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Elizabeth
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Does anybody have resources to share on how to teach teenagers to take notes, both from lectures and from books? How do you teach study skills? Michael is preparing to take some CLEP tests and the SAT and we'd love to hear some tips.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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ALmom
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Elizabeth,
I don't know if this helps, but the best thing we did for note taking was to audit a history class at a local university. Since we were auditing, we weren't stressed about grades. We knew the professor and he did allow us to get copies of the quizzes and tests even if we could not get "grades" on them.
Janet.
P.S. History was my daughter's least favorite class and we felt this would help us. I had her do the notetaking, we discussed the lectures together and "did" the tests. I gave her a semester's credit for the course. If she had done the research paper with it, I would have given her one full credit.
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JennGM
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I just came across this link while searching for something else. I went one year to Seton, and all but one of my other siblings graduated from Seton School (on again, off again homeschooling until high school, except me). We all loved Mrs. Carroll's classes, and this might be an excellent opportunity to practice note taking.
Some of her World Culture classes are available on tape
"The World Culture series examines the lives of heroic and saintly Catholic figures in the light of their place in history and the culture of their country." (From Arlington Catholic Herald).
Just a plug for the Non Nobis Domine cd, also, as this was my mother's project -- she was the choir director, and I had several of my siblings as part of the choir. It's not perfect, but it is good.
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Kelly
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Something we did was set up a co-op class that was on notetaking, and used one of Ann Carroll's saint lecture tape sets. They are done as lectures to a high school class, she pauses from time to time, occasionally spells out words, but it's a "real" class. The tape sets consist of three to four tapes. I believe we did the St. Edith Stein set, but there are also lectures on St. Teresa of Avila, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, Blessed (is he a saint now?) Miguel Pro, and a couple more, I think. You can get the tapes from Manassas' Seton High School (in your neck of the woods, Elizabeth). THey're great. Oh, and they come with brief Q&A based on the lecture, and suggestions for a research paper at the end based on their notes and other resources. It was a super easy class to do, the kids learned a lot, and I've easily replicated it in the home for my older students (12 and 15).
Kelly in FL
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Kelly
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Ha ha, Jenn, your bubble hit my bubble! Great minds think alike, I guess 
Kelly in FL
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JennGM
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Kelly wrote:
| Something we did was set up a co-op class that was on notetaking, and used one of Ann Carroll's saint lecture tape sets. |
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 Great minds think alike!!! We were posting this at the same time!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JennGM
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Okay, Kelly, this has to stop!!! We were posting the same thing at the same time AGAIN!!!!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JennGM
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I just remembered that the mother (a friend of ours) who requested getting the classes recorded was a hsing mom who wanted her kids to learn how to take notes!!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Elizabeth
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These are great ideas. I have a set of Anne Carroll's lectures on CD. I also have many of the Teaching Company lectures on tape and on DVD. We don't lack for note-taking oppotunities. What I was looking for was advice on howto take notes. He has the SuperSatr Student DVDs from the Teaching Company and we're going to go back through that. I was re-reading The Writer's Jungle where Julie talks about the lovely notes the French students took and I think I was looking for that kind of pointer, only directed towards note-taking and not dictation, per se...still clear as mud?
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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JennGM
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I understand what you are saying, Elizabeth. I was offering that idea because I find note-taking is an individual thing, and it's something you learn after trial and error. It was that class exactly that my brother took in Junior High...never took notes. His sister was in the class, taking copious notes. The first test, all he had was two pages, one taken in Liquid Paper...so, nothing to study. He did okay, recalling from memory, but not great, and learned his lesson that he needed to organize his thoughts as he was listening to the lectures. He thought he could rely on his almost photographic memory, and he was wrong.
I'm remembering most of my instructions on note-taking was verbal. If you can find in English books how to write outlines, that is a vital key to taking notes. Most information given to you will be an organized state -- the lecturer or writer probably wrote an outline and broke down his subject into key points. When listening, you are decoding and almost repiecing the outline. So some assignments to aid Michael would be give him a book to break down the chapters into outline form. In Religion 12 that was a choice -- make an outline of a book, or write a paper. Bishop Sheen has some good books that break down quite nicely.
