3 in 1 Notes

Decision

The most important part of almost any class is the lecture. About 90% of all classes primary source of information is the lecture; however, it is not always easy to retain all of the material covered from lectures. This is why people take notes. Note taking is something that everyone does, yet only a handful do effectively. Note taking has an art to it just like anything else. This week I choose to use the 3 in 1 note taking style. I am in the majority of people who take notes but do not really quite take effective notes, so a new approach sounded like a good idea. I used this strategy in my Rel 101 and EDU 200 classes.

Prep and application

The strategy itself mandates that the user split their paper into three separate sections. First splitting the paper horizontally into two thirds/one third sections and then the same thing vertically. The column on the left is used to document key ideas or facts of a certain class. The column on the right is used to organize key terms and their definitions. Lastly, the section on the bottom is used to create possible questions that the teacher might ask in the future similarly to the jeopardy questions strategy. To maximize the effectiveness of this strategy I made three in one note skeletons for next five pages to give myself a comfortable amount to work with without having to worry about possibly running out. This note taking style forces one to pay attention more in class, because it focuses the information being recited into two possible categories: key facts and key terms.

LAME

This strategy was actually very effective. Instead of making a futile effort to record all of the information being passed on by the professor, I could focus on key bits of information rather than trying to decipher the entire lecture. Being a kinesthetic learner, note taking is a very important part of my learning process; however, if I do not create some sort of critical lens to funnel the main source material appropriately. There is very little action required to complete this style of note taking, just a few brief minutes before and after class. If this strategy is combined with the twenty-minute test prep, i.e. making the questions afterwards and creating flash cards with the key terms, it can make any evaluation fairly stress free.