Note+Taking+&+Study+Strategies

= __Cornell Notes__ =

Prior to my experience with the AVID program, I had never heard of Cornell Note taking, but now that I know how to use them I will certainly use them in my own classroom in the future. We use Notes in AVID as a method for mastering information, probing for deeper questions and trying to retain 100% of the recorded text. The method is really quite simple and the payoff is tremendous. Every district ought to implement this strategy into all of their schools. If students learn at an early age how to take strong notes, perhaps they will not feel so lost as their academic lives increase towards the collegiate level.



As the teacher is lecturing, students begin to use the right side of the paper to take notes as they normally would.

After class, students will review their notes and jot down questions and memory joggers in the cue column that help connect ideas listed in the notes section. They will then think of high level questions that they can tie chunks of information together. This is also a great strategy to re-write the information a second time so it becomes easier to remember and recite.

After students are finished creating their higher level questions and re-writing their notes, they will use the bottom portion of the piece of paper to use as an area to summarize in a few sentences what they have masterfully put together on this page and thereby re-writing their notes a third time.

In the end, it is hoped that students will have taken decent notes, then re-write and form questions from the notes that they took earlier and then summarize all the day's information into 3 or 4 sentences. By doing this students have gone over the information at least 3 times and have had a chance to store the information into their memories for future examinations and discussions.

That is the Cornell Note taking strategy in a nut-shell.

The following chart is an example of what a Cornell worksheet ought to look like when fully developed. I chose to use a history worksheet to highlight that this strategy can be used in any content area, particularly the one that I will be conducting.



I know that I will use Cornell Note Taking in my classroom because as simple as it seems to put into practice, it is a powerful system that increases students' ability to recall information. Cornell notes are also an excellent study guide for preparing for an examination, review by reciting, reflecting and reading insights.

I will slowly transition my students into this style so they will able to use it in all of their classes, not just in history. They will see how easy studying becomes in all of their content area classes.

It is imperative that I put essential questions on the board to correspond to the material that is going to be covered that day. Students will need a topic to revolve their notes around and then outside of class, they will need enough information to come up with what Costa says are higher level thought questions. It is these questions that are the formula for excellent Cornell Note taking and it is these questions that will be used as a study guide for future discussions and examinations.

This is an excellent visual representation of the Cornell Note Taking process.

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= __Double Entry Journals__ =

Double Entry Journals are a great way to have students learn to use a writing to learn strategy. The Double Entry Journal strategy enables students to record their responses to text as they read. Students write down phrases or sentences from their assigned reading and then write their own reaction to that passage. The purpose of this strategy is to give students the opportunity to express their thoughts and become more involved with the material they read.

For example, I would have my students write three questions they have about a unit we are about to study, such as the American Revolution, in the left column. In the right column, I would have them write the answers once they learn them by reading through the textbook. I would have students write the names of places about which they are learning in the left column, and have them explain what they know about each place in the right column.

I think that Double Entry Journals work extremely well and can be utilized in any content area classroom.

I have personally used them and as simple as they are to construct and create, I think they open up the mind and activate an "Ah-Ha" moment.

This is an example of a [|Double Entry Journal Template]

This a great little presentation of a Double Entry Journal that I found on TeacherTube.

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