TAKING CLASSROOM NOTES
Contact
Margie Wildblood
School
Twenty-first Century Scholars Support Site, Indiana University Kokomo
Phone
765-455-9573
Mwildblood@ssaci.state.in.us or mwildblo@iuk.edu
Email
GRADE LEVEL(S)
7th Grade and above
STUDENT INDICATOR(S)
Students will develop effective strategies for recording and studying classroom
notes.
TIME REQUIRED
30-40 minutes
MATERIALS NEEDED
Power Point Presentation: Taking and Studying Classroom Notes
Handouts: Power Point Slides
Word Documents: Janet’s Study Notes
Lecture About Listening
Blank notebook paper (one page per student)
ACTIVITY SUMMARY
Students will view a Power Point presentation detailing strategies for taking and
studying effective classroom notes. Students will practice taking notes and answer
questions based on their notes.
PROCEDURE
EVALUATION: How will
you know what percentage
of the students have
mastered the identified
guidance indicators?
CITATION(S)
You may include copyrighted
materials in “materials needed,” but
do not reproduce copyrighted
materials in your lesson plan. Noncopyrighted materials should be
included in your lesson plan and
cited here.
PART ONE:
Title and Objectives. Explain to students that forgetting begins
almost immediately. Taking good notes will help them
remember what they have heard and help them study more
effectively. Slide 1.
PART TWO:
Review the first 3 hints for taking classroom notes. Slides 2-4.
PART THREE:
Distribute copies of “Janet’s Study Notes.” Explain how to take
notes, using the handout for illustration. Slides 5-10.
PART FOUR:
Review general hints for taking notes. Slides 11-14.
PART FIVE:
Explain how to use classroom notes to study for tests. Slides
15-17.
PART SIX:
Distribute blank notebook paper to each student. Read Lecture
About Listening, writing key ideas (as listed in “Lecture” key
box) on board as these are recited. Instruct students to use the
hints discussed when taking notes on the lecture.
PART SEVEN:
Ask students to write answers to 4 questions about the Lecture
on flip side of notepaper. Slide 18
Students will demonstrate mastery by correctly answering 3 of 4 questions about a
lecture.
Doing Well in College
By John Langan and Judith Nadell
McGraw-Hill, Inc.
1980
JANET’S STUDY NOTES*
Business 101 2-7-02
Origin of ec
ec = economic(s)
res = resource
Economics – from Greek words meaning
“HOUSE” and “TO MANAGE”. Meaning
gradually extended to cover not only management
of household but of business and governments
Def of ec
Ec (definition) – STUDY OF HOW SCARCE
RESOURCES ARE ALLOCATED IN A SOCIETY
OF UNLIMITED WANTS.
Every society provides goods + services; these are
available in limited quantities and so have value.
One of most imp. Assumptions of ec: Though res
of world are limited, wants of people are not. This
means an ec system can never produce enough to
satisfy everyone completely.
Def of ec res
2 types of ec res
2 types of property
res + defs
Ec res – all factors that go into production of
goods + services. Two types:
1. PROPERTY RES – 2 kinds:
a. LAND – all natural res (land, timber, water, oil,
minerals)
b. CAPITAL – all the machinery, tools, equipment,
+ building needed to produce goods +
distribute them to consumers
2. HUMAN RESOURCES – 3 kinds
a. LABOR – all physical and mental talents needed
to produce goods + services
b. MANAGERIAL ABILITY – talent needed to
3 kinds of human
res + def
bring together land, capital, + labor to
produce goods and services
c. TECHNOLOGY – accumulated fund of
knowledge which helps in production of
Goods + services
*Excerpted from p. 31, Doing Well in College, by John Langan and Judith Nadell, McGraw-Hill,
1980
INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS:
“This activity will give you practice in taking lecture notes. The activity is based on a short
lecture on listening given in a speech class. Take notes on the lecture as I read it aloud. As
you take your notes, apply the hints you learned in our discussion.”
INSTRUCTIONS TO LECTURER:
(Items that the original lecturer put on the board are shown in the box below. Write these on the
board as you come to them in the lecture.)
On Board:
Problem of losing attention
125 WPM = talking speed
500 WPM = listening speed
spare time
three techniques for concentration
intend to listen
After reading the “Lecture About Listening,” ask students to answer the following questions by
referring to their notes. Review the correct responses. Poll students (as a group) to determine
how many answered 3 or more questions correctly.
Questions on the Lecture:
1. What is a listening problem that many people have?
2. What are common talking and listening speeds?
3. What are three techniques to help you pay attention when someone else is talking?
4. What is the most important step you can take to become a better listener?
LECTURE ABOUT LISTENING*
I’m going to describe to you a listening problem that many people have. I’ll also explain
why many people have the problem, and I’ll tell you what can be done about the problem. The
listening problem that many people have is that they lose attention while listening to a speaker.
They get bored, their minds wander, their thoughts go elsewhere.
Everyone has had this experience of losing attention, but probably few people understand
one of the main reasons why we have this trouble keeping our attention on the speaker. The
reason is this: There is a great deal of difference between talking speed and listening speed. The
average speaker talks at the rate of 125 words a minute. On the other hand, we can listen and
think at the rate of about 500 words a minute. Picture it: The speaker is going along at 125 WPM
and we are sitting there ready to move at four times that speed. The speaker is like a tortoise
plodding along slowly; we, the listeners, are like the rabbit ready to dash along at a much faster
speed. The result of this gap is that we have a lot of spare time to use while listening to a speech.
Unfortunately many of us use this time to go off on side excursions of our own. We may
begin thinking about a date, a sports event, a new shirt we want to buy, balancing our budget,
how to start saving money, what we must do later in the day, and a thousand other things. The
result of the side excursions may be that, when our attention returns to the speaker, we find that
we have been left far behind. The speaker has gotten into some new idea, and we, having missed
some connection, have little sense of what is being talked about. We may have to listen very
closely for five minutes to get back on track. The temptation at this point is to go back to our
own special world of thoughts and forget about the speaker. Then we’re wasting both our time
and the speaker’s time. What we must do, instead, is work hard to keep our attention on the
speaker and to concentrate on what is being said.
Here are three mental techniques you can use to keep your concentration on the speaker.
First of all, summarize what the speaker has said. Do this after each new point is developed. This
constant summarizing will help you pay attention. Second, try to guess where the speaker is
going next. Try to anticipate what direction the speaker is going to take, based on what has
already been said. This game you play with yourself arouses your curiosity and helps maintain
your attention. Third, question the truth, validity, of the speaker’s words. Compare the points
made with your own knowledge and experience. Keep trying to decide whether you agree or
disagree with the speaker on the basis of what you know. Don’t simply take as gospel whatever
the speaker tells you; question it—ask yourself whether you think it is true. Remember, then, to
summarize what the speaker has said, try to guess where the speaker is going next, and question
the truth of what is stated.
All these techniques can make you a better listener. But even better than these three techniques, I
think, is that you make a conscious effort to listen more closely. You must intend to concentrate,
intend to listen carefully. For example, you should go into your classes every day determined to
pay close attention. It should be easier for you to make this important mental decision if you
remember how easily attention can wander when someone else is speaking.
*Taken from pp. 35-36, Doing Well in College, John Langan and Judith Nadell, McGraw-Hill,
1980