1. Focused Note Taking
Essential Question: How does focused note taking increase my chances of earning an advanced grade?

2. Focused Note Taking Why should I take notes?
Note taking stimulates critical thinking skills.
Note taking helps you remember what is said in class.
A good set of notes can help you work on assignments and prepare for tests outside of the classroom.

3. Focused Note Taking
To minimize your “rate of forgetting”
Dr. Walter Pauk, Cornell University Reading Center
Don’t take notes = Forget 60 % in 14 days
Take some notes = Remember 60 %
Take organized notes and do something with them=
Remember % indefinitely!
How does note taking help me remember important things?

4. The Forgetting Curve

5. Focused Note Taking When should I take notes?
Notes are a record of your learning, so take them when:
You listen to a lecture
You read a text
You watch a film
You work in a group on an activity
You need to recall information about what happened to you in a class, meeting, or activity--which means always!
When should I
take notes?

6. Focused Note Taking
What do I notice that is different about Focused Notes from other notes I may have created?
There is always an essential question that is at the top.
They are divided into two parts: questions and notes
There is a reflection at the end that ALWAYS answers the EQ.
There is room for a topic
They are labeled with name, date, class, and period.

7. Focused Note Taking What types of questions should I place on the
left side?
Questions which are answered in the notes on the right
Questions you still need the answer to--ask a friend or the teacher after class
Questions the teacher might ask on a test
Questions that your teacher specifically asks you to address in your notes.
Higher level thinking questions

8. Focused Note Taking What are some good tips for taking the
notes on the
right?
Write only what is most important:
listen for repetition, change in pace or volume, numbering, explicit clues (“this is important,” or “on the test”);
watch for gestures, or clues to organization;
look for material being written down by instructor or shared in a visual manner
Academic vocabulary and definitions.

9. Focused Note Taking What are some good tips for taking the
notes on the
right?
Write in your own words (paraphrase)
Write using abbreviations (check a dictionary for these and create your own)
Draw a figure or diagram
Leave space where you think you might need to “fill in” info later
Use bullets, arrows, and indenting to list key ideas
Write legibly

10. Focused Note Taking What are some good tips for taking the
notes on the
right?
Actively listen
Use SLANT
Maintain eye contact with the speaker, group, or presentation source
Nod your head at appropriate times
Ask relevant questions
Answer questions posed by the instructor
Make a written record

11. Focused Note Taking What are some ways Focused Notes are scored?
For most purposes- the notes are graded using the Rule
3 Questions minimum in the left margin
4 Sentence response at the bottom of the page that answers the essential question.
5 key terms defined and circled/highlighted in the body of the notes.
What are some ways Focused Notes are scored?

12. Focused Note Taking
The last part we need to complete is the reflection. (Let’s answer the essential question.)
Reflection- Focused Note Taking will help me earn an advanced grade a couple of ways. First- focused notes will help me record important information that I know I am required to know as a 7th grader. Secondly- based on the Curve of Forgetting- if I study organized notes at regular intervals I will remember % of the information. And lastly, I can use my focused notes as a study guide to increase my chances at EARNING an advanced grade.

13. Focused Note Taking 1. Take out your Cornell Notes from yesterday.
2. You are going to meet with a partner and share notes.
3. This is an opportunity to add to your notes from yesterday’s presentation.

14. Focused Note Taking
1. Lets look at the notes on the back of your notes
2. What do you notice that is the SAME about the notes you created?
3. What do you notice that is DIFFERENT from the notes you created?

15. Focused Note Taking Game
1. You are going to be playing as a team with your row.
2. The person that is in the front is the one person that can answer the question. After reading the question- write your answer on your white board and turn it over.
3. The students sitting behind the person in the front can study their notes- but cannot talk to others in their group- nor- help the person that is answering the question.

16. Let’s Play!
1. What is an EQ?

17. Let’s Play!
1. What is an EQ?
An EQ is better known as an Essential Question.

18. Let’s Play
2. If you take organized notes like Focused Notes, how much information will you remember?

19. Let’s Play
2. If you take organized notes like Focused Notes, how much information will you remember?
You will remember % of the information.

20. Let’s Play
3. If you don’t take any notes at all, how much information will you forget?

21. Let’s Play
3. If you don’t take any notes at all, how much information will you forget?
You will forget about 60 % of the information in 14 days.

22. Let’s Play
4. Why should you take notes?

23. Let’s Play 4. Why should you take notes?
Notes help you think critically
Notes help you remember important information.
Notes help you study for a test.

24. Let’s Play
5. When should you take notes?

25. Let’s Play 5. When should you take notes?
Anytime you have information that you need to remember.

26. Let’s Play
6. What goes on the left hand side of your notes?

27. Let’s Play
6. What goes on the left hand side of your notes?
Questions

28. Let’s Play
7. What goes on the right hand side of your notes?

29. Let’s Play 7. What goes on the right hand side of your notes?
Paraphrased Information
Academic Vocabulary
Information that helps answer the Essential Question

30. Let’s Play
8. What goes in the reflection portion of your notes?

31. Let’s Play 8. What goes in the reflection portion of your notes?
In the reflection portion of my notes I must answer the Essential Question.