In my Arkansas History class on Wednesday we decided to change-up our normal style of note taking in class. Usually we use a jigsaw/pair share method to take notes…the rational behind my use of this style is because it helps alleviate the boredom that is associated with PowerPoint presentations and if done correct it engages the students really well. For today though I decided to go with a good ole’ stand-by, Cornell Notes.

First we reviewed the process for taking Cornell Notes and why it is important. One common misconception is that Cornell Notes is used because it is better for organization purposes. The real secret to Cornell Notes is in the review process. If done properly Cornell Notes requires the student to review their notes at least twice after the lecture is over…this is meant to help with retention.

Students then compared notes with one another by doing a gallery activity. Students hung their notes all over the room while everyone went around the room reviewing everyone’s notes looking for structure and content. They would then leave notes and critiques on the board.

At the end of the day I decided to use my sophisticated data collecting method by having everyone leave feedback for me as they left the room. One axis represents how much fun they had doing this entire activity and the other axis represents how much they learned by using this Cornell method. What we found out was that while students did not enjoy it as much, they felt like they learned the material better by taking Cornell notes. Which I found really interesting and now the new challenge that is before me is to figure out how to modify the activity so that we can bridge the gap between fun and learning.

Mr. McClung

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