In my class I like to take a variety of approaches to the way we take notes…some of them are very traditional and then there are some approaches that are a little more contemporary. As a teacher I like to keep my students on their toes as much as possible and not allow them to ever get comfortable, which is very hard to do when you teach history. However, I do try my best to keep it fresh for my students and here are a few ways that we take notes in my class.

Good Ole Powerpoint

That’s right, a history teachers best friend. While I powerpoints are not a very common occurrence in my classroom, there are times that these come in very handy…and sometimes it’s just hard to deliver information without using powerpoint. One thing that I like to do differently with my powerpoints is make them available to my students when they are not in school…that’s where blogging and Slideshare come into play. I love to use a website called Slideshare to host all of my powerpoint presentations from class. Once I upload these presentations to Slideshare I then am able to embed them into my blog…such as the “Death by Powerpoint” slideshow that you see above.

Cornell Note Taking

In my class two column note taking, or Cornell Note Taking, is taught as more of a skill then a requirement for class. At the beginning of the year I discuss with my students how important it is to be very detailed and organized with your not taking in class and then teach them the Cornell strategy of note taking. I give my students a chance to practice this in class and opportunity to ask for clarification and then I drop the subject. My whole goal with teaching this strategy is to give my students another choice for organizing information. I always tell them that I do not require notes to be done in this manner but I simply just want to introduce a new strategy to them…if they like it, then they will continue to use it, if not then oh well, it just wasn’t their thing.

Sharing is Caring

Will and Connor explain how they take their class notes.

Lastly is the sharing method…which is the most common method used in my class. This consist of grouping students into groups of four and assigning each student in the group a section of the day’s notes to complete…by the way, the notes they receive are basically guided reading sheets that are accompanied by a book or some other instructional resource. Students begin work on their section, which usually consist of about 6 – 8 questions, and within 10 minutes or less they locate the desired content and they have their section complete. Once all the students have their sections of their notes complete then comes the sharing portion of the show.

Students are then saddled with the task of teaching their section of notes to the other people in the group. The thing I like about this approach is that it gets the students talking about social studies, I feel like that they are able to understand the information if they are able to put it into their own words and discuss it with someone else. Also, it gives students a sense of ownership for the covered material, by having to learn, teach, and listen with other students in the classroom they are taking the standard read and write process of note taking to a whole new level.

Mr. McClung