Taking and Organizing Notes
Academic success requires various
competencies, among them the ability to know and use a variety of tools
and techniques to generate and organize information and ideas. I refer
to the tools and techniques on this page as "notemaking" because "taking
notes" is passive: just as we must make meaning, so we must make
notes---in our head, on the page, and in our notebooks. None of the
ideas here are new, though I hope the way I have designed these "school
tools" helps you use them more effectively. To see how long people have
been using graphic notes and Cornell Notes, check out these excerpts from Leonardo da Vinci's journals.
With few exceptions, the tools and techniques listed here are
appropriate for all classes; many use them in grades as low as fourth
and fifth with success, though I do not have exemplars. The tools here
are intentionally free of directions because their intuitive design
allows for multiple uses. Over time I will try to add more exemplars for
the different techniques so you can see these different uses.
Click here for different examples of "notemaking".
Note Taking--helpful hints
Note taking form-- open and save a copy to your Google Drive
Note card form-- open and save a copy to your Google Drive