Part of the College Readiness Resource Center, by College Success @ Perkins
This article is part 3 in a series. Please feel free to visit part 1, Note taking: the prerequisite skills, and Part 2, Tips and models for effective note taking for the complete story.
The notetaking is just beginning! What to do after taking notes
Now that your student has taken some great notes, what do they do with these notes? This is often where students falter, and it is a place where you as the TVI (alongside their general education teacher, of course!) can really set up healthy habits for note taking review and effective processing of knowledge so that the student is prepared for learning more upcoming content.
In order to set up these good post-note taking habits, take time to talk to your student about their understanding of the function of notes. While many students think of notes as something to do in class in order to pay attention while a teacher presents, and never look at them again, notes can serve many additional and powerful functions.
You can guide your student to use their notes to reflect, question, plan, predict, test out their knowledge, and make plans for seeking further answers or clarification. All of these actions deepen your students’ learning, and these are activities that students will not necessarily come to on their own. These are the habits of a learner who is taking responsibility for their own learning-a skill that can transfer to many other settings as the student gets older.
Observing the learning process
Of course, notes provide a record of the learning process. To illustrate this, ask your student to go back through and check some notes from early in a particular course. What does the student notice? Hopefully, they will come to realize that their learning has deepened and become more sophisticated.
These early notes are a record of the basic and foundational concepts of the content. Now that the student has these notes, they can begin to approach content for other classes with greater predictive skills; that is, they can begin to understand that all learning takes place over time and progresses, and they can apply this to understanding how a future course– and their notes– might unfold.
They might also notice that their notes were rather sparse, or disorganized, reflecting limited understanding, getting used to new material or vocabulary, or that they had not really done the previous night’s homework, so the class lecture was a little confusing.
The importance of immediate review
Cornell University offers the important advice that the best notes are those that are useful. In this short video from Cornell, The Key to Good Notes, we learn that how useful notes are depends on what you do with the notes afterwards.
As the video notes, “So, what do you do with your notes after class? Take a little bit of time, it could be as little as 5, 10, 15 minutes after class…to take a look at your notes…you want to fill in and clarify.” This means, you can add to your notes so that you are filling out your understanding for the depth that will drive the lecture or presentation home. Ideally, this should be done the same day or the next day.
The video continues, “If you fill in and clarify, then you have already begun the process of moving things from short term to long term memory.” Such practices then, are the crucial next step that goes along with any note taking enterprise. Some students take an extra step and rewrite their notes, allowing additional time for reflection and integration of understanding.
Daily review keeps learning and memory active
One approach to take is to support your student to consider, and try, practicing a regular, daily review of notes. If they don’t have notes from class, perhaps they could take notes of your sessions with them. Doing so will help students to understand that the function of note taking is not to create a one-time repository of information. Over time, students may realize that notes are a place for students to actively return to review material, ask themselves questions about what they have already learned, and to think ahead to prepare for further learning.
Sometimes, daily review helps students to explore that the daily review allows for learning to transfer from in-the-moment short term memory to long term memory. Perhaps they have noticed that they are better able to contribute to class discussions after reviewing notes. Little steps can make a big difference over time. Reflection can help support this over time.
One type of note-taking, Cornell notes, are particularly important for the actions that take place after note taking. This is because Cornell notes build into the note by building into their format, space to test yourself or check for understanding, to learn the material and add in extra notes when you are reviewing the notes. Whether your student uses the visually complex original format, or a more screen reader friendly linear format, that extra review and reflection can lead to big gains in confidence, and learning.
Active versus passive note taking
Notes can be active and working documents. They are a place for review, questioning, and engagement. One way to support your student to engage in a “dialogue” with their notes, is to try “talking” to their notes! You could model this together, to make it fun.
Sometimes this talking takes place aloud, with students verbally asking questions of their notes or explaining their notes as they read through them. Other times, if they’ve learned to use a screen reader or app that allows a student to read auditorily (such as VoiceDream Reader) they might have their device read the notes back while they write down further thoughts and key words and questions into their notes as they listen.
