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.