Three Note Taking Styles: Cornell, Mind Mapping, and Squeeze Notes
Following is a brief discussion of three types of note taking strategies that you can use in the course of this lesson.
Cornell Note Taking Template
Divide a 8.5" x 11" page into three sections: Cue Column (1), Note taking Column (2) and Summary (3).
See http://www.timeatlas.com/5_minute_tips/general/word_templates_and_cornell_note_taking to learn how to create your own Cornell Note Taking template.
An evaluation strategy for Cornell Note taking: Create a check list such as the following:
- ___ Good job. Concise but thorough, in your own words, key ideas and vocabulary included.
- ___ Good first effort. Keep practicing this skill and keep working on neatness and thoroughness.
- ___ Your notes show improvement. Keep working on this skill.
- ___ Your notes are still too wordy. Cut out more unnecessary words.
- ___ Keep the big ideas in your summary.
- ___ You have missed some important key ideas. If you are doing notes based on reading, read more crefully and do not depend on the chapter headings to pick out all the most important points.
- ___ You have missed some important details. Read/listen carefully and make sure that you pick details that help you put the entire situation in its historial context.
Mind Maps - a 'whole brain' note taking method.
There is a creative (right) side and a logical (left) side to the brain. Mind Map Notes cater to both sides. Traditional linear notes cater mainly for the logical side. A Mind Map consists of a Central Topic with a Central Picture. This is very important, as it forms a 'hook' to which all the information it contains will be attached.
In The Mind Map Book, author Tony Buzan uses the following guidelines for making mind maps (as quoted in Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map):
Why do Mind Map Notes work?
Note Taking – the Squeeze Approach
The Squeeze concept of note taking is catching on in schools across the nation. So, what is it? The idea is that students will learn to squeeze the information that they verbally learn in class into a small amount of information written in their own words. This is a learning tool that will take a least a couple of weeks to master, will require you to be patient as students learn, and must be carefully taught at the beginning of the school year through several steps:
First step - Teaching the concept. Students work in groups of three and will read a primary document selected by the teacher. Each group gets the same document. Then, they do the following:
Second step: Refining the concept. Students work individually and will read a primary document selected by the teacher. Then, each student does the following:
Third step: Broadening the squeeze concept. The teacher will give a 10-minute lecture and students will not take notes. Each student writes a 1-2 paragraph summary in their own words of what they learned in the lecture. Then, the students then move into groups of three and do the following:
Fourth step: Applying the concept. Students work individually. Using the Cornell note taking format, have them draw a line down their note taking paper. Then, each student does the following as the teacher delivers a 10-15 minute lecture/discussion:
Fifth step: Finalizing the concept. Students work individually, using the same Cornell note taking format is described above in Step 4. Then, each student does the following as the teacher delivers a lecture/discussion of the teacher’s desired length: