Note Taking as a Strategy to Learn

I admit up front that I am a terrible note taker, so this chapter immediately sparked an interest for me.  I can remember the first time that I took notes and that was in my 7^th grade social studies class.  Every day when we walked in the room, Mr. Johnson was just finishing writing the notes we were to copy on the blackboard.  The entire board was filled with sentences just waiting for us to write down.  There was absolutely no teaching involved, and this was my first introduction to note taking.  It was no wonder then, why I evolved into a student who hated taking notes.  I had no schema for it as an actual skill that provided anything besides regurgitation at a later time. 

I totally agree with the authors when they say that it is the teacher’s responsibility to set the student up for successful note taking.  I have been in too many classes where the teachers are setting students up for failure by having an apathetic view towards their students’ ability to take notes effectively.  Just as students should be taught how to take notes, perhaps teachers should be taught how to teach in a way that allows notes to be taken!  I think I see a professional development day in the future…  I think the key to teaching good note taking skills is intentionality.  It is important to be deliberate in every part of a lesson plan to set students up for successful note taking. 

I really like all the different strategies that were presented in the chapter, but coming from someone with bad experiences in note taking skills, I felt a little nervous looking at the chart forms.  I just have to wonder if someone that hasn’t developed the skill of note taking might spend more time trying to figure out where to put their notes than synthesizing the information they are given.  Is practice the only way that we can prevent this from happening?