The main idea here is that notes that a student takes and revisits again can become living, active documents that continue to fuel a student’s curiosity, learning and connection beyond the day of note taking. Annotating and adding their own symbols for emphasis and understanding ensures that the student will use their notes as true accomplices for learning.
Transforming thinking into higher order thinking
The act of reflecting upon your own learning that comes about with taking the time to review notes allows for the metacognitive experience of learning how you learn. This is a skill that students with visual impairments can practice and implement into their study routine, leading to a greater understanding of the ways they process information, thereby also helping them to take ownership of their learning styles. Blooms Taxonomy reminds us of the layers of thinking, or cognitive processing, that takes place as courses get more demanding. Notes Leslie Thatcher, Director of College Success @ Perkins, and a learning specialist, “Concepts build on prior concepts. Students grow when they have practice reflecting on how prior learning informs current learning. Blooms Taxonomy helps us as teachers to determine where a student might be operating, and to engage with them in ways that are appropriate but challenging. This, over time, and with patience, can support a student to engage in new, more complex ways.”
I wonder…
One fun activity to practice the different uses of notes is having your student review their notes either by rereading them or listening to them read aloud by their device or by you, the TVI. As they progress through each section, the student should come up with several “I wonder…” statements about the material in the notes. Doing so helps the student to extend their learning.
They might, for example, when reviewing notes on a history lesson about the Dust Bowl state, “I wonder what conditions were like in the eastern part of the US?” or, in studying the Vietnam War, the student might state, “I wonder how Vietnam recovered after the war?” Depending on their subject area, the “I wonder…” statements may be specific and concrete or more abstract.
By having your student engage in this exercise, they are learning how to call upon their own innate curiosity to extend their learning. After they create these “I wonder…” statements, they can take steps to find the answers to their speculations, thereby adding to their action and engagement.
Independent or collaborative actions
- Re-reading notes and adding comments, questions, and keywords to the notes for further synthesis of information
- Checking for understanding: what are the parts your student grasps completely, and where do they struggle? Who would they reach out to to clarify?
- Re-reading notes and adding questions for parts of the notes that are difficult for the student to understand. Where does the student identify gaps in their learning? What questions does the student still have?
- As the teacher, you could ask questions about the material in order to see if they have digested the information. Working independently or with you, a student can take time to use the notes to quiz themselves on the content.
- By testing their knowledge, they can further the act of learning the material and then also identify places where they need to learn the material more deeply through memorization or through learning the concepts enough that they can teach it to you or another student or adult. Where can the student find answers to some of these questions about the material in the notes? This process may highlight skills that still need to be taught or mastered, such as searching for a specific email, finding a syllabus or assignment on a learning management system, or searching for a key word in a text.
- Note: You might notice that the student’s speed of typing (input or output) or reading (input) slows their comprehension, as they are cognitively drained from these labor intensive tasks that should have fluency by late elementary. If any of these areas, even with focused instruction and practice, are not progressing, it may be time to call in the team to see if there’s another disability impacting the student’s progress. Common areas impacting fluent reading and writing include auditory processing challenges, general processing challenges, working memory. These are not caused by visual impairments-and can be addressed.
- Referring back to the text. Sometimes further reading of the article, worksheet, website or textbook can help to fill in gaps in knowledge. And, it also may require skills the student has not mastered yet. Other times, a student must take steps to seek out help from the teacher or from another student or students in the class. Working with your student to guide them to understand when this next step of seeking further help is needed is an important independent learning skill that you can instill in your student. Sometimes, it may not be clear where a student needs to turn for help, and running through a list of places your student can turn for help can be a great discussion topic.
Take action! Next steps in notetaking
A student could….
- Request a time to meet with a teacher to review understanding. This is an opportunity to begin to practice self advocacy skills.
- Send an email: who do you need to speak to in order to get more information or to share your knowledge? This might be a teacher, a peer, a TA, etc.
