Enrique López
AVID Regional Consultant
Fresno County Office of Education
eralopez@fcoe.org
 When a teachers says,
“Write this down,” “This
is important…,” or “This
will be on the test.”
 The information is
written on the
whiteboard.
Traditional
Cornell Notes
of you
remember
100% of
what you
learned
from first
period?
 Ever hear of
the
Forgetting
Curve?
Learning recall
 How many
50 %
0%
Number of days following learning
 Who created
Cornell
Notes?
 Dr. Walter Pauk because he was
frustrated that his students were
failing his class. He was a professor at
Cornell University in New York.
 Dr. Pauk conducted a series of studies
on note-taking with his students and
this is what he found:
You retain _____% if you take no notes
You retain _____% if you take some or
fragmented notes
You retain _____% if you take copious
and thorough notes with thoughtful
higher level questions and specific and
direct summaries
Which grade do you want?
 S
 T
 A
 R

Set-up your paper, heading; name, date, class, Topic, page
number

Take notes in class; use abbreviations, symbols, pictures,
text language, highlight, diagrams, numbers, different
colors for questions and information, etc. Also, listen for
important key information that is being said by picking-up
on the teacher’s tone, volume, body language, etc.

Apply your notes to your homework. Analyze your notes to
develop higher level questions for true comprehension of
your material. Ask lots of questions in class.

Review and reflect/summarize your notes. Fill in the gaps
that your notes may have. If needed, re-write your notes so
that they are nice and legible when you’re studying.
 Who is
Arthur
Costa?
Why is he
important
to you?
 He developed Costa’s Levels of
Questioning. There are three levels
of questioning:
 Level 1 questions use verbs such as:
list, describe, define, state, and
name;
 Level 2 questions use verbs such as:
analyze, compare, contrast,
examine, and classify;
 Level 3 questions use verbs such as:
hypothesize, predict, speculate,
design, and evaluate.
 Level 1
 Level 2
 Level 3
 Name two of the characters in
Romeo and Juliet. Who is the
author Of Mice and Men?
 Compare Cinderella to Snow
White. In Shakespeare’s “Julius
Caesar,” how do Brutus’
murderous actions personify
dramatic irony?
 If Lenny, from Of Mice and Men,
would have lived, what would his
life be like? What would the
Roman Empire be like if Julius
Caesar had not been murdered?
 Open-ended
questions
 Close-ended
questions
 Opinion
questions
 Have “unlimited” responses, like essay
questions. These are best for tutorials
 Have pre-set answers, like multiple choice,
true/false, and yes/no. These questions
show up on tests, surveys, and forms
 Use level three verbs when writing opinion
questions for tutorials. Opinion questions
should be thoughtful enough to focus the
discussion and reach a higher level of
analysis.
 Step 1
 Highlight, circle, or underline things that
 Step 2
 Generate questions based on your review
 Step 3
 Create summary/reflection on your
you may have questions about or don’t
understand.
for each information chunk
thought process or learning.
Summary
 A good summary is a truncated
statement of the entire lesson,
learning, and or material that was
covered.
Examples:
 The main points from notes are…
 The proper steps to solve an ______
equation are….
 The three most important facts from
today’s lesson are…
 The difference between _______ and
______ are…
Reflection
 A reflection states how the learner
will begin to use what they learned
and apply it to their other classes
and life.
Examples:
 The reason I had to learn about
_____ is because
 Now that I know how to ______ I
can fully understand ______ how
this relates to______
 I want to be successful as a student,
knowing how to______ is not only
relevant to ______ but also to______.
 Write a reflection from first period.
 Write a summary about this lesson.
 Write a reflection about Cornell Notes.
 Have fun taking Cornell Notes in all of your classes.
 Thank you!