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The human brain is amazing, but it can’t possibly remember everything learned throughout the school day. That’s where notes come in. If your students can effectively take notes, they are well on their way to remembering the information they’re learning as well as being able to recall all those facts come test time.
Here are some of the best note taking strategies to teach your students.
1. Use symbols and abbreviations
If students know some shorthand, such as the “&” sign and the greater-than and less-than signs, they can more quickly take notes. The more quickly they can take notes, the more information they will be able to record and remember.
2. Color code
Ask your students to choose a color for different concepts or ideas. They can write their ideas with colored pens, or they can highlight key points with colored highlighters. The more colorful their notes, the more likely they are to recall certain information because they will correlate the colors with the facts.
3. Make boxes
Have your students group similar information, such as vocabulary words or historical events, and then draw a box around those facts. This will keep information together in one place making it easy to reference and study what they’ve learned.
4. Draw a map
Show your students how to start in the middle of a piece of paper by writing the topic or main idea you’re studying in class. As you present details, students can make branches off the main idea. The more they learn, the more branches they can add.
5. Create a chart
Invite your students to make a list of key topics or ideas along the left-hand side of their paper. Then they can add columns that help them organize things like dates, locations, and other information about each of the key topics.
6. Write an outline
The outline method is useful for note taking when trying to keep track of many details that support one main idea. Students should write the main idea and then indent on the page to list all the supporting details. Then they can go back to the far-left side of the page and start another outline with each new idea.
7. Make a list
A list of facts or sentences is another great way to keep track of important information. Students can simply write what they’re hearing as they are hearing it in list or sentence form. Bullets or numbers can help keep each item separate.
8. Keep track of questions
Present your students with a list of questions you’ll answer in your time together and have them write them down, leaving space under each. As you present the information, students will write down anything that might help answer each question.
9. Highlight
Provide your students with written material or photocopies of the information you’ll be studying and ask them to highlight, circle, box, or underline key information they need to remember. They can combine this method with the color-coding method to make it even more effective.
10. Sketch
This is the perfect note-taking method for your visual learners. As they write down the information they need to remember, they can add pictures to help solidify the information and make studying a bit easier.
11. Record
If your school permits the use of devices, students can record the lecture and transcribe it or write down key points as they listen to it again after school.
Once you teach note taking methods, allow your students to choose the method that best helps them record, retain, and recall what they’re learning. Check out these 100 keyboard shortcuts!
