Teaching English Toolbox

Notetaking / Rethinking Strategies

from DallE: a cute cat taking notes in class

Notetaking helps us to digest and organize information and it is a skill that needs to be taught in the elementary school, in German lessons as well as in English lessons! It can be simple, for example "Watch the video and note down 5 new things you learned" or complex "Watch the video and note down, for each section, who is speaking, what they are talking about, and why they are talking about it."

Graphic organizers are useful for note taking and you can make your search more precise than the one below by adding +text +story +age +listening or whatever you are using it for. 

  • There are many notetaking systems, for example Cornell notes or visual notetaking with sketchnotes. If you go to Teachers Pay Teachers and put on the free filter and type in any of these terms or notetaking in general, you will be lead to a wealth of suggestions.
  • Edutopia has a great article on sketchnoting. The university library also has books on this
  • Here are some ideas from the ELT Forum.

Think about what you do with these notes. For instance, learners can

  • write a summary based on their notes;
  • pull out key words from these notes and then recreate the topic;
  • share their notes with a classmate who adds a few ideas;
  • include their notes in a portfolio or as part of their proof of learning.

You might think about the following questions:

  • How can you practice notetaking with 3rd graders? With 6th graders?
  • Once learners have taken notes, what can you or they do with those notes?
  • Can you say why notetaking might be a good skill to teach from a learning persepctive?
  • What notetaking systems do you know of?
  • As learners get older, they often use other people's notes: is this a good or bad thing? Why or why not?

Rethinking Strategies

You might think about the following questions:

  • What are the differences in supporting learners when they read on the computer vs on paper?
  • There has been more and more research questioning what has been traditionally declared as useful strategies, such as:
    • How does one know what a keyword is?
    • Is underlining parallel words actually conducive to learning?
    • Is highlighting a useful strategy?
    • Is translating words useful?
    • What are newer models of teaching listening/reading/writing/speaking strategies?
  • How can you help learners practice strategies in English language lessons and at the same time, get them to see how the strategy is useful for thinking in general or in another situation (transfer)?
  • When are introducing desirable difficulties into the classroom conducive to learning?
  • How can I teach various note-taking skills to primary learners in a foreign language?