Heading/Subheading
Main Points
Comments
Getting it Down: Making and Taking Notes Across the Curriculum
Why Teach Students How to Take
Notes
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Benefits for ELL’s
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Setting Up Students for Successful
Note-Taking
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Distinguishing between note-taking
from note making
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Process and product functions
Notetaking In English:
Teaching students to listen
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Note-taking In Mathematics:
Teaching students to use an outline
framework
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Note-taking was a given, something that
all students should do
We don’t need to teach students to take
notes; they come to us knowing this
already
The key is to identify for students why
their notes can be useful for them later
There is a relationship between notetaking and ELL’s conceptualizations of
content
Educators also have a responsibility to
organize their lectures in ways that make
it possible to create notes
Introduce the sequence of topics and
concepts for the day’s class
Way to organize
Detailed information should be presented
visually as well as verbally
Note-Taking - student’s written notes from
a lecture of class discussions.
Note-Making – recording notes from
printed materials
Better note-takers generally do better in
school and specific types of note-taking
produce better results
Process function is recording the notes
Product function is reviewing notes later
Both are required to create valuable notes
Listen to a read aloud
Asks them to listen to the same text, read
two more times aloud
Students must take notes on what they
hear so they can recreate the text as
accurately as possible
Students pair up and share what they have
written and attempt to add more to their
notes
Two pairs join and the four collaborate to
recreate the text verbatim
Provide an outline or format students can
use to take notes
Notes can be the most important skill for
students to get more out of their classes.
Note-taking is just as important to our
students, but can be more helpful to
students who are struggling to
comprehend the language and content
Students can take notes, but we need to
develop their skills so they can deviate
the important information from
irrelevant information
We have to know the difference in the
two, because they are two very different
skills. However, both of these skills are
needed for student achievement
I really like this strategy, because taking
notes are very difficult in English.
This section speaks volumes to me,
because with this being my concentration
area and I will take all the help I can get. I
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Note Making in Social Studies:
Use technology and Note-taking:
Engaging students at multiple levels
Using Notes in Class
Structured Outline Support Before,
During, and After Activities
Note-Taking in Science
Note-Taking that encourages
personal response and dialogue
Note-taking in Electives:
Note-taking and the Research Process
Outline framework helps students
understand the internal connections
within the content
 Directed Note-taking Activity is process to
note-taking that includes three
instructional principles
1. Split-page method
2. Self-questioning strategy
3. Pearson’s model
 Computer-assisted outlining allows for
multiple additions, modifications, and
deletions
 Preview any visual aids on each page
 Add pertinent bulleted info to their
skeleton outline
 Lists all of the italicized and boldface
terms in the vocab section of their
notebooks
 Use skeleton outline in a power point
presentation as she gives the students an
overview of the chapter
 Posing questions based on the main ideas
of the bulleted outline
 Hope for a deeper level of thinking than
that required when students simply
memorize facts
 Guide thinking by the questions being
written on the chart paper
 Demonstrate to students the ease and
efficacy of structuring notes
 Monitor their involvement and
comprehension
 Combination of Directed Note-Taking
Activity and computer-assisted outlining
 Use note-taking to facilitate safe and
mature discussions
 Split-page method or Cornell
 Structured note-taking not only gives
students a chance to categorize important
information, but also provides them with
options to deal with awkward and
embarrassing feelings
 Allows students to react privately to
sensitive material before they pose a
question or enter into a class discussion
 Explaining what research is
will have my students take notes in my
class, so outlines will be the approach I
use to prepare my students.
Social studies are the content area where
notes are utilized most. So it is nice to
have some different techniques other
than paper and pencil
Note taking is always difficult to do, but
these strategies are more ammunition to
make it less difficult.
As I said earlier, notes will be a vital part
of my classroom, so these methods are
another tool in my tool-bag.
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Introduce key steps: research, sources of
information, bibliography, research
questions, research grid, and paraphrase
 Give students the chance to choose what
they want to investigate about their
subject
Learning How to Document
 Practicing what has been explained is the
Information Sources
key to understanding
 Groups of students take turns at each
station as they practice recording each
resource in the correct fashions
Using a Matrix format for note-taking  Matrix format for note-taking
 Builds on the outline format
 Matrix format emphasizes the
relationships that exist across topics
Conclusion: Taking notes is a strategy that will be a necessity for students for many years to come. Students who understand notetaking and note making do better on tests and exams. The problem is most students do not have sophisticated note-taking
strategies. We need to assist and help students develop note-taking skills, and we need to let them know when they are
understanding it and when they are not. Taking notes will hopefully help students develop study skills.