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This blog has been set up to facilitate discussion among the participants in the March session of the Active Literacy Across the Curriculum in the Lakeville Area School District. Each blog is a discussion question for the group. Please respond with your reflections, as well as comments about others reflections.
8 comments:
3 Questions
1. Note taking is hard work. How do you motivate students who will not even do the reading to take good notes?
2. Teachers often teach the way they were taught, and/or the way they as teachers learn. How do you get teachers to use note taking methods other than the ones that work best for them?
3. How do you balance the students’ need to take notes that are meaningful to them with society’s need to quickly and efficiently educate the student? For example, if all school district required students to outline material, then we could efficiently compare outlines to determine how well the students outlined. However, if the student only understands graphic organizers and not outlines, then requiring the student to outline would be worthless. On the other hand, letting students do what ever they want makes effective and efficient communication very difficult. What is a proper balance between the needs of the individual and the needs of society?
I, too, am concerned about the motivation of students. Many do not see the value of notetaking because it takes time and work. They want things in the immediate, the NOW. They do not wish to put forth the effort to see if note-taking will give them more power and be beneficial.
I'm wondering about the students who process slowly--not necessarily the special needs student--just the plodding, methodical, thoughtful student. How would you suggest they write and listen at the same time during lecture? Would you ever advocate the use of audio/visual devices (i.e. tape recording, video tape...)?
What about strategies like IM/Text message abbreviations, student created abbreviations, or even perhaps shorthand?
What would you say to the teacher who "grades" notes and now can no longer decipher student notation because they're using their own version of shorthand?
A key question is "good notes"...more important for the student is "useful notes". Start small. I would recommend that teachers use the Essential Question (as mental velcro) to serve as a search devise. In a way..it is like being a detective. So..a teacher might say we are going to start with ONE page or even 1/2 of a page and search to see what 'sticks" to our EQ. Small gains make for progress...students are not motivated when they feel overwhelmed. I appreciate the point you are making here.
I am wondering about what notetaking skills should be required at different grade levels. I did a very brief search of some of our district 194 essential learnings, and note taking or "notes" are not listed specifically-- at least not at the middle school level. Is a progression of notetaking skills taught? I would imagine that it is, but not formally across grade levels. I think notetaking at the middle school and high school level might be considered more "personal" writing-- in other words, the writing is understood only by the writer.
Beginning with one question. Heidi Hayes Jacobs does make the beginning easier. Students do not need to complete everything in one step.
There are times when I would be happy to see students gain one new idea a day. Equally important would be having students retain the idea for more than just a few days or until the next test.
I would be happy just to see thoughtful notes. Providing some type of a grade - points - for students who manage to complete the work would probably help. There would not be a certain format or a need for complete sentences. There would be a need to include the information related to the one question is included.
1. As a math teach I do my best to get students to read the material in the book, to use the examples to help them solve problems on their own, and to write the answers to word problems in complete sentences. I find that because students have a math assignment nearly every night they learn to put a certain amount of time into it. Writing paragraphs cuts into that time and as a result they spend less time actually answering the questions properly. How would you balance the time between making sure they answer it correctly and write it properly as well.
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