Note Taking Skills

[workingmom]

Realized with the couple of online classes DS 14 (10th)and DS 11 (7th)  aren't doing a good job of focusing in class or taking notes for future studying (14).  They both have taken a study skills camp before but I think both myself and the online teachers have been lax in really enforcing note taking during the online classes. 

 

I was thinking to model some note taking by sitting in first 15 minutes of some of their classes and doing my own notes while they do theirs. Then after class comparing.  Or going

back to an older recording of a class and doing notes together.

 

What's worked for you? Do you have your high schoolers redo their notes/ consolidate class notes into test study notes later. 

 

I think it might require some hand holding at the beginning but this is a crucial skill I think they need to implement.

 

Also anyone have examples of transcription notes compared to like subcategory notes (Roman numeral , A 1.2.3 ect) for the same lecture. I was going to show them in grad school we did note service as a class (which was transcribing the lecture) but that was way different than photocopying a friends good class notes. Visually its a nice comparison of pages and pages of text vs outline facts.

 

 

 

 

[Momto6inIN]

I was thinking to model some note taking by sitting in first 15 minutes of some of their classes and doing my own notes while they do theirs. Then after class comparing.

 

This is what we have done at the high school level. I told my oldest DS it doesn't really matter if his notes look like mine, but that he should become proficient about pulling important relevant points out from unimportant details, and that he will develop his own style over time with practice.

 

In middle school we started with this as a very gentle easy introduction to taking notes.

http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/032082

 

I did not teach him to go back and outline his notes because that's just not my style of note-taking. But it most definitely IS the style of DS, and he's begun outlining his notes on his own as part of his own style of notetaking just kind of automaticallly because that's the way his brain is wired. :)

[fourisenough]

I taught my older girls the Cornell Notes system after seeing someone mention it here. I'm not sure that they still use that format, specifically, but it was helpful to give them an idea of one system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_Notes

 

I love your idea of sitting through one of their classes (or an old lecture) and taking notes alongside them then comparing afterward. That would be very collaborative and give them a chance to possibly 'teach' you some strategy they use (rather than just one more time when mom knows more than they do).

 

I really like the idea of re-copying notes after class for clarity or to organize/pull-out the most important information, but I have never actually done that. One online class DD11 will take next school year recommends that, so I will require it of her, at least initially.

[nansk]

Teach Your Students How to Take Notes by Sharon Watson teaches how to take notes from video or audio lectures.

[MerryAtHope]

I also did Cornell notes with my kids--this page has a great visual and description. What I did was to work on it through their history reading first. I would go over their notes and show them how I might take notes for the same passage, modeling how I decide what's important to include and what's not as important. If they did poorly on a test, I would ask them questions orally and let them use their notes to answer--if they had the answer in their notes, they could earn points back (this encouraged them to work on improving their note-taking skills). 

 

We only worked briefly on taking notes from spoken lectures (it was one of those things I wanted to do more of but other things took precedence), but if I had, I was going to do just what you are describing--do it with them and model how to take good notes. I think notes from a speaker are even more difficult than notes from a written document because you are trying to decide as you listen what's important to write down, and then you are trying to hold those words in working memory as you write them while at the same time you are trying to listen to new things being said--it's easy to miss something that way. If I was working on this skill with a student, I would teach him or her to take 15-20 minutes AFTER the class to fill in gaps in the notes, and to clarify anything they wrote in a form of "short-hand" or without context, so that later as the memory fades, the notes will actually make sense to them.

 

Going back to outline notes may or may not be helpful, but it can be helpful to at least highlight or underline salient points. 

 

Anyway--good for you for working on this! 

[Tiramisu]

Teach Your Students How to Take Notes by Sharon Watson teaches how to take notes from video or audio lectures.

 

Thanks for this. I'm a big fan of Sharon Watson.

[workingmom]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. MerryAtHope, I love this idea of giving them points for having it in their notes!

 

So for an update I actually stayed for about 30-35 minutes of their online classes and took my own notes side by side. For both it took a few minutes for the "actual" class to start in terms of material. DS11 was more focused still an entire page of doodling (but only on the borders :). Actually it was WAY harder to take notes while the teacher was lecturing as opposed to from a textbook.  But then we compared notes and I pointed out some of the interesting facts he wrote (which I didn't) and one ended up being a test question on his quiz he took couple hours after class. Then I showed him some strategies of leaving blanks or open boxes if you missed something to go back and fill it in. Which he did for Simon Bolivar. He recognized that when he zoned out he missed a crucial work then would be lost for that point. So it was important to show him that ok just leave some space or and blank underline and fill in later but don't then just ignore the rest of that imporatn fact/point.

 

DS 14 actually did a great job with the notes but he was having trouble keeping up also because it was new material and we discussed about asking the teacher for pre reading the section before the lecture. She actually mentions the reference pages during the lecture. So for him we discussed. Going back to the recording to "redo" the example (its was a unit on verbal phrases) and pause print out the questions answer them then restart recording and check answers. 

 

It was tedious but I think if I do a few more examples and model how to go back and fill in gaps in the notes this should help. I myself have never loved cornell notes but I can see the benefit in certain situations. Maybe modeling a few styles will help so they have a repritore to choose from. 

 

Things sure have changed. There are so many more inputs (video recording, power point slides, side bar chats) its a lot to keep track of during the lecture. I can see why notes aren't stressed but almost want to go to a live lecture class and model for both of them there.

 

I think DS11 is just young and may require me being in the room keeping him on task for another year. I was just trying to advance him up to his brother's level.

 

 

[Loesje22000]

Thank you for this thread and the detailed posts.

We are almost there.

We are now working on note taking from a textbook.

I also had to model dd what I tried to say, and she had to see what she was missing.

 

Live classes are hard to arrange here,

so I have to find a replacement for that.

[MerryAtHope]

Live classes are hard to arrange here,

so I have to find a replacement for that.

 

My college son recommended that I read a text out loud to my high school dd to give her practice. 

Edited February 28, 2016 by MerryAtHope

[Arcadia]

Live classes are hard to arrange here,

so I have to find a replacement for that.

YouTube has some of the Great Courses which are useful.

OpenCourseware with videos of the lecturers lecturing is another good option

 

If you want your child to have a fun time trying to take notes with a fast talking person, try any of the Crash Course videos on YouTube.

[Ellie]

It was not until I began coming here to TWTM forum that I learned that people taught note-taking, or expected children younger than, oh, 12 or 13 to take notes. I don't know how my dc and I managed to muddle through. :-)

[MerryAtHope]

It was not until I began coming here to TWTM forum that I learned that people taught note-taking, or expected children younger than, oh, 12 or 13 to take notes. I don't know how my dc and I managed to muddle through. :-)

 

Different people probably have different needs. I struggled with the jump in expectation when I went to college, because I'd never really learned thorough note-taking and study skills. I wanted my kids to have a better experience than I did. I started gradually in junior high, and focused more on it in high school. I think there's still a jump/learning curve when they transition to college, but I hope it's a bit less for them.