Note-Taking
I'm curious to hear?especially from the students here?how you take notes and, more importantly, why you do it that way. Spiral notebook? Loose-leaf paper? Circa system? Moleskine? Laptop?
I ask because every semester is pains me to watch my students take notes in absolutely horrible and useless ways.... I actually joked this semester with one class that I wish I could take away all their crappy note-taking systems (invariably in dilapidated spiral-bound notebooks) and replace them with ones that actually work.
When I was in college, I took notes with a legal pad and a manilla folder. Each class day got a sheet of paper and the paper went in the folder, and I'd review them in reverse come the end of the semester.
These days I use a couple of moleskine notebooks for my meeting notes and whatnot.
For my lecture notes, I use a modified Levenger circa system?portrait-oriented 5x8 notecards printed with a template. I store the notes in a file box
And while we're on it, I use the following writing implements:
Parker Sonnet rollerball
Parker Jotter ballpoint with gel refill
Rotring mechanical pencil
So....how do you take notes? Why do you do it that way?
I ask because every semester is pains me to watch my students take notes in absolutely horrible and useless ways.... I actually joked this semester with one class that I wish I could take away all their crappy note-taking systems (invariably in dilapidated spiral-bound notebooks) and replace them with ones that actually work.
When I was in college, I took notes with a legal pad and a manilla folder. Each class day got a sheet of paper and the paper went in the folder, and I'd review them in reverse come the end of the semester.
These days I use a couple of moleskine notebooks for my meeting notes and whatnot.
For my lecture notes, I use a modified Levenger circa system?portrait-oriented 5x8 notecards printed with a template. I store the notes in a file box
And while we're on it, I use the following writing implements:
Parker Sonnet rollerball
Parker Jotter ballpoint with gel refill
Rotring mechanical pencil
So....how do you take notes? Why do you do it that way?
Comments
Usually with an important point that I think they should note, I scribble on the board . . . or now I am using quite a bit of Powerpoints. (History course and an Aesthetics course)
Originally posted by trick fall
It's been a long time since I was in a formal class setting. When I was I used a spiral notebook and wrote pretty illegibly in it. I tend to remember things though just from writing them down. Now at work it's legal pad all the way. I need to find a good pen though, my last one just died.
If you want a cheapie that's refillable, pick up a Parker Jotter ballpoint somewhere (they're about $4) and stick a gel refill in it. I've kept a Jotter since about 1991 or so, and they're great. If you want something nicer, I'm pretty sold on my Parker Sonnet roller ball, but I can't get a gel for it, which sucks.
A Spiral notebook for each class, different colour. On the left side I doodle, on the right side I actually write notes. On the side I actually write notes, I usually write stuff on 2/3rds of the page, and then on the other 1/3 use it as a sidebar for writing other tid bits down. ( I think I inherited that from web design, maybe.) It does make for interesting reading of notes, instead of just bullets, they are chuncks of text.
In tech classes, I like to tout my PowerBook, so I will use TextEdit to take notes, and if the power points are made available before the class, I can open them up in Keynote and type into the Notes area for each slide, matching them up easily.
Lots and lots of paper trees.
Oh, and ink trees too...
Parker Jotter ballpoint somewhere (they're about $4) and stick a gel refill in it.
Do those smear? I'm a lefty and that's an issue for me.
I actually wound up taking notes last night after my post on a banana paper notebook I bought in Costa Rica. I was working on a Pro Tools problem all night and after reading this thread thought, gee it would probably be a good idea to take notes on the solution so I'm not fumbling around for hours next time!
Originally posted by trick fall
Do those smear? I'm a lefty and that's an issue for me.
I actually wound up taking notes last night after my post on a banana paper notebook I bought in Costa Rica. I was working on a Pro Tools problem all night and after reading this thread thought, gee it would probably be a good idea to take notes on the solution so I'm not fumbling around for hours next time!
The gel dries *very* quickly and will not smear, depending upon the paper. In my moleskines it works great. I think you can get a gel pen like a G2 for about $5. I like the Jotter simply because it's refillable.
Originally posted by midwinter
I'm curious to hear?especially from the students here?how you take notes and, more importantly, why you do it that way. Spiral notebook? Loose-leaf paper? Circa system? Moleskine? Laptop?
I ask because every semester is pains me to watch my students take notes in absolutely horrible and useless ways.... I actually joked this semester with one class that I wish I could take away all their crappy note-taking systems (invariably in dilapidated spiral-bound notebooks) and replace them with ones that actually work.
When I was in college, I took notes with a legal pad and a manilla folder. Each class day got a sheet of paper and the paper went in the folder, and I'd review them in reverse come the end of the semester.
These days I use a couple of moleskine notebooks for my meeting notes and whatnot.
For my lecture notes, I use a modified Levenger circa system?portrait-oriented 5x8 notecards printed with a template. I store the notes in a file box
And while we're on it, I use the following writing implements:
Parker Sonnet rollerball
Parker Jotter ballpoint with gel refill
Rotring mechanical pencil
So....how do you take notes? Why do you do it that way?
I use Voodoo Pad for all my classes. It's not good for being able to print out one day of notes, but allows for much better organization of info, wiki-style. You create a page for anything you want, then eveyr timeyou type that phrase or word it backlinks to your specific topic page. Best of all, you can export to iPod and have all your notes in website-form anywhere you go. Voodoo Pad is best for history or theory classes where you often reference previous course materials to address other issues in the course.
MindMapping is the way to go... it is very simple and far easier than taking extensive notes. It also makes reviewing a walk in the park: everything is on one page.
Here is MindMap on Wikipedia.
I use ConceptDraw MindMap for everything from making shoping lists to planning my textbooks and classes as well as running my business. The Pro version is great for making interconnected MindMaps.
Link: http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/products/mindmap/main.php
They also have some good links to other sites.
Curio is also an interesting app for brainstorming and notetaking in the form of chuncks as mentioned by someone above. Chunks and keywords are easy for the brain to grab...
I encourage my students to review something each day... with a mindmap, i is as easy as looking at a picture for a minute or two, not flipping through pages of not-necessarily organized material. Maps also allow linking between items that would normally be on very different pages; just draw a line between them.
Also see:
http://www.mind-map.com/EN/index.html
Reading is understanding.
Classes is for context and questions.
Exam periods are for the hard work...
The headmaster of my personal junior highschool (where we learned about MindMapping) actually told us to take it easy the night before a final, have a long dinner chat with the fam, review for about 45 minutes, watch a comedy on TV and then hit the hay early.
The most successful students at a school I currently teach at are quite relaxed during exam period because they put the work in when they need to and then perform well when it really counts. In Japan, two exams and just two determine where you go to university and whether you have a decent future. To be at ease during these exams is essential to doing well. (One is the national entrance exam that all senior sit, one is for whatever college the kid wants to attend; they can take several of these, but the first exam weeds the patch for who can and can't take which second exam).
Originally posted by Bergermeister
As a former student and current teacher, I would like to say that exams should be the easy part.
One of the things that was emphasized for us when I was in grad school was that exams weren't about testing knowledge; they're about giving students a chance to show off. I tell my students that my exams are about testing what kind of "game" they have, not about some kind of gotcha.
Now, granted, my exams in English literature are different from lots of others, but the principle should be the same, I think.
I will, of course, remember all the questions asked of me in my exit exams, for which I studied constantly from April through August and took 400 pages of notes.
Originally posted by Placebo
I've learned that I take in more information when I'm not copying shit verbatim. Just liten to what the teacher/board of directors/plumber has to say and jot down complete thoughts and not bulleted segments.
Yes.
I think schools need to do a better job teaching people how to learn. Smart kids will figure it out (hopefully) but I expect many slip through the cracks and merely get by, later bitching about their surprise as to why they didn't get that A++.
I draw drawings instead of taking notes. And fill them with tiny bits of information I know I cannot remember. I mark impotance with stars, relations with arrows and so on. And I decorate with cats.
I tried mindmaps and other digital stuff, but it sucks. My pencil or ballpoint or ink pen doesn't stall or crash, or gives me stupid messages when I try to be creative.
In the office, all our walls are covered with whiteboards. When I explain an idea, I always draw it. It really works.