Many people just aren't good at note-taking. Still fewer are good at teaching note-taking. Besides, what young kid, or teenager for that matter, wants to write page upon page of notes...let alone go back and study those notes? Get creative with the information and make it memorable...and maybe even a little fun. Here are four ideas I've discovered to help kids see it, do it, and learn it.
- Visual Note-taking. Do you have a doodler in your house? Visual note-taking may be a great way to combine his or her natural tendency to doodle with taking notes. I recently discovered a blog post on Core 77 which explained that visual note-taking is simply a way to visually organize important pieces of information. It can be done using images or words (or both), and is organized using lines, arrows, boxes, and even color. Don't worry about being a great artist, it doesn't have to be pretty, as long as the information flows and keeps the note-taker interested.
- Mind Maps. Mind Maps are similar to visual note-taking in the sense that it is a way of visually organizing pieces of information. However, it differs in that it doesn't flow. It's more like a spider web, or a snow flake. The main idea or topic is in the center of the page, and each sub-topic branches out. Details then branch out from each sub-topic. I found a great article on Mind Tools and a blog post on Beyond Talk that explain the technique in more detail.
- Power Point. Some people can't stand making Power Point presentations, my daughter on the other hand, loves it. She loves copying and pasting images & texts, then animating each slide. Furthermore, she loves to go back and watch her creations over and over again. Hmm...sounds like studying to me! For younger children, a whole unit can be a long time to remember details. By creating a slide for each lesson (or chapter, or whatever reasonable chunk you choose), the information doesn't seem to be too much to handle. If you have access to digital or online textbooks you may even be able to copy important information directly from the textbook. Then, have fun with slide transitions, animated text, and image entrances & exits. You can even record your child reading some of the information and link it to an image. If you don't have Microsoft Power Point, don't worry, you can download and install a free office program called Apache Open Office.
- Lapbooking. If you've never heard of lapbooking, think of the big poster you made for the science fair. Now shrink it down to the size of a manila file folder. Lapbooks can be as ornate and detailed as you want them to be. If you need more space, create fold out pages by attaching more file folders. Now, fill the folder with minibooks that display all the information your child has learned. Jimmie at Squidoo has a very informative article with everything you ever wanted to know about using lapbooks to help your child see it, do it, and learn it. For even more samples, visit my lapbooking board on Pinterest.
Karissa
