Structured Note-Taking: The Civil War

1. Structured Note-Taking:The Civil War The Bridge Town Liberty Fellowship July 17, 2012 Fran Macko, Ph.D. fmacko@aihe.info

2. Why are history texts often difficult for students to comprehend? What skills and strategies do students need to become expert readers of history? What can history teachers do to help struggling readers in their classrooms? Framing the Session

3. Lack of prior knowledge Unfamiliar text structure or schema Difficulty identifying important material from less important material Academic vocabulary and abstract concepts (“isms”) Level of analysis and synthesis Role of visuals, such as maps, graphs and charts, as sources of information What factors affect the readability of history texts?

4. Effective readers of history have a variety of comprehension strategies that they bring to reading a text. These strategies can be grouped in three categories: Before reading or activation of background or prior knowledge During reading or active engagement with the content Continuous or metacognition Effective readers of history are in charge of the process, monitoring how they read and adjusting to ensure success. What are the keys to reading history?

5. Effective readers discern which concepts to focus on and which information to retain. They interact with the text and internalize information. Note-taking provides a structure for recording and reorganizing information and ideas. The structure supports retention and recall by making information accessible and providing cues to trigger memory. Our Focus Today: Note-taking

6. Note-taking supports students in: determining which information is important. making connections between main ideas and details even when the author has not made the connections explicit. extending and transferring knowledge after reading which results in deeper construction of meaning.

7. Cornell Method Parallel Note-taking Structured Note-taking Mapping/ Webbing R.E.A.P. What are some strategies for note-taking?

8. Structured note-taking is a strategy that uses graphic organizers that correspond to the organizational pattern of a specific piece of text. Featured StrategyStructured Note-taking

9. This strategy: • provides a visual framework that mirrors the structure of the text. • reinforces the features of the specific organizational pattern. • supports students in organizing their notes around the relationship among ideas in contrast to a simple listing of ideas.

10. Effective readers recognize and use organizational patterns to comprehend text. The writer’s purpose influences the organizational pattern of the text. A text may reflect more than one organizational pattern. Inability to recognize a text’s structure impairs comprehension. Organizational Patterns and Comprehension

11. What are the organizational patterns of text? • There are seven organizational patterns of text. • 1 - Chronological sequence organizes information in the time sequence that the events occurred. • 2- Compare and Contrast organizes information about two or more topics in terms of their similarities and differences.

12. What are the organizational patterns of text? • 3 - Concept/ Definition organizes information by beginning with a generalized idea or abstraction and then delineating its characteristics or attributes. • 4 - Description organizes information around the characteristics of a specific person, place or event and does not reflect a particular order. • 5 -Episode organizes a large body of information around specific times, places, people or sequence of events.

13. What are the organizational patterns of text? • 6 - Generalization/ Principle organizes information into general statements with supporting examples. • 7 - Process/ Cause and Effect organizes information into a series of steps leading to a specific product, or into a causal sequence that leads to a specific outcome. • All seven organizational patterns can be found in history texts.

14. In addition to the descriptions of each text structure, students can be guided by: Cue or signal words Questions suggested by the structure What are the supports for recognizing a text structure?

15. Define and discuss the concept of how all text is organized using one of seven structures or patterns. Introduce one text structure using simple, short examples. Make certain that the examples clearly exemplify the structure and point out cue words and phrases. What are the steps in structured note-taking ?

16. Present a graphic organizer for the structure and guide students: • by explaining that the organizer is a pictorial representation of the structure of the text, and • by modeling how to record main ideas and details from the passage on the graphic organizer. • Next, assign a text passage and a blank graphic organizer and have students record their notes.

17. Have students share their graphic organizers with a partner and explain their reasons for • including certain information and, • for organizing the information on the graphic organizer. • Repeat the process with each of the other organizational structures and corresponding graphic organizers.

18. When students are proficient at recognