Most adults were asked to "take notes" at some point during their own educational experiences. However, many of use were not explicitly taught what note taking really is or how to take notes in an efficiently in ways that improve comprehension.
In TWR 2.0, pages 58-63 lay out a few activities to teach shorthand note-taking to students.
Research shows that taking shorthand notes helps students process information they are reading, as they have to think about what is the most important information and the relationships between important ideas. This process helps boost reading comprehension. It also helps students develop the ability to quickly take notes during lectures or videos and jot simple notes in the margins of articles.
How it works: Teachers provide students with sentences that have 3 or more important words or phrases. Students then underline the key words/ phrases. This is extremely simple but a key step to teaching shorthand notes.
Stokely Carmichael was a key leader in the Black Power Movement.
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, algae, and some bacteria convert light energy into chemical energy.
When to use it: This strategy is really just for introductory purposes. Model a few examples and have student students practice a few times for a warm-up or early class activity, then move on to Activity 2.
How it works: Once students are able to identify the key information in a sentence, they then practice converting that sentence into note form using the list of abbreviations and symbols. They will need a lot of practice on this an A LOT of teacher modeling.
Examples:
Stokely Carmichael was a key leader in the Black Power Movement.
Stokely Carmichael = *leader in Black Power mvmt
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, algae, and some bacteria convert light energy into chemical energy.
Photosythesis = how plants Δ light en -> chem. en
When to use it: This strategy is a great alternative to having students copy notes verbatim from the board or from slides. Instead you can pose the sentences on the slide or provide them at the beginning of a reading and have students change them into notes for more active participation.
How it works: This is the inverse of activity two. The teacher provides students with shorthand notes notes that they have to turn into sentences
Example:
↑ prices = inflation / inflation + ↑ unemployment = stagflation
An increase in prices is called inflation. Inflation combined with an increase in unemployment is called stagflation.
When to use it: This strategy is good for helping students practice using notes they took on an an article, chapter, lecture, or video to write something longer or to study for a quiz/test. This can also be a good warm-up activity for reviewing key information from previous lessons while also helping students become familiar with shorthand notes.