should tell her that maybe her expectations are a bit high, but nevertheless I'd like for my son to at least attempt some basic note taking. 

 

Any good resources or suggestions on how to introduce note taking during class to younger kids? I don't recall taking notes in class until high school, and I'm having a hard time explaining the process to him in a way that he really understands. 

 

Seriously? The instructor is bothered by the fact that 10yo children don't take notes?

 

:blink:

 

The first time I ever remember taking notes was in my eighth grade science class, and I copied the outline from the board that the teacher wrote there. I don't ever remember any instructon on taking notes.

 

I'd be talking to the teacher instead of trying to teach a 10yo how to take notes. I don't think it's an age-appropriate skill (or necessity, for that matter).

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't recall taking notes when I was 10.  And in the beginning when I was learning the teacher would say, "Write this down."  Or they'd say, "Whatever I put on the board or overhead sheets you need to write down."

 

I practice the skill with my 12 year old.  For now I'm mostly having him learn to take notes from what he is reading though and not so much from lecture. 

 

I'm not sure her expectations are reasonable. 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Yeah, that seems kind of unrealistic.  Kids don't spring from the womb knowing how to take notes, anyway.  I'm teaching my 7th grader how to take notes from books and lectures.  From books, Step 1 is giving her a pretty detailed study guide that tells her how to read the chapter and what kinds of things she should be writing down.  From lectures, it involves sitting beside her with my own notebook and the pause button handy, and stopping the video when I'm going to write something down, and explaining why and how.  This can make a 30 min lecture take an hour to get through . . . but it's not something I assume that kids are born knowing.  Obviously this kind of modelling won't last forever (I hope) but it seems to be fairly effective.

[Reefgazer]

Sidetrack:  The bacon is back!

I don't recall taking notes when I was 10.  And in the beginning when I was learning the teacher would say, "Write this down."  Or they'd say, "Whatever I put on the board or overhead sheets you need to write down."

 

I practice the skill with my 12 year old.  For now I'm mostly having him learn to take notes from what he is reading though and not so much from lecture. 

 

I'm not sure her expectations are reasonable. 

 

[Garga]

I don't know how to teach a kid to take notes because we're not going to start until next year: 8th grade.

 

5th grade is too young. She should write important points on a board for them to copy or give handouts.

[Wabi Sabi]

I think her expectations are a bit off too, but on the other hand, we went into this class knowing that it would be challenging and that most of the other students would be high achieving students from the gifted and talented program, and knowing that the instructor was used to teaching college students. 

I don't expect him to come home with pages of copious notes, but given the nature of the class (foreign language) it would be reasonable for him to jot down just a couple of key words that he needs to learn and copy down vocabulary that the teacher writes on the board. At this age, I do think that the teacher probably needs to explicitly say, "Write this down" or "Copy this from the board." Alternatively, I think a handout/study guide of sorts that the students follow along with could work as well. 

Now how to work up the nerve to say something to the teacher...I'm not usually so timid, but I for some reason that I can't quite articulate (cultural, maybe?) I'm afraid of offending her. 

[Dmmetler]

What I did was to start having my DD draw/write what she heard while listening pretty young. Like about 3 or so. Mostly because, at the time, we were attending a church with 60 minute sermons and she hated the nursery. She actually got pretty good at drawing the main points and retelling. It helped that this church put an outline on the projector that was filled in as the pastor spoke, as well, because that modeled that skill for her. We carried this through into retelling and summarizing what she'd heard. She loves herpetology, and has now attended two conferences in the field, during which she sat and took notes through the whole thing (which many of the college faculty present found amazing, because many of their students don't take notes in class). Her notes are still a mixture of drawing and writing, but she can look at her notes and retell the lecture (unless it went over her head). I'm guessing my 8th grade English teacher, who graded notes and outlines, would fail DD based on hers, and that a lot of classroom teachers wouldn't see what DD does as note-taking as opposed to doodling, but it has the desired effect.

 

I would suggest checking with the teacher before encouraging your son to draw notes to make sure that it's not going to be seen as being "off task" as opposed to "kid collecting information in a way that works for him".

 

 

[Mrs Twain]

I have started with having my kids learn note-taking from a textbook.  I modified the Cornell Note-taking System page so it is simpler.  Here is the original PDF:

http://lsc.cornell.edu/LSC_Resources/cornellsystem.pdf

My kids use this with BJU Science 6.  They use their notes to help them study for the tests.

 

Next will be learning to take notes from lectures.  I like Rose's idea above about sitting next to the student and explaining how to take notes as you go.

 

[Donna]

I taught my dd how to take notes by having her 1st watch me take notes from the PLATO Biology class she was taking. I demonstrated and discussed how to chose and outline the important points. After watching me for a couple lectures, I had her tell me what was important to write. Then we moved to her doing the writing with both of us discussing what was important. By then, she was good at taking notes. 

 

 

[FloridaLisa]

We started practicing note-taking by taking sermon notes. My dc would do that for a few years in church.  The first time they really needed to take notes from a lecture was probably 8th grade. I agree with the others that expecting a10-year-old to *take notes* is off.  She may be used to teaching college, but she's not teaching college!  If she's a teacher, then she should probably care about how best to communicate and transmit the information.

 

Is she telling the kids when to write and what to write? Is she writing it on the board for the  kids to copy? Or is she expecting them to hear it orally, transmit it into notes and keep up with a continuing lecture?

That's a lot for a 10-year-old! I would approach the teacher. I guess I'd also work with your ds to figure out what to write.  Names and dates for history or important vocabulary words. 

 

Gifted or not, I'm not sure it's the best way to engage 10-year-olds. 

 

Lisa

[NotAVampireLvr]

We are just *now* teaching note taking... and only as a way to write down key points for themes.  I can't imagine taking notes for a lecture... I don't think I did that until 6th or 7th grade?

[kolamum]

Well WWS teaches note taking...

 

FWIW, when it comes to listening to lectures & whatnot, my child uses his own method which I can't understand, but he can transfer it all into a well spoken or written paper when he's done. What's on the paper is just enough to jog his memory about something he heard. You could tell your child to write a name, or draw a picture, etc. I'm not sure I'd fuss too much & simply remind the teacher what level she's teaching. ;)