Effective Note-taking

Effective Note-taking from an Early Age

FOLLOWING ON FROM LAST MONTH’S ARTICLES – EFFECTIVE READING FROM AN EARLY AGE AND TEACHING KEYWORD IDENTIFICATION FROM AN EARLY AGE, KATH

DENHOLM DISCUSSES EFFECTIVE NOTE-TAKING AND EFFECTIVE SUMMARISING

The word note-taking is their heads off if they see a that we teach: daunting for a young child drawing while they are • The bubble format child, so I often use the teaching, if of course the • The brick format more colourful word doodle. scribble was done with an • The tree format According to dictionary. absent mind. The teacher • The key image format com, doodle is to draw or will be thrilled and astoundA format creates order scribble idly. If one can learn ed if the child explains that and structure on a page. to scribble the critical inforwhile she teaches, he is goIn their special DOODLE mation, present-mindedly ing to jot down notes of all booklet, they can choose from a young age, he will the critical information said. the format that their left soon present as genius! Effective Note-taking brain desires that day. E.g. If

Note-taking is complex Requires the Use of your they are learning about the and will take years to masLeft and Right Brain sun, the key image is a fun ter. The Victorians develMost humans have a left format to use. oped two great shorthand brain (order and structure) Some Final Words on systems to help one keep up and a right brain (creative Effective Note-taking with the rate of the speaker. and analytical). If these two Note-taking effectively is Robert Jay Watson speaks brains can work together, an EXTREMELY DIFFICULT on these systems in his memory magic happens. skill to learn and will take article This Writing System Both brains must be used years of practice. Initially, Was Invented To Make when scribbling notes a child will only be able to Note-Taking an Easier Task. present-mindedly. extract one or two pieces of After reading this, I want to It is important for your critical information. This is send my own children on a child’s left brain to use a amazing! They have begun shorthand system course! format, when doodling. their journey of note-taking.

A Warning: Teachers yell There are various formats After the lesson, they need to revise their doodle and add colour to it. Their right brain would love this! As a child practices and begins to master the art of ‘scribbling present-mindedly’, he will no longer stare at you blankly, with an open mouth. He will be able to tell you a few things that he has learnt! This is rewarding for all involved!