Note Taking Strategies

I am glad you are here! Notes are important for life and come in many different forms from graphic organizers, lists, bulleted and indented, highlighted paragraphs, and doodles. Even if you understand or know something, notes are your time capsule or note-to-your-future-self when you WILL NOT remember. We all forget things. That is why we have grocery lists, wish lists, and goals and dreams that we write down to remember. The strategies below will help those time capsules be user friendly, clear, coherent, and concise.

1. Table of Contents

This is a must for course notes, but it can also be applied to journaling and planners where you want to know what page you wrote about certain topics on. The beauty of the linked PDF (HERE!!) or Word Doc (HERE!!) is that you can apply it NOW to notes you have already written. Step 1 is to label your pages. You can number just the front sides or both sides of your notes with the numbers. Once you have numbered all your notes, Step 2 is to go through them, page by page, find vocabulary/topics/concepts that are important and that you would want to find easily later. Write the vocabulary/topic/concept and its new page number in the box for the first letter. For example, in my Geometry notes, I would find "Vertical Angle Theorem" on, say, page 5. I would then find the box in the Table of Contents linked above for "V". I would write "Vertical Angle Theorem - 5" in that box. Since the boxes help alphabetize the concepts, it is not as big of a deal that the individual boxes are not alphabetized, yet I can still find the concept I want with relative ease.

2. Writing Vocabulary

One of the best methods to add more meaning to new terms is the Frayer Model. I have a linked PDF HERE and Word Doc HERE that are ready for you to print or edit if you prefer typing your terms. There is even a place for a page number to use with the Table of Contents in Strategy 1! Frayer models help add meaning to new terms by requiring you to find the definition, key characteristics, examples, and non-examples for EACH term. It is surprising how much a NON-example adds meaning to new concepts and connects them to other ideas you have already learned.

To see a filled out Frayer model, go to google.com and search "frayer model examples" and look through Images. 

3. Be Objective Focused

Most courses and classes either start each lesson with what you are going to learn. This is called the lesson objective and is typically based on a state standard. If the teacher does not state or include the objective in the lesson, it is most likely posted on a board somewhere in the room. If you cannot find it, ASK your teacher what you are going to be learning that day. If there is an assignment from a textbook, look at that chapter and section's first page in the textbook. Most companies have an objective at the beginning of each section, too.

Once you know the objective or standard, include this at the beginning of your notes. After you have finished your notes, ask yourself the objective as a question and see if your notes answer it. For example, if you were learning how to factor by grouping, the objective could be something like "Students will factor quadratic expressions" even though you were learning one specific method of factoring that classtime. Then, look over your notes and ask questions like:

1) What does "factor by grouping" mean? 

2) Why is is called "grouping" or "factoring"? 

3) What are the steps (i.e. HOW) do I "facotr by grouping"? 

4) Do I have examples I can look back to later? 

5) Can I understand the examples/steps? (Did you highlight key words? Number the steps? Draw arrows to where you did the steps?).

I realize this is specific example, but notice that the questions rely heavily on asking What/Why/How and making sure you actually can DO the objective and "factor quadratic expressions". If you cannot answer the objective, then look at a peer's notes and see if you missed something. Or, ask your teacher one of the above questions and then take notes on their answer. Additionally, you could go to your course and concept in the above Menu drop down menus. Then, on the left hand side of each concept are google-able phrases you can use to find more notes from other websites. Find a site that answers your objective and write those notes down.

4. Use Color!

I reference this in the Study Tips page when I suggest using a key to annotate your notes AFTER you write them, but you could also use the color coded key WHILE you take notes. Highlight vocab green, for example. Times/Dates/Places could be pink. Overarching concepts could be yellow. If you do not have colors, then use stars, circles, and underlining to make key terms pop on the page. Make sure to include those key terms in your Table of Contents, too!

Another use of color is to write a whole day's notes in one color. I used this in college for many courses. For example, in my Calc 2 course, I alternated between pink and blue. That way, I knew where each concepts ended since every day we learned something new. I did not have to keep reading or searching for a concept when I knew that the change in color meant my notes on it had ended. Writing in colored pen also made me enjoy note taking more than with pencil that smudges and actually disappears over the years. The majority of my high school Geometry notes have rubbed off with the friction between pages during all of my moves.

5. Be Graphic

Beyond this being a math pun (get it? graph-ic?! Ha!), including examples with graphs or other visuals is a common occurrence in math class notes. Since not every concept includes a graph or other visual, you can always doodle notes or create an image that tells YOU what you are learning. As long as you remember it later and it conveys the meaning to YOU, go for it! Additionally, you could create graphic organizers. Even if the teacher does not make a table or web for a new lesson, YOU can create one. If your teacher is comparing and contrasting something, maybe a Venn Diagram is best. If it is a concept you already know something about, make a KWL chart to write down what you already know, some questions you have and want to learn about, and leave room for all the new things you will learn. Remember that if your questions are not answered during the lesson, you can ask them after the lesson, email them to your teacher, and come after class and ask them. Teachers are there to help you learn and love answering questions!

6. Use Shorthand

This has saved me. So. Many. Times. Teachers (and professors) talk quick and write even quicker on the board. As a teacher, I have learned to write out every word and walk around the room to give more wait time as my students write down the images and words. Not every teacher knows this, and for me, not every teacher is as consistent with it as they should be. If you are my student, PLEASE speak up and tell me to wait or slow down. YOU are the reason this course exists. YOU control the pace. I want YOUR feedback. Anyway, back to using shorthand. If you can, use a symbol to represent a word. For example, "delta" is a Greek letter that means "change" and looks like a triangle. When you need to write "change", draw a small triangle instead. Other times, symbols are not as helpful but shortening words is. Below are common ones I use:

• w/ is "with" and w/o is "without"

• b/c is "because"

• iff is "if and only if"

• use "thru" instead of "through" - both are grammatically correct

• perp for "perpendicular" and || for "parallel"

• < for "angle" or "less than" depending on the context - and use > for "greater than"

• %age for "percentage"

• & is "and"

• # for "number"

• int for "intercept", "interior", or "integral" depending on the context

• esp for "especially"

• pop for "population"

• Thm for "theorem" and def for "definition"

• In Geometry, there are lots of notation options for labeling and referring to objects and their measures. Incorporating these automatically strengthens that notation AND saves you time!

• Add/Sub/Mult/Div - just make sure you do not confuse "sub" for "substitution" instead of "subtraction"

• = for "equal", look up the symbols for congruent and similarity, too

• ? for "question"

For more tips and strategies, go to google.com and search "how to take notes" or "cornell notes" to learn more about different styles.