Taking Notes From The Textbook.

Many schools are starting this virtually this fall complete with distance lectures and reading assignments.  Some students have the idea that one does not need to take notes because the material is all there but that is not quite true.  When students take notes, it can improve their reading comprehension, and helps them retain information.  

Currently, research indicates when students use pen and paper to take notes, they are better able to retain information when compared to using digital apps such as Evernote.  

Furthermore, when taking notes by hand, it means a person does not have to toggle back and forth between the class and pages or other note taking app.  One can also watch videos or streaming lectures while jotting notes down.  When students first learn to take notes, they try to take down everything they can. I know in college, I'd try to write everything down but I'd go over notes later to make them neater and to make more sense.

One should not try to write down everything because it can lead to information overload, which limits the amount of material a student is able to recall later.  Since most classes require reading, it is important to jot down notes while reading and don't be afraid to draw pictures or diagrams.

I want to focus on teaching students to take notes from their textbooks during the time they work at home since I won't have as much time available during class.  In math, taking notes is a bit different than for English or History and most of my students do not have those skills yet.  In addition, reading and taking notes from a math textbook should be done when the student is alert. 

It is recommended students write down definitions, key concepts, and theorems in their own words rather than copying them down verbatim.  If they find terms they don't understand, they should look it up and make notes.  When writing down definitions, they need to include examples of things that meet the definition and those that don't. As for theorems, students need to read those carefully and determine why they apply in various situations.  

When the student comes to the example or application of the theorem, they need to look carefully at them, working on understanding each step in the process, and once they've finished, they should try working the example or application of theorem without using the book or notes. In addition, as students work through examples, check the end of the chapter to which ones are like the ones just done and try those.  If there is something students don'e understand, they should ask the teacher.

Furthermore, students need to read the text slowly because mathematical texts are extremely information dense and they need to pay attention to understand everything.  Students need to be prepared to read and reread the material sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph to comprehend the written word.  Take time to analyze all the diagrams and pictures.  When looking at a picture, students need to identify how it relates the the topic.  

This is important to help students learn to take notes from the textbook.  For the first couple weeks, I have to send work home, I am going to include a partially started set of notes students can copy into their composition books and finish on their own.  This is the only way, I'm going to teach them to take notes when reading.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.

Taking Movie Notes

In the last week or so, I've been showing videos on class but students only wanted to watch. They didn't want to take notes.  They do not get as much out of the videos as they could.  I realized, no one had ever shown them how to take notes.

 Although about half to three quarters of my students speak English, they are classified as English Language Learning.  This means they may not fully understand everything they hear on a video.

I think previous teachers never considered math as having its own language and assumed since they speak English, they understand language well enough to take notes.

I don't always have time to sit down and preview the movie before showing it so I can't type up a list of questions.  Instead, I'm showing the movies in class but taking time to stop it so students can write down the important information.

Students at this school, arrive in high school without certain skills including identifying the important information, even on a math video.  They also do not know how to read a math textbook to identify important information.

Two skills which are important in today's world.  When I got to high school, I didn't quite have the note taking skills down but I at least wrote everything I could because I was afraid I would miss something.  It wasn't until I started teaching, I learned how to distinguish among important vs unimportant information.

My plan is to continue showing videos but slowly move from me being in charge of stopping it, to letting students signal when the video should be stopped so they can take the note.  Eventually, I want to post the videos with questions integrated so they can watch and learn after school or if they are absent or traveling.

I don't think its just my students.  I think taking notes while watching movies has slipped by us as teachers.  We don't think to take the time to make sure students know how to take notes or use the video in an effective way to increase learning. I have in the past assumed a student who was watching the video would remember what they saw but I'm not sure that is correct.

Check back tomorrow, for suggestions on using videos effectively.