Managing Your Time

Tips for students: How to take notes in class

By Stacey Puffer, Upper School guidance

In classes, your teachers will talk about topics that you are studying. The information they provide will be important for you to know when you take tests. You must be able to take good written notes from what your teachers say.

Taking good notes is a three-stage process in which there are certain things you should do before class, during class, and after class. Here are the three stages of note taking and what you should do during each stage.

Prepare to take notes (before class)
• Review your notes from the previous class session before you come to class. This will help you remember what was covered and get you ready to understand new information your teacher provides.
• Complete all assigned readings before you come to class. Your teacher will expect that you have done this and will use and build upon this information.
• Bring all note-taking materials with you to class. Have several pens and pencils as well as your notebook.

Take notes (during class)
• Keep your attention focused on what your teacher is saying. Listen for “signal statements” that tell you that what your teacher is about to say is important to write in your notes. Examples of signal statements are “The most important point...” and “Remember that...” Be sure to include information that your teacher repeats or writes on the chalkboard.
• Write quickly so that you can include all the important information in your notes. Do this by writing abbreviated words such as med for medicine, using symbols such as % for percent, and writing short sentences.
• Place a question mark next to information you write in your notes when you are unsure about the meaning.

Rewrite your notes (after class)
• Rewrite your notes to make them more complete by changing abbreviated words into whole words, symbols into words, and shortened sentences into longer sentences.
• Make your notes more accurate by answering any questions you had when writing your notes in class. Use your textbook and reference sources to obtain the information you need to answer your questions. If necessary, ask your teacher or other students for help.
• Check with other students to be sure you did not leave out important information. Rewrite these additional notes for more practice instead of simply photocopying them.

Teaching students to manage their time

By Stacey Puffer, Upper School guidance

There are only so many hours in a day, a week, and a term. You cannot change the number of hours, but you can decide how to best use them. To be successful in school, you must carefully manage your study time. And your time often becomes more valuable and limited starting with day one of the school year. Being prepared from day one will help you start the year moving in the right direction.

Often when we think school planning, we only think about homework, tests, and papers. Many students also must plan for practices and school-related activities as well. But often we forget to consider activities that we may have outside of school. Although they may not be directly related, they often overlap and cause conflicts in our ability to fulfill obligations. In other words, when you start managing your school time, you manage your life.

Here is an example of a strategy for planning and managing your time that may work for you. As with any project worth completing, there may seem to be a lot of work involved in the beginning. But the time you spend planning early will save you a lot of grief later. Keep in mind that the type of planner or calendar you use is your choice as long as it tracks relative information and meets your planning needs.

At the beginning of a term, prepare a Term Calendar. Update it as the term goes on. Be sure to leave space for additions or changes that you may need to make throughout the term. Here is what to do to prepare a Term Calendar...
• Record your school assignments with their due dates and your scheduled tests.
• Record your planned school activities.
• Record your known out-of-school activities.
Each Sunday before a school week, prepare a Weekly Schedule. Update it as the week goes on. Be sure to leave space for additions or changes that you may need to make throughout the week.

Here is how to prepare a Weekly Schedule.
• Record your daily classes.
• Enter things to be done for the coming week from your Term Calendar.
• Review your class notes from the previous week to see if you need to add any school activities.
• Add any out-of-school activities in which you will be involved during the week.
• Be sure to include times for completing assignments, working on projects, and studying for tests. These times may be during the school day, right after school, evenings, and weekends.
• Each evening before a school day, prepare a Daily Organizer for the next day. Place a check mark next to each thing to do as you accomplish it. Be sure to leave space for additions or changes that you may need to make each day.

Here is how to prepare a Daily Organizer...
• Enter the things to do for the coming day from your Weekly Schedule.
• Enter the things that still need to be accomplished from your Daily Organizer from the previous day.
• Review your class notes for the day just completed to see if you need to add any school activities.
• Add any out-of-school activities in which you will be involved the next day.

Your Weekly Schedule should have more detail than your Term Calendar. Your Daily Organizer should have more detail than your Weekly Schedule. Using a Term Calendar, a Weekly Schedule, and a Daily Organizer will help you make the best use of your time.

Remember that plans can change and that knowing the bulk of activities ahead of time will allow you more flexibility in completing last minute additions or substitutions in your schedule.