I would also recommend two books that two professors in college recommended as the basis for study: The Intellectual Life by A.D. Sertillanges, O.P. and How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler.
The Former, fully titled The Intellectual Life: It's Spirit, Conditions, Methods -- "provides a stirring yet discrimating account of the nature and dignity of the vocation to the intellectual life. It is above all a practical book. It discusses with a wealth of illustration and insight such subjects as the organization of the intellectual worker's time, materials, and his life; the integeration of knowledge and the relation of one's specialty to general knowledge; the choice and use of reading; the discipline of memory; the taking of notes; their classification and use; and the preparation and organization of the final production."
It is deep, and a bit stodgy in translation, but rich in ideas of how to discipline oneself in the pursuit of intellectual studies. It is meant for adults, so you could glean some ideas.
I think How to Read a Book although about reading, helps one to take notes and organize thoughts. For example, they suggest being able to break down each paragraph for main idea, each page has a main point, and then the chapter. Suggestions on how to write margin notes, picking key points.
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Anne Marie M
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Elizabeth,
Andrew Pudewa's IEW has some info on note-taking - can't tell you more, because I bought it and we haven't gotten to it yet! (Story of my life. . .)
Anne Marie
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Kelly
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Oh yeah! You're right, Anne Marie. I forgot about that! Actually, Pudewa has a very simple note taking strategy that has been helpful to my older students. It basically consists of this: For every sentence, you write down three key words. Numbers and signs are "free" but you must not go beyond those three key words. He calls this, imaginatively, a "key word summary" . We started practicing this with the Usborne Book of World History. LAter, you can apply it to lectures. It is a very good exercise, forcing the kids to quickly think about the sentence, then organize their thoughts in a condensed fashion, rather than regurgitating everything the lecturer (or book) says.
Thanks for reminding me of this! I think we may do a few practice re-runs on this ourselves this summer.
Kelly in FL
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Liz D
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Elizabeth,
Don't know if this might be helpful but I saw this at the library the other daay and thought it looked interesting but I only had aminute to glance at it.It is called "Developing Good Study Habits" by Human Relations Media. It had aDVD and booklet with student activities. Good luck and let us know what you find helpful.
Liz
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Leonie
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Elizabeth,
We have used graphic organisers and mind maps as an intro to note taking. I don't know if this is becaue we are all visual learners or not. 
Having the abilty to take notes in a mind map/graphic organiser type of fashion has been the most helpful for my sons - helps with retention when perusing the notes for use in the future - the graphic aspect is what helps them see the main points and to organize information.
Study skills? Most of the tips have been by the by - along the way dh or I have shared what works for us in studying. This , coupled with a book or two from the library on study skills, and with direct experience, has helped cement some useful study skills.
A re-hash now and then of these tips doesn't hurt, either. 
Leonie in Sydney
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Elizabeth
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Leonie wrote:
Having the abilty to take notes in a mind map/graphic organiser type of fashion has been the most helpful for my sons - helps with retention when perusing the notes for use in the future - the graphic aspect is what helps them see the main points and to organize information.
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Leonie,
Would you mind sharing an example of graphic organizers/mind maps.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Leonie
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When we first did note taking we used proformas of graphic organizers, similar to the ones below. Then, kids developed their own for quick notetaking.
I still use this - for example, we watch a children's current affais programme on TV. I might draw a bubble with the main story and draw lines off that for each main point. Then add a connecting arrow to another box on my page, about another story , with a note re the connection. A bit like the mind maps in Gayle Graham's book ( the section on writing ).
Graphic Organizers
Printable Graphic Organizers
Mind Maps
Mind Maps and Study Skills
I originally learned mind maps in high school then had my use re-kindled after reading Gayle Graham's book in the early 90s. I was introduced to graphic organizers by Valerie Bendt's book Sucess with Unit Studies . Since several of my sons and I are visual learners, I have passed on these ideas and we find them helpful. 
