Cornell Notes

Terrill Thompson Hartenstein

WHY CORNELL NOTES?

This is the system of note-taking our school has decided to implement.

Students benefit from school-wide consistency.

CORNELL NOTES EVERYWHERE

Cornell Notes can be taken:– in class lectures– from readings– during guest speaker or student

presentations– while watching movies– during Socratic seminars

HOW DO YOU TAKE CORNELL NOTES?

What are the steps of this system?

1. Record lectures in the main (right) column.

HOW DO YOU TAKE CORNELL NOTES?

2. Within 8 hours, read over notes to fill in gaps and to make notes more legible.

HOW DO YOU TAKE CORNELL NOTES?

3. After refining notes, identify main ideas, write questions in left-hand column based on main ideas. Make connections from new material to prior knowledge.

HOW DO YOU TAKE CORNELL NOTES?

4. Write a summary at the bottom of page.

HOW DO YOU TAKE CORNELL NOTES?

5. Review notes regularly. Short, fast, frequent reviews will produce better understanding and recall.

SETTING UP CORNELL NOTES

1 – Name, Class, Period, Date

2 – Topic of Notes 3 - Notes taken during

class 4 – Questions, Main

Ideas, Connections made after class

5 – Summary of information in Notes

…IN OTHER WORDS

EXAMPLE FROM A MATH CLASS

EXAMPLE FROM A SPANISH CLASS

TEACHING NOTE-TAKING

Model note-taking with the students – Give students a Cornell Notes template

and rubric– Model note-taking in front of the class

while lecturing– Allow students to take turns doing the

same while you continue to lecture– Discuss good points and alternate

possibilities for each student’s attempt

TEACHING NOTE-TAKING IN YOUR CONTENT AREA

Begin by offering guided notes so students can see your thoughts on organizing information

Over the course of the semester, slowly take provided information out of the guided notes

Eventually have students taking notes on their own paper from your visual and/or auditory lecture

TEACHING CORNELL NOTES IN A LECTURE FORMAT - TIPS

The basics of note-taking:– key words only

ignore rules of grammar– abbreviate– use symbols– use signal words

KEY WORDS

Omit unnecessary words Example: “The colonies were unhappy with the British mistreatments and decided to declare their independence” “Colonies unhappy w/ British mistreatments – declared independence”

ABBREVIATING

Leave out the periods in standard abbreviations. Use only the first syllable of a word. Use the entire first syllable & only the first letter of a second syllable.

subj - subject

cons - conservative

chem - chemistry

ABBREVIATING

Omit vowels from the middle of words, and retain only enough consonants to provide a recognizable skeleton of the word.

bkgd - background

prblm - problem

gvt - government  

ABBREVIATING

Use an apostrophe

gov't - government

ABBREVIATING

Use "g" to represent ing endings

decrg - decreasing

ckg - checking

COMMON ABBREVIATIONS

w/ with (something) w/o without w/I within i.e. that is  e.g. for example etc. et cetera b/c because b/4 before re: regarding, about More at http://www.english-zone.com/study/symbols.html

USING SYMBOLS

Have students come up with their own symbols and share them with the rest of the class

SIGNAL WORDS

Signal words and phrases used during lectures assist in understanding the:

• the organization of the lecture• the direction of the lecture• the relationship among the ideas,

facts, and details.

SIGNAL WORDS

Example Words– to illustrate– for example– for instance

Time Words– Before– After– Formerly– Subsequently– Prior– meanwhile

SIGNAL WORDS

Emphasis Words– more importantly– above all– remember this 

Repeat Words– in other words– it simply means– that is, briefly– in essence

More at http://puma.kvcc.edu/success/handouts/notetaking/notetakingtips.htm

GRADING NOTES

Assessing Cornell notes:– Provide a rubric– Layer instruction and grading by:

Only grading the right column for the first assignment

Grading the left column after students are comfortable with the right column

Grading the summary section after students are comfortable with the right and left columns

VARIATIONS ON GRADING NOTES

Practice higher order questioning by having students create test questions in the left column that may be used on test – quick to grade

Challenge students to write a summary with a certain number of words and have them compare with another student in class

Have students write a summary from the previous days notes as a warm-up activity

REWARDING NOTE-TAKING

Have students keep a notebook with a section for notes – give a grade for having organized, complete notes

Create study guides that require students to look back at their notes

Have notebook quizzes that ask questions from specific note-taking sessions

BENEFITS OF CORNELL NOTES

•Transform a ‘passive’ learner into an ‘active’ learner

BENEFITS OF CORNELL NOTES

• Students interact with the notes at least three times

BENEFITS OF CORNELL NOTES

• Create a ready made study guide after each note taking session

BENEFITS OF CORNELL NOTES

• Provide an efficient review prior to exams

–No need to reread the text

BENEFITS OF CORNELL NOTES

• Writing summaries - 2nd most effective way to improve academic achievement (Marzano)

HELPFUL SITES

http://www.clt.cornell.edu/campus/learn/LSC%20Resources/cornellsystem.pdf

http://www.englishcompanion.com/pdfDocs/cornellintro.pdf http://ccc.byu.edu/learning/note-tak.php http://www.indiana.edu/~reading/ieo/digests/d37.html http://www.esmschools.org/Data/FileManager/ESM%20High

%20School/English%20Department/Hogan/Cornell%20Note-taking.pdf

http://www.english-zone.com/study/symbols.html http://puma.kvcc.edu/success/handouts/notetaking/

notetakingtips.htm