Cornell Notes - The Key to Remembering Important Information

Students will learn how to perform a close reading and memorize information in difficult texts through Cornell Notes. Students will be taught different tips and tricks to complete Cornell Notes to help them understand the text better through close reading. Cornell University has developed this style of note-taking which utilizes the act of physically writing information from a text to gain a better understanding of the information but to also improve memorization of the text. Students will be shown how to fill out Cornell Notes through a step-by-step walk-through with the teacher. While the teacher models the note-taking process, students will also complete their own notes. This means the teacher will show how it is done, but the thoughts and products that the students will have at the end of the class will all be in their own words. This helps students learn how to do this more effectively. 

Throughout the course, students will engage in a conversation about WHY - Why does this information go here? Why is this step a helpful or useful resource? Why put information in this order specifically? Etc. When students leave, they will know how to complete Cornell Notes and why completing them is so valuable. They will know the purpose of the Cornell Notes steps that they take and they will learn how to modify different steps based on their needs, interests, and struggles. 

The teacher will be completing their own version of the assignment as the students are so that they can be compared and discussed as part of the class. These will be uploaded into the classroom after class so that students have a mentor example of completed notes.