Note+taking

What I l've done...and keep in mind I'm open to new ideas...is model notetaking as a class using a class themed topic (i.e. lenape indians -4th grade) and a worldbookonline.com encyclopedia article. We read a paragraph, silently then aloud, and I solicit ideas learned from the paragraph from the class. I copy verbatim what a student says (either in Word on the lcd projector or now I do it by hand on document camera) and then we "shorten" it. For example a student might say: "Lenape Indians were the first inhabitants of nj" and step by step we discuss what we might write that will still be enough to remember the idea and might get it down to "1st nj inhab." I stress that we never need to write words like "the" and I should never see a complete sentence. They can use any abreviation they want as long as they remember the correct spelling later. I make connections to text messaging. I stress brief is key but it has to be enough to remember our ideas later. After doing it as a class a few times. I set the class to take notes on the rest of the article and monitor their progress as I go around.

Here are the links I use to teach note-taking....

http://www.marshalldoris.com/files/research_process.pdf

http://www.nhcs.k12.nc.us/instruction/CITWweb/Microsoft%20PowerPoint%20-%20Summarizing%20and%20Note%20taking%20PowerPoint%20Presentation.pdf

http://personal.ashland.edu/bcolijn/Reading%20and%20Taking%20Notes.pdf

I am using some notetaking lessons right now that I found at Educationworld.com. Here is the link to one of them-you can link to the others from there: http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/03/lp322-01.shtml

I used to grab their attention and teach them how to extricate the information they really needed by showing up dressed with a few props that sent a mixed message. For example I would carry a briefcase and cell phone but have a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses on. I would pass out a sample encyclopedia article on a city that could be both a vacation spot or a good place to start a business (paper factory.) We'd talk about the kinds of info I would need for both situations, split the group up and have them read about the city and highlight only what they needed for their purpose. Then we used the overhead or smartboard to model how they would take notes and organize the info.

we have a note-taking kit that we use with upper elem. students that involves phones! We have two old phone handsets, and we actually have a really old phone (a princess phone with a cord!). The librarian calls the student with a script and the student picks up the phone and needs to take notes of what was important in the conversation. What the librarian says is full of not important details so students have to pay attention to get the "who, what when where" details. Kids enjoy it. Depending on your school rules about cell phones, you probably could actually make a "real" phone call and do the same exercise.

I use ReadWriteThink.org - the Fact Fragment Frenzy as an introduction to notetaking.

I use the trash and treasure method of note taking by Barbara Jensen that was in an article through Big 6 as a way to begin. I have included the articles below. Take a look on the Big 6 web site and in the LM net archives. I remember seeing some clever ideas on the subject. I choose an article for the kids to read that relates to something they are studying in class and we begin by creating questions surrounding the topic. This year it was earthworms for 4th grade. We use one of the questions we might have about earthworms as the question that drives what we highlight in the article. Our question was, How do Earthworm's move? We go through the article line by line (as a class) mining for treasure. After we think we have found all the information we can, we then take the sentences and turn them into written notes as a group, using bullets. We also talk about note taking tips, such as abbreviations, not whole sentences, get rid of the small words like, a an and the when we write a note, do we need to repeat the word earthworm in every jot etc. The kids come up to the white board and write and type and we all share our ideas for creating a note out of the sentence. I turn it into a competition to see who can get rid of the most words in a note and still create an important note.etc. I type up a class set of the notes we took to answer the question and using the white board we answer the question by ordering our notes and turning them into sentences to answer the question. As much drama as I can put into these lessons the better. This obviously takes about 4 to 5 lessons.

Jensens article:

http://www.paterson.k12.nj.us/schools/ps08/curriculum/Library/Study%20Sk ills%20for%20Independent%20Learning%20and%20Note%20Taking/Trash%20and%20 Treasure%201.30.07.pdf

Someone who took the lesson a little further using props: http://www.big6.com/2003/09/03/on-an-information-treasure-hunt-using-pro ps-to-illustrate-the-research-process/

I like to explain to my 5th and 6th grade students that taking notes is a bit like sending a text. You only write the most important information. I use my SMART Board and have students change messages into shorter texts. Then we look at an encyclopedia passage and pick out the important facts.

The scholastic guides have very good suggestions and ideas. Ready! Set! Research! could be a good start.

I just used Notetaking strategies from readwritethink. It has a link that is interactive called fact fragment frenzy. The kids really enjoyed it. Good luck.