Ch. 7 Getting It Down: Making and Taking Notes Across the Curriculum

"Taking good notes trains students not only to pay attention but what to pay attention to." Jim Burke (2002)

That was the attention grabber for me at the beginning of the chapter.  As a student myself I can truly understand the difficulties of proficient notetaking. All through my educational career until about two years ago I have failed miserably at taking notes.  I did the outlines, concepts maps, and even tried typing notes on the computer and none worked for me.  The thing that got me is that it worked well for others but just not for me.  It wasn't until I was in nursing school that I found out how to take effective notes.  There I was taught the Cornell method and it truly is a miracle to me.  I often wondered, even now, why I haven’t learned this before!?

In the text it says that you can use various strategies of notetaking for all subjects but it is up to the teacher to organize lectures in ways that make it possible to create notes.  That is the teacher’s responsibility not the students.  It states that it is instructionally sound to introduce the sequence of topics and concepts for the day's class because it prepares students for learning.  Also, ending the class with a review enhances the memory and retention and allows students to make corrections to their day's notes.

Taking notes is more than just "writing something just to be writing".  This is learning in another aspect.  While taking notes students don't realize that they are transmitting important information and getting a deeper understanding.  We (as teachers) cannot just assume that when our students come into our classroom that they already know how to take excellent notes and that we can just carry on with our lesson and not have a care in the world about their notes. WRONG! Like I just said earlier I didn't know how to take effective notes until two years ago....meaning I was in college at the time.

Questions:

-Since it took me so long to learn how to take good notes and realize how many strategies there are, my question is how and when do you start this with younger students? It seems like some strategies might be too difficult to try to teach.  I know that there are notetaking courses that are available in college but are there any classes in high school or junior high that students can take?  If no then why not?

Blog 5

This week I was assigned to read chapter 3 out of the book about vocabulary development across the curriculum.  The chapter is very insightful and most interesting to me so far.  It started off with an excerpt about a student writing a poem but having trouble thinking of a "certain word".  His teacher gave him good advice and the end result of his poem was AWESOME. So awesome I had to reread it to my boyfriend and he loved it as well.  Throughout the chapter the author touched bases about vocabulary acquisition, vocabulary instruction, and strategies to use for each content area.  A thing that caught my eye in the beginning of the chapter was that it said that the vocabulary gap for many students is so large that it is difficult where to begin. That really touched base with me because currently I am tutoring a student for CIR 411 and she is having trouble with comprehension and vocabulary and I am at lost with where to start as far as helping her.  As I read more and more it enlightened me with plenty of "ah ha" moments.  Vocabulary and comprehension go hand in hand.  One cannot be understood without a full understanding of the other.  Instruction is often relied on rote memorization of definitions followed by weekly vocabulary tests.  The words are rarely derived from the students texts.  Honestly that was how it was when I was in grade school.  Instead of learning the difference between concepts and labels, students (including myself) are just thrown a couple of random words, told to get the definition and memorize it.  No reinforcement and not actually learning to "know" the word.

All in all, teaching vocabulary involves many effective strategies.  Many strategies stated in the chapter I know I will definitely use in my teaching career.  One strategy that I read about, the electronic vocabulary journal, I started doing myself.  That is a great idea!  I know my vocabulary can be better and this is a great strategy to use to better myself!

Two questions:

-The strategies that are listed in the book, is there an age limit for those?  I've seen word walls in lower grades but not in any upper grade classes.  I honestly don't remember any vocabulary strategies while I was in high school.

-Besides differentiated instruction, are there any other ways to help students develop task value orientation?