The AVID Way
Why take notes?
• Cornell note taking stimulates critical
thinking skills.
• Note taking helps students
remember what is said in class.
• A good set of notes can help students
work on assignments and prepare for
tests outside of the classroom.
Why take notes?
• Good notes allow students to help each
other problem solve.
• Good Notes help students organize and
process data and information.
• Helps student recall by
getting them to process
their notes 3 times.
• Writing is a great tool for learning!
Cornell Notes
Name
Date
Block
Period
• Write your name, date, class, and
period in the upper right hand corner
(see above).
• Write the topic of the notes (ex.
Research Methods, Memory,
Abnormal Psychology, etc.) on the top
line (see above).
Cornell Notes
• Page setup
Name
Date
Class
Period
• Draw a horizontal line about
five lines up from the
bottom.
• Draw a vertical line down
the page about one third of
distance from the left.
Cornell Notes
Name
Date
Class
Period
• Key words & ideas
• Main Idea
*HIGHLIGHT key terms*
• Key
Questions • Important dates/people/places
• Repeated/Stressed Info
• Info from textbook/stories
• Diagrams & Pictures
• Graphs
SAMPLE
For English
• What is a
noun?
• What are
the two
types of
nouns?
• What is a
compound
noun?
Name
Date
Class
Period
• Noun - person, place, thing,
idea
• Types - concrete & abstract
• concrete - taste, touch, smell,
see
• abstract - ideas (emotions)
• compound - two or more words
combined to create one thing;
ex: fireman, bedroom
Cornell Notes
• Helpful
Hints for
Straight A
Notes
Name
Date
Class
Period
• Abbrev. , Paraphrase.
• Use symbols (arrows, circles,
underlining) or highlighting to
emphasize important ideas
and relationships.
• Skip lines between ideas.
• Within 24 hours, review
notes and develop study
questions on the left side.
• Be aware of teacher clues during discussions.*
Teacher Clues
• How do I
know if
what the
teacher
says is
important?
Name
Date
Class
Period
• Repetition or stressed
inflection
• Voice gets louder/softer
or faster/slower
• Writing on the board or
overhead
• “This will be on the test.”
• Gestures (hand/arm
movements)
• “This is important.”
Name
Date
Class
Period
So, what about the
bottom
of
my
paper?
• Summary - review notes as
What
belongs in
the bottom
space?
soon as possible after class
or after you have
completed a page, and write
a summary in your own
words about the main ideas.
Are there any gaps in your
understanding?
• Questions for the teacher.
• Doodles - down here they
won’t get in the way of the
important stuff.
Summary, questions, doodles
Abbreviation Exercise
Abbreviate the following lines
so they still make sense
• Hippocrates, a Greek who is
considered to be the Father of
Medicine, was born on the island of
Cos in 460 B.C.
• George Washington was not, in a
sense, America’s first president.
• Mark Twain fell in love with Olivia
Langdon. They married in 1870 and
moved to Hartford, Connecticut.
Abbreviation Exercise
Answers
Name
Date
Class
Period
• Hippocrates (Gr.) Father of
Med b.Cos 460B.C
• G. Wash. Not Am’s 1st
Pres.?
• Twain - Olivia Langdon
m. 1870
to Hart Conn
Assignment and Instructions
• In the large, right hand
column, take notes like
you normally would.
• You may use any style of note-taking you
wish:
– outline format,
– narrative format,
– symbols,
– short hand, etc.
Assignment and Instructions
• Cornell Notes will be taken for ALL
chapters.
• Compare notes with a partner.
• Talk about what you
wrote and why. Look
for gaps & missed info.
• Both partners should feel free to add
to their notes.
Assignment and Instructions
• With your partner(s), create
questions in the left hand column.
• These questions should elicit
critical thinking skills.
Assignment and Instructions
Your questions should reflect:
• Info you don’t understand or want
to discuss with your teacher/tutor.
• Info you think would go good on an
essay test.
• Gaps in your notes.
Assignment and Instructions
• On your own, in the space provided at the
bottom of the page, complete a 3 or 4
sentence summary of
?
what you wrote in
your notes.
• (the summary…)