- Revise notes: this crucial step is often overlooked. Students can take time after note taking to revise and organize their notes. Sometimes this involves full revision and other times it involves minor edits. Regardless, the revision process helps a student to decide what is important in the subject matter.
- Research a question you have that comes from your notes: now it may be time to dive into deeper research. A student might do this using online databases. Or a student might consider speaking with a librarian, if your school has one. Having taken good notes, the student can show their knowledge and move forward confidently with a solid basis of understanding.
- Begin the assignment: it may in fact be time to jump on the assignment. Having absorbed the notes, the student is in a better place for beginning the assignment. The notes are a great reference for the student to turn to when completing the assignment. Calling upon the information on the notes ensures that the student is not “recreating the wheel” when doing an assignment. The teacher has likely given information that the student has recorded in the notes. TVIs can remind students to work efficiently in this way.
Using notes to test and increase understanding
In Note taking: polar bear video, Diane Brauner outlines a fun way for TVIs to have students practice their note taking skills by asking them to take notes and then providing them with questions about the content that the students have to answer only using their notes. Brauner emphasizes that the TVI can make the set of questions that a student should be able to answer after having taken notes on a video. Brauner notes, “He/She can only answer the questions with answers that were in his/her notes meaning that if the notes did not include the mammal definition, he/she can not answer question #2, even if the student knows the answer.”
Teaching the topic for most effective mastery
Bloom’s Taxonomy reveals that students gain the most understanding of a topic when they are able to teach the concept to someone else. Because of this, it is a useful exercise to work with your student to have them review their notes and then teach you one of the major content areas. They will show their knowledge, and, in teaching the concept to you, they will develop their expertise on the subject area and drive it home.
Be specific! The art of asking effective questions
Create specific questions about the material in the notes to bring to a teacher or professor or another student. Often, when a student has trouble understanding a concept, they can present themselves to a teacher with the blanket statement: “I don’t understand.” And, when prompted to elaborate upon their understanding, they may simply add, “I don’t get it.”
But such statements illustrate that the student has not taken responsibility for what they do not understand. You can work with your student to help them to get into the habit of generating specific questions about the material so that they show the teacher that they are actively engaging with the content, and to show that, while they may have some gaps in their knowledge, they are using the knowledge they do have to ask questions that will lead to further learning. A teacher will be even more likely to offer effective help if a student can identify, from their notes, the material they do understand, as they work with the teacher to fill in what they are still seeking to gain understanding of.
Setting up a note taking and reviewing system
What will your student’s system for note taking and reviewing be? Each student can devise their own method that fits their learning style. Because your student may not be aware of all of the different ways they can create a system for their note taking and review, it can be helpful to discuss this with them and explore different approaches so your student can create an approach that works for them. This is an evolving skill!.
Storing and labeling notes
For example, ask your student if they have a place where they store their notes. This may be in their computer or in paper form. Regardless, by having a storage place for their notes, they have a place where they can trace the progression of the content of the class, and they also can trace the content of their understanding.
- Order the notes in chronological order
- Order the notes thematically
- Create a filing system either in a notebook or digitally in the computer or other device
Conclusion
Taking notes is a key skill for academics, college, and many employment settings. Yet, for many students, including those with visual impairments, it’s not an instinctive skill. It requires explicit instruction, exploration and coaching, along with a range or access technology skills to engage in the act of note taking with efficiency. For students who have additional disabilities that may make taking notes while listening to a lecture or discussion too cognitively demanding, who may have notes from someone else (or AI, often, in college), they still need the knowledge that they need to then do something with those notes. The layers of understanding, development of preferences and skills to efficiently take notes, takes many years to develop. Taking time early in a student’s education to introduce and expand these skills will create significant benefits of independence later in high school and, if a student chooses, college and employment.
This article is part 3 in a series. Please feel free to visit part 1, Note taking: the prerequisite skills, and part 2, Tips and models for effective note taking for the complete story.
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