Leonie in Sydney
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Cindy Mac
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Elizabeth -
I might still have some of my graphic organizers from my teaching days. I can try to use them with your eldest when we are doing things for Spanish.
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guitarnan
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Elizabeth,
This year I taught my son to make "study sheets". After we do all the activities for a particular chapter, he goes back and types up key words, events, persons, etc. He tries to keep it to a page or less. He still struggles with concepts...he tends to go for boldfaced words...but he has really learned to review the chapter and look for the important stuff. I then review the sheet and add/correct it a bit so he knows what he missed. For tests, he studies off of his sheets.
Next year we will move ahead to taking notes from lectures. When I was in school, we learned this by taking notes as we watched films in class. We were supposed to watch the film and jot down key ideas. This was a bit more interesting than taking notes as the teacher spoke. So, I will start with that (probably with a history DVD of some kind), and then review the notes he takes. I'll include some test questions from the DVD. After a couple of months of that, we'll move ahead to having him take notes as I talk with him.
The hardest subject to take notes on is math. First, it's dull if you don't adore the subject. Second, it's hard to know which sets of equations are important. I used to write down pretty much everything that was said in class. What a student really is trying to do is screen out the repeat explanations/demonstrations and try to get the problem-solving method down on paper. Then, when it's time to study, the student will have the classroom technique/example and the textbook technique/example to use.
In college I learned to take reading notes from my textbooks...this is where outlining comes in very handy. I can't study from a highlighted textbook. I end up reading all the words, highlighted or not. Reading notes worked well for me. This consists of making a fairly simple outline of the chapter. It can be very structured (I., A., 1., a.) or not, but it should be neatly written and much shorter than the chapter itself.
My son hates to write, so he really resisted all this study sheet stuff. Moving to the computer really improved his attitude.
Good study skills are important. This is a really great thread, and I'm looking forward to exploring the ideas everyone has posted!
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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TracyQ
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We did start this this past year. We had Jake (9th grader) go through How to be a Superstar Student. He said it was helpful. I don't think he likes to admit it though.
The other thing I've done so far is to have both boys (7th and 9th last year) take notes from their Math DIVE CD Rom that they watch their math lesson (on the computer) as they watch it. This is with their Saxon Math. It's been helpful for them to retain the lesson better, plus to practice taking notes for a math class.
Next year, Jake will be using Teaching Company's World History (video lectures), plus a few resources (Short Lessons in World History and Christ the King Lord of History (which now I'm unsure of after reading one of the threads in the history forum  ). But at any rate, as he watches the lectures, he'll take notes from them as well. This will help him to take notes from a teacher/lecture, which he'll need to know how to do. He'll do this as well with the American History in 11th grade with the Teaching Company's lectures as well. He also took notes from the How to be a Superstar Student series as well to begin practicing.
I like the idea of teaching him some techniques with graphic organizers. I don't know of a great resource for learning how to take notes, because I agree, it is pretty personal. I don't think anyone ever taught me, I just did it. I often wrote down what the teacher's wrote on the board (I guess that's how we first learned in junior high level), and then learned to expand from that.
I was thinking it might be helpful also to find some books or lectures on tape to help the boys practice note taking (making it go with their studies of course) from an AUDIO source as well. Jake's pretty visual, and not auditory, so that will not be easy, but it's something he should probably practice as well.
I'll keep my eyes open for the how tos. I have a book called the Everything Study Book or something like that. I'm going to look through that and try to see if that may have anything in it regarding note taking as soon as I find it. :)
Blessings,
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
 homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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Leonie
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We sometimes take notes during a weekly current affairs programme. The programme is targeting upper elementary and lower secondary students and is s good one for mind maps to remember the main points.
Leonie in Sydney
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4Real Forums : High School Years and Beyond
Topic: Note taking strategies
