Focused Note Taking
Essential Question: How does focused note taking increase my chances of earning an advanced
grade?
Focused Note Taking
• Why should I take notes?
• Note taking stimulates critical thinking skills.
• Note taking helps you remember what is said in class.
• A good set of notes can help you work on assignments and prepare for tests outside of the classroom.
Focused Note Taking
• How does note taking help me remember important things?
• To minimize your “rate of forgetting”
Dr. Walter Pauk, Cornell University Reading Center
Don’t take notes = Forget 60 % in 14 days
Take some notes = Remember 60 %
Take organized notes and do something with them=
Remember 90-100% indefinitely!
The Forgetting Curve
Focused Note Taking
• When should Itake notes?
• Notes are a record of your learning, so take them when:
You listen to a lecture You read a text You watch a film You work in a group on
an activity You need to recall
information about what happened to you in a class, meeting, or activity--which means always!
Focused Note Taking
• What do I notice that is different about Focused Notes from other notes I may have created?
• There is always an essential question that is at the top.
• They are divided into two parts: questions and notes
• There is a reflection at the end that ALWAYS answers the EQ.
• There is room for a topic
• They are labeled with name, date, class, and period.
Focused Note Taking
What types ofquestions
should I place on the left side?
• Questions which are answered in the notes on the right
• Questions you still need the answer to--ask a friend or the teacher after class
• Questions the teacher might ask on a test
• Questions that your teacher specifically asks you to address in your notes.
• Higher level thinking questions
Focused Note Taking
What are somegood tips fortaking thenotes on the right?
• Write only what is most important:
listen for repetition, change in pace or volume, numbering, explicit clues (“this is important,” or “on the test”);
watch for gestures, or clues to organization;
look for material being written down by instructor or shared in a visual manner
Academic vocabulary and definitions.
Focused Note Taking
What are somegood tips fortaking thenotes on the right?
• Write in your own words (paraphrase)
• Write using abbreviations (check a dictionary for these and create your own)
• Draw a figure or diagram• Leave space where you think
you might need to “fill in” info later
• Use bullets, arrows, and indenting to list key ideas
• Write legibly
Focused Note Taking
What are somegood tips fortaking thenotes on the right?
• Actively listen Use SLANT Maintain eye contact with
the speaker, group, or presentation source
Nod your head at appropriate times
Ask relevant questions Answer questions posed by
the instructor Make a written record
Focused Note Taking
• What are some ways Focused Notes are scored?
• For most purposes- the notes are graded using the 3-4-5 Rule– 3 Questions minimum in the left
margin– 4 Sentence response at the
bottom of the page that answers the essential question.
– 5 key terms defined and circled/highlighted in the body of the notes.
Focused Note Taking
• The last part we need to complete is the reflection. (Let’s answer the essential question.)
• Reflection- Focused Note Taking will help me earn an advanced grade a couple of ways. First- focused notes will help me record important information that I know I am required to know as a 7th grader. Secondly- based on the Curve of Forgetting- if I study organized notes at regular intervals I will remember 90-100% of the information. And lastly, I can use my focused notes as a study guide to increase my chances at EARNING an advanced grade.
Focused Note Taking
• 1. Take out your Cornell Notes from yesterday.
• 2. You are going to meet with a partner and share notes.
• 3. This is an opportunity to add to your notes from yesterday’s presentation.
Focused Note Taking
• 1. Lets look at the notes on the back of your notes
• 2. What do you notice that is the SAME about the notes you created?
• 3. What do you notice that is DIFFERENT from the notes you created?
Focused Note Taking Game
• 1. You are going to be playing as a team with your row.
• 2. The person that is in the front is the one person that can answer the question. After reading the question- write your answer on your white board and turn it over.
• 3. The students sitting behind the person in the front can study their notes- but cannot talk to others in their group- nor- help the person that is answering the question.
Let’s Play!
• 1. What is an EQ?
Let’s Play!
• 1. What is an EQ?• An EQ is better known as an Essential Question.
Let’s Play
• 2. If you take organized notes like Focused Notes, how much information will you remember?
Let’s Play
• 2. If you take organized notes like Focused Notes, how much information will you remember?
• You will remember 90-100% of the information.
Let’s Play
• 3. If you don’t take any notes at all, how much information will you forget?
Let’s Play
• 3. If you don’t take any notes at all, how much information will you forget?
• You will forget about 60 % of the information in 14 days.
Let’s Play
• 4. Why should you take notes?
Let’s Play
• 4. Why should you take notes?• Notes help you think critically• Notes help you remember important information.• Notes help you study for a test.
Let’s Play
• 5. When should you take notes?
Let’s Play
• 5. When should you take notes?• Anytime you have information that you need to
remember.
Let’s Play
• 6. What goes on the left hand side of your notes?
Let’s Play
• 6. What goes on the left hand side of your notes?
• Questions
Let’s Play
• 7. What goes on the right hand side of your notes?
Let’s Play
• 7. What goes on the right hand side of your notes?
• Paraphrased Information• Academic Vocabulary• Information that helps answer the Essential
Question
Let’s Play
• 8. What goes in the reflection portion of your notes?
Let’s Play
• 8. What goes in the reflection portion of your notes?
• In the reflection portion of my notes I must answer the Essential Question.