Post-It Power

As a student  I always questioned how to take better notes in class. I was unaware of the many different methods possible for taking notes. Alexandra Recasan writes a piece with three different note taking methods, Recasan states in the beginning of the piece that teachers should hint at the method that would be most beneficial to a specific lesson. There will always be the method of taking notes with pen and paper. However, there are many templates available online for note taking that may be better to use for a specific subject. The three methods that Rescasan talks about are the Cornell method, mapping method, and outline method. The Cornell method has been highly regarded. It is typical to see two columns with the Cornell method -- the left column being smaller and used for key terms while the right column is bigger and used for elaboration. The mapping method is simply creating a center point and branching off with key information from there. The outline method is the most elaborate method. A main topic is talked about and it branches off into smaller and smaller topics, covering the most information. In a history class, the Cornell method seems like it would be most beneficial. Most of the time, key terms are obvious. The elaboration of each key term may be more difficult to reach, but the right hand column would provide adequate room to go back and fill in the missing information. It would be simple enough to print out a template with two columns to hand out to a class. This would give students the opportunity to take good notes, without the excuse of forgetting a note book. The Cornell method could even be used as a homework/classwork assignment. The teacher can provide the template with the left side filled in and the right side left blank for the students to elaborate on the stated key terms.

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