Two Column Notes

Top Down Topic Web-Two Column Notes

Two Column Notes-Please make a copy and take your notes on the copy.

It is often tempting for teachers to provide students with completed notes or to have students copy notes written on a board or from PowerPoint presentations. However, it is the act of generating notes that makes them a useful comprehension strategy.

Note taking is a procedure for recording information from anything that is read, said, or done. Taking notes enhances students' comprehension as they process, organize, and restate the information in their own words. It also encourages metacognition as students must actively search for main ideas and key supporting details. Finally, it is a valuable tool for gathering and organizing information to write from a variety of sources.

Writing To Read report

• "Intentionally or unintentionally, note takers organize the abstracted materials in some way, connecting one idea to another, while blending new information with their own knowledge, resulting in new understandings of texts... Taking notes about text proved to be better than just reading, reading and rereading, reading and studying, reading and underlining important information, and receiving explicit instruction in reading practices. "(p. 16)
  

A page of two-column notes consists of a vertical line down a page with a horizontal line at the top, as shown to the right. The vertical line is drawn about 1/3 of the way from the left hand side of the paper. The main ideas are on the left and associated key details are on the right. The heading or topic is listed at the top above the horizontal line.

In general, the left column of the notes is labeled big ideas and the right column supporting details. Naturally, the kind of information that students put in the columns depends on the content source and the purpose for taking notes.

Big Ideas: topics, sub-topics, main ideas, steps, subtopics, paragraph main ideas, subtopics, overarching-main ideas, main events, words

Supporting Details: detail from supporting sentences, paragraph main ideas, event details, details about characters, setting, theme, etc., definition, antonym, synonym, use in sentence, visual, etc.

Paraphrasing is the process of restating information in different words. When we paraphrase, we maintain the original meaning, but we say it in our own words. Paraphrasing is an active learning strategy that helps us place information into long-term memory as we move from simple to complex levels of thinking.

Understand what you are paraphrasing

Use semantic paraphrasing

Use syntactic paraphrasing

Explain difficult concepts and abstract ideas

Abbreviating

Teachers should be sure that their students know common abbreviations (e.g. USA for the United States of America). They should also teach students to use a syllable or a few letters from a word as a way to abbreviate. The best way to teach abbreviation skills is to model using them.

Visual Cues

Visual markers on the page can help with organizing notes. This can be done when the notes are being edited and reviewed. Some examples of visual markers are:

• Using horizontal lines to "chunk" notes
• Using colored markers to highlight important information or make connections between sections of notes
• Numbering the order of details
• Adding arrows, stars, or brackets to show connections

The most detailed notes will be those that list paragraph main ideas in the left column and details from supporting sentences in the right column.

It is more likely that students will take notes from several paragraphs in a short text than from a single paragraph.

If students are taking notes from a lengthy segment of expository text such as a textbook chapter or a multi-page article, it is not practical to include a main idea for every paragraph and details from all the sentences. Instead, teach students to take broader notes by listing topics or central ideas of sections of the text in the left column, and paragraph-level main ideas in the right column.

The way students set up notes when they are reading lengthy narrative text such as a chapter in a novel or a short story will vary by the literacy elements that are part of the instructional focus.

While each of the four strategy activities in the student routine — top-down topic webs, two-column notes, summary, and question generation — can be used individually, the strategies can also be combined. For example, a top-down topic web can be the foundation for note taking or a planning tool to write a summary. Two-column notes also support summarizing and generating questions.

It is often tempting for teachers to provide students with completed notes or to have students copy notes written on a board or from PowerPoint presentations. However, it is the act of generating notes that makes them a useful comprehension strategy. Release note taking to students gradually using the following I, We, You sequence:

I do it

• The teacher explicitly teaches the two-column format.
• The teacher uses think aloud to model note taking skills.
• The teacher explicitly teaches note-taking sub-skills (i.e., main idea skills, paraphrasing, writing concisely, using visual cues).

We do it

• The teacher provides partially completed notes to students, which they complete.
• Students work collaboratively to complete or generate notes.

You do it

• Students generate their own notes independently.

One way to support students who have difficulty taking notes with academic content is to teach note taking skills using everyday, familiar material, such as notes about how students organize their video games

Another way to support students as they learn to generate their own notes independently is to provide them with partially completed notes.

Students with poor decoding skills or a limited vocabulary may benefit from replacing words in notes with visual representations (i.e., pictures or diagrams) instead.

Once students are able to take adequate notes from reading, they are ready to practice taking notes from lectures.

Many teachers assume that taking notes from lecture is a skill best saved for high school or college instruction. However, when note taking from lecture is modeled and practiced in the earlier grades, students can gradually develop this skill and begin to use it effectively in high school.

Speakers often provide verbal or body language cues that can help note takers identify key information from a lecture. Students benefit from direct instruction in recognizing these cues. Take some time during speaker presentations to examine some of these cues with your students:

• A speaker usually pauses before moving on to a new main idea.
• Important information is often repeated or emphasized, and it should be included in notes. If you hear it more than once, this is a hint that it is important!
• Transition words and phrases like "next," "finally," and "the most important" signal key information or an organizational pattern that the speaker may be using (e.g., listing, comparing and contrasting, or describing).
• A speaker provides cues about the presentation's organization through body language, i.e., shifting weight, looking back at notes, pointing, looking more directly at the audience.
• Changes in volume, pace, or inflection of the speaker's voice may indicate a change in the main idea or emphasize important details.
• Introductory and concluding remarks often provide a review of the main ideas in the presentation.

Research clearly indicates that writing notes (i.e. note taking) supports comprehension. How else can students use their notes to support further comprehension? The answer is by note making, which includes editing, reviewing, and studying notes — strategies that allow interaction with the content in notes, resulting in deeper comprehension and better long-term memorization of ideas and information.

As soon as possible after taking notes, preferably within 24 hours, students should edit their notes following these steps:

• Check to be sure that all the big ideas are listed and clearly stated in the left column.
• Check to be sure that all essential supporting details are in the right column. If there is irrelevant information, cross it out.
• Ask the teacher or another student to provide any missing information.
• If necessary, reduce wording into more concise phrases.
• Expand abbreviations and wording if notes are unclear.
• Add visual markers (e.g. horizontal lines, arrows, or numbers) to further organize notes.
• Make sure all note pages are dated and in order.

The two-column note format makes it easy to review and study notes:

• Students can review the details in the right column, cover that column, and use the big ideas from the left column as a study guide for those details.
• Similarly, students can review the big ideas in the left column, cover that column, and use the details from the right column as a study guide for those big ideas.

To further support long-term retention of content information, students should also complete a writing task related to the notes, such as generating questions and answers, writing a summary, listing key vocabulary terms with definitions, or drawing a visual representation of the information.

Remind students to leave plenty of space in their notes so they will have room to edit them later. For example, if students leave the reverse side of each page of notes blank, they can use that space later, during note making, to write questions, summaries, illustrations, or vocabulary lists.

The two-column format is helpful for learning new vocabulary. Vocabulary words are listed in the left column, and definitions, synonyms, and sample sentences containing the words are listed in the right column.

Students can fold back or cover either side of the notes page to study and self-quiz the new vocabulary.

Email: parksj@iss.k12.nc.us
Twitter: @JayeParks1