One of the biggest struggles that any student struggles with is the ability to take effective notes that will allow the student to study and comprehend the information at a later time–which is usually during an assessment. I want to give you my three recommendations to enhance and improve the note taking skills of your students. These strategies have been proven to be effective and research shows that students of all levels have shown an increase in comprehension of the content information, as well as improvement in study skills and organization.
Recommendation #1: CONCEPT MAPS–can create a visual aide or reference to the information being learned by the student. These types of notes can be used in several different ways to enhance learning for all students. I personally enjoyed using concept maps in my teaching strategies because my students were better able to make connections to the materials, as well as have organized study guides. There are several different types of concept mapping that include:
Star or Spider Maps
Chapter Maps–I had my students complete these styles of notes for their reading assignments. See the video below on how they work.
Fish bone Maps
Cycles and Processes Maps
Compare and Contrast Maps
Flashcards and Pairings
Recommendation #2: SQ3R— which is a reading strategy short for:
Survey! Question! Read! Recite! Review!
This strategy will help build a framework for students to understand their reading assignments. I first learned of this strategy of note taking when I was a sophomore in high school and at that time I hated it because it was so time-consuming. However, now upon reflection as an educator, I find this strategy very rich and power for student understanding and comprehension. Check out this link to find out more about how to incorporate this style of note taking into your classroom. SQ3R–How it works.
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