Teaching note-taking skills is a very important skill to actively teach to our students. I have to imagine that I am not the only teacher who has found herself in the position of meeting students who do not know how to take good notes. Having taught both middle and high school, I know too well that curriculums are full at all levels and that the pressures of such full curriculums sometimes mean teachers have to make hard choices about which things are focused on and stressed.
Regardless of these full curriculum requirements, students have to be taught note-taking skills. Being able to read a text, pull out the important details, and record them for future use is invaluable.
Today’s blog post is written by Rebecca Gettelman, a middle and high school teacher from the Midwest. She has been teaching for over eleven years.
Teaching Note-Taking Skills to Middle and High School Students
Here are three basic tips for teaching note-taking.
Tip #1: Variety Is the Spice of Life
When you teach note-taking skills, be sure to introduce a wide variety of different methods. These methods can range from copying point form notes off the whiteboard, outlining, two-column notes, illustrated note taking and highlighting. Don’t forget to expose students to graphic organizers, web diagrams and K-W-L charts. Note-taking is not one-size-fits-all.
Additionally, don’t try to teach all these methods at once or cram them all into a very short period, or you will have some very confused students—and you’ll also have students who are not any good at any of the forms of note-taking because they had almost no time to practice each one. By teaching a new form of note-taking approximately every two weeks and then enforcing this form’s use during that time, the students had time to internalize and become proficient at each form.
Tip #2: Modelling and Scaffolding: The Architecture of Teaching
When you first start to teach a new form of note-taking, you must model it for students. It is all well and good to explain what you want students to do and even show a couple of examples, but without seeing it in practice multiple times, most students are lost. I find that beginning by showing students exactly what I want them to write and then slowly scaffolding further instruction until students are taking notes in the new form on their own is very effective.
Tip #3: Student Choice
Eventually, your students will have learned all the different forms of note-taking that you plan to teach. At this point, it is important to give them choice and find the form or forms that fit them best. Every student is different. One form is not going to be best for every person in your class. As long as you are enforcing what they have to do, your students will never find their own style. Giving your students the opportunity and freedom to experiment, practice, and even develop their own variations is imperative.
All too often, students are left to figure out most or all of their note-taking skills on their own. Some students also reach higher grades without developing these critical skills. Try to incorporate note-taking lessons into your curriculum to set up your students for success.
More Note-Taking Ideas
Rebecca’s insights on teaching note-taking skills in the middle and high school classroom were fantastic. Here are more thoughts, ideas, and strategies for teaching note-taking skills that Kristy wanted to add to this blog post.
Have students use interactive notebooks with foldable elements for note-taking. Interactive notebooks can take the redundancy of writing a list of notes out of learning the note-taking skill with students using a more interactive way of taking notes, such as writing under flaps and other visual elements.
Let students use graphic organizers for their note-taking. Providing students with a template for note-taking scaffolds the process for students who may struggle with note-taking. As students learn the note-taking skill more, the structure can slowly be reduced. Here are some graphic organizers that can be used in the ELA classroom:
- Middle School Informational Text Graphic Organizers – CAD$ or USD$
- Middle School Non-Fiction Graphic Organizers – CAD$ or USD$
- Reading Strategies Graphic Organizers – CAD$ or USD$
Tell students to connect concepts in their notes using arrows or symbols. This can help them to retain information by making their notes more personalized and interesting.
Use groups to help students work on their note-taking skills and learn to collaborate with their peers. Put students into groups and let them each take notes on the lesson. At the end of the lesson, they can come together to share and compile their notes. Not only will this help them review what they just learned, but it will also help them retain the information better.
Rather than have students write notes down on paper, try digital options. This can help students prepare for real-world organization and provide an option for students who prefer typing over writing by hand.
Introduce mind mapping to students. With mind mapping, students will put the central idea in the middle of their paper and then have branches that relate to it. Like idea #2, this can make their notes more personalized and visually appealing.
Use peer review and reflection strategies. After a lesson, have students partner up and exchange their notes. They can review each other’s notes, discuss what is effective and what might be missing, and give each other feedback.
Have students create a video or podcast using their notes. With important concepts learned in the classroom, you can have students use their notes to create a podcast that “teaches” the concept to others. Not only will this help to reinforce the lesson, but it will also provide students with a way to review the effectiveness of their notes, which is a fun and creative way to review. If you want students to review their note-taking skills by creating a podcast or video, check out this Podcast Creation Assignment. You can learn more on Shopify CAD or Teachers Pay Teachers USD.
Provide students with an email writing assignment to practice their skills. This can coincide with the Email Etiquette Unit. You can give students information on what you want to be included in an email in a conversational format. Students will take notes and then use them to write an email for you to review. This way, you can see if they wrote down the important information and conveyed your message properly. You can find the Email Etiquette Unit on Shopify CAD or Teachers Pay Teachers USD.
Other Note-taking Ideas
- Language Arts Interactive Notebooks Tips and Tricks
- Tips for Using Interactive Notebooks
- Managing the Paper Monster in Notebooks
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