Note taking Strategies
Marzano et. al. present several types of note taking strategies, including informal outline, web, combination notes, and teacher-prepared notes. Rank them in terms of how likely you would be to use them. Provide an explanation of your ranking.
NOTE: You do NOT need to respond to a peer on this one.
posted by Tanya Judd Pucella @ 8:25 AM
11 Comments:
I would be most likely to use informal outlines, teacher-prepared notes, webs, then combination notes.
I personally use informal outlines to take notes and find it the easiest way to stay organized. It is also the form of note taking that allows for the most personalization-the note taker decides what is important and what to write down.
Teacher-prepared notes are the easiest to keep a large group of students on the same topic at one time. I would most likely leave blanks for the students to fill in as discussion went along.
Webs are useful graphic organizers, especially when explaining connections between topics, but they leave little room to take any detailed notes.
In my experience combination notes are confusing for students, use up large amounts of paper, and don't always get filled in completely. They are also very time consuming.
Thinking in Middle School terms and what students would like best...I would rate teacher prepared notes and the informal outline above the combination notes. I think the Teacher prepared notes appeals to many students because everything important is already written down. Students have something to follow along with the teacher's discussion. As middle school students and many high school students, tend to try and write every single word down the teacher says and has a difficult time writing down key points. Although the students should learn how to take notes on their own, I think teacher prepared notes are a great way to model for the students the first semester or couple of weeks of class.
I also like drawing pictures and providing visual representation for the information, however I think sometimes it can take up too much time and I feel Middle School students would have trouble picking out key information and may be missing out in other information during their drawing process. Providing templates and completing an activity with the information already given to them seems like a better choice.
I agree with Jessica that the combination notes are just way too time consuming and would be a difficult task for the lower students to grasp.
really, it is hard to rank the different ways of note taking because the students will inevitably choose whichever they feel most comfortable with. It is important to introduce a variety of different ways to take notes and allow the student to choose which they feel appeals to them most and would benefit them the most as an individual.
1-Informal Outlines-as my personal favorite to take notes on/with, I think they are best because you leave spaces for students to fill in which requires them to pay attention and keep notes of their own, add in any information that may help them in remembering, but at the same time give organization to the main ideas that you want them to know!!
2-Webs- I like webs for beginnings of chapters and such just to get the general idea and layout of things but as you get more in depth they aren't very useful.
3-Teacher-Prepared-This is helpful in that they know where you want to go, what's important to you, however it doesn't require much work out of students, and they might lose focus.
4- Combination notes- this doesn't work well for me, i want it one way or the other, and be able to add in what i want.
Informal outlines
Teacher prepared notes
Webs
Combo notes
Informal outline is how I have always taken notes. It gets a little unorganized at times if you do not know where the teacher is going with a certain theme but they seem the easiest for me to understand.
Teacher prepared notes is next because it is always convenient to know what the teacher finds important. My problem with these is they are less likely to get looked at by all students.
Webs are useful to some but I cannot use them. I need more detail than a web can provide.
Combo notes build off a web so that is one problem I have with them. Also they take a lot of time to stop between concepts, etc.
Teacher Prepared
Informal Outline
Combination
Web
I think for middle schoolers, teacher-prepared notes are most practical because their note taking skills are not going to be very advanced, and they might not get all the information they need. With teacher-prepared notes, spaces can be left for students to add their own notes and improve their skills. This also makes assessment easier because they teacher knows that everyone was provided with the same base information.
Informal outlines work best for me because they are neat and organized. They are easy to go back and read through when test times come. However, they do require careful listening/quick writing as well as an organized format that some students may have trouble with.
I don't really like the idea of combination notes or webs. However, I would rate combination notes above webs only because they also require an outline. They also may help, as Marzano noted, to give the student three reviews.
Finally, I hate webs because I think they are a mess. They are very unorganized most of the time, and they are difficult to read, and they don't contain enough information. I think they are helpful only when there are very few concepts that are quite simple.
1-Informal notes would be my first choice. I personally use these and find them very easy to review and stay organized. This allows the note taker to decide what is important enough to write.
2-Webs are a great way to start a topic. They allow everyone to get a general idea of the topics that are of importance
3-Teacher-prepared notes are great for keeping a class on topic. However, students could possibly lose interest quickly.
4-Combination Notes seem to be confusing. I think it is best to stay with one or the other.
I would utilize informal notes the most because it gives the important facts that students need to understand and allows them to expand on them. This method allows students to see the flow of the teachers lecture and allows the students to listen and take notes at the same time.
Secondly I would use teacher prepared notes because it gives the students a clear idea of what the teacher thinks is important and provides a model for them to duplicate in the future.
I would encourage students to take combination notes next because it uses both informal and graphics to help the student see connections and the important points in the lecture. The graphic, which takes up a great deal of space, can help visual and kinesthetic learners grasp important points in the lecture and see the relationships between them.
Lastly I would utilize web notes because it does allow students to see relationships and connections between topics, but I feel they are too bulky and does not allow the student to the important facts and concepts.
I would most likely use teacher-prepared notes, web, informal outline, and then combination notes.
In dealing with middle school students, I feel it is important to model and help them through the note taking process first. I think the teacher-prepared notes will help them do this by showing the students want is important to take note of.
Both web and informal I feel are more of the students preference. Visual learners more lean more toward the web note taking while others may like informal. It is important to have students use both so they know which they like.
Combination notes I would save for after everyone understand both web and informal. For those students that like both styles, combination would be a great choice for them.
Overall I do not like picking just one or two styles out and telling students which one to use.
Informal
Teacher Prepared
Webs
Combination Notes
For me personally, I like informal notes. I like them because I can give the class an overview of what I am planning on talking that day and then the students can ass what they feel is important under the bold topic that I have given them. Next, I like teacher prepared notes if I am going to be going over something difficult or complex that I think students need extra help to understand. I DO NOT like the other 2 options. I am not a big fan of charts or graphs because i feel like they take too long to explain or cover. I understand that some students are more visual learners but I prefer to have a more concrete set of things for the students to look at.
Informal outline/Teacher prepared
Combination
Web
I prefer the informal outline method of taking notes, because I msut write things down in order to remember them and I like having control over how my notes look. However, for complex topics or introductory lessons, I think teacher prepared notes are helpful because it allows the students to see what they will be learning and lets them know how to spell important terms. I would always leave space for students to add to the notes though. I think a good way to use teacher prepared notes is to give an outline of what will be covered, then the students must take their notes (granted, proper note taking skills must be in place).
The concept of combination notes had slight appeal because it forced the student to review the material so many times, but it was confusing. I chose webs last because I hate webs because I do not know how to use them to take notes. They do not allow enough room for detail for me and they do not seem to be a practical note-taking tool. I was simply lost looking at the example in the book.
I would be most likely to use combination notes, teacher prepared notes, informal outlining, and lastly web notetaking.
Combination notes are not something I have had personal experience with, but after reading about it I have strong feelings towards it being a successful method of notetaking. The combination of the rough outline, the visual aid, and brief summary statement make it seem like it would be easy for many students to use easily, and would help more types of learners fully grasp the information. At the same time, I wouldn't use this ALL the time because you need to provide ample time to do all of those things.
I also really like teacher prepared notes; but not FULL notes. When I use teacher prepared notes, I usually present the students with a "cloze reading" of sorts. They get the main details, but random KEY words are missing. That way, they must pay attention to what is being said to really get the gist of the topic, but I know that they are getting all of the information that they need to get. This specifically helps with my slower paced writers as well as different abilitied students--even the slower paced students can keep up with this method.
Outlining is an important skill, specifically with upper level students. In the middle levels though, specifically the 4-5th grades, students aren't always ready to handle this method. I would only use this method if I had 7th and 8th graders, most likely.
I don't like the web method because I feel as if it doesn't really express all of the important connections that may need to be made on its own.
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