Getting It Down: Making and Taking Notes Across the Curriculum

Before I started this reading I thought it was going to be like every other passage we have had to read about taking notes. First you start with headings, then make clear bulleted pointes, highlight the important information, etc., you get the picture? But thankfully the authors gave some very good examples of good note taking techniques. I really really liked the idea of having special ways to organize notes based on the subject.  I hope to incorporate that into my future classroom. The Research Grid was one of my favorite examples in the book. I know that in the past I would have loved to have a layout of how to organize my information and notes for research papers. Because lets be honest, research papers stink if it is on a boring topic that no one wants to know anything about.

             Personally for me note taking has always been a crucial asset to my achievements in school. For one, I learn things more efficiently if I write it down, and I also find myself paying closer attention to what is going on if I take notes about a topic or lesson. This is something Fisher and Frey discussed during the chapter. They stated, “Taking good notes trains students not only to pay attention but what to pay attention to.” This statement is so true! I have had to suffer some bad experiences when I was in high school because I studied my notes that were filled with pointless information. I think that if my teachers would have taught me in early grades on how to take notes based on the important information I would have done much better on my test and papers. So because of my bad experience I do plan to teach and assess my students on note taking and note making. If I teach this skill earlier in the year then I think I can set up my students for future success.            

            Note taking being taught will increase all students’ comprehension and retention of the material covered in class. Although, how a student sets up his or her notes can help or hinder them as a learner. Since I am an advocate for note taking, should I allow my students to take notes the way they would like to or should I have them all do it a specific way based on the lesson? In other words, I just want the student to do what is best for his or her learning, so should I require a specific way for the students to take notes or allow them to create there own? Any suggestions from past learning experiences with taking notes?