Chapters 9 & 10

    I was pleased to read both chapters 9 and 10 because I found many of the tips and tools for note taking to be practices I have already incorporated into my classroom environment and everyday lectures. In the beginning of the year, I asked students to purchase a binder with 8 section dividers (for each unit) and a two pocket folder to transport documents from school to home. While I can only dream of having a school store and an unlimited supply of reinforcements, paper, and writing utensils, I always find joy in hearing students say “we are on a new unit, which means a new section in my binder!” Students are working toward increased organization of their notes, as I check and grade their notebooks once a month, and most Do Now/ homework assignments require reference to prior notes. Additionally, I have asked my principal about the possibility of providing students with a homework planner at the beginning of the year. At my school, homework completion is a huge problem and many students have homework trackers that stamp the date for completed homework, and have parents sign when homework is missing. If each student had a planner, teachers could leave a note at the end of each week to the parent, and the parent could sign off each week acknowledging that their scholar did have homework all week. 

    During my lectures, I try to model what my notebook would look like if I were a student on a board to the side of my PowerPoint. This system evolved as a result of needing to change slides and move on with the lecture, while some slower writing students still needed to copy notes. I bold key words in my PowerPoint and make a list of them on the left side of the board, along with a posted agenda for the day, week, and upcoming important dates, while paraphrasing my lecture in bullet form on the right side. I try to verbalize extension questions after students have answered questions from the board, and explain that these questions may appear on the next quiz, so note taking is in the least a great idea. This way, I am training students to listen even after they have copied notes, and to expect that questions on quizzes and tests will reflect both my written notes and verbal lecture.  

    Even with this system of model note-taking and homework tracking incentives, I find that many of my students still do poorly on quizzes. Clearly they do not study, or do not know a way to study in way that will help them retain information. I have suggested that students should keep a classroom notebook and a home notebook. The reasons are that this ensures students do not lose their notes because they will have two copies, they will bring their notebook home everyday which can aid in homework completion, and rewriting notes each day enables them to reread, rewrite, re-organize, and re-verbalize their notes, potentially causing them to acknowledge what type of studying best suites them. Many students were never taught that reading aloud or rewriting information is a form of studying, one does not need to reread for memorization to retain new fact. 

    I hope that in the future, I will gain increased support from the ESL teachers to help students organize, clarify, and understand the Earth Science curriculum. With only two teachers for 400 students, there is very limited contact. Often times, I find myself meeting with the ESL teachers and a concerned parent only after it is too late for a scholar to pass for the semester. There is little time during the day to implement a Writing Center for students, though I will be facilitating a semester long typing class for students come January, to teach them how to use Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint effectively. I envision student writing to improve once they learn to utilize the functions provided by computer resources, and that their skills once improved by technology, will transfer over to hand written work.