Friday in my social studies and science classes, we spent some time reviewing The Cornell Note-Taking System.The student divides the paper into two columns: the note-taking column (usually on the right) is twice the size of the key word column (on the left). The student should leave five to six lines, or about two inches, at the bottom of the page. Notes from a lecture or teaching are written in the note-taking column; notes usually consist of the main ideas of the text or lecture, and long ideas are paraphrased. Long sentences are avoided; symbols or abbreviations are used instead. Relevant questions should be recorded as soon as possible so that the lecture and questions will be fresh in the student’s mind, or key words are written in the key word column. The student also writes a short summary on the last four lines. Cornell Note-Taking is something that I make a primary focus in all of my classes.  Not because I enjoy lecturing and seeing my students take notes, but because it is an important study skill that applies at all levels of education. Below is a video that I took earlier this spring at Noel Elementary applying Cornell Note Taking to science.

Mr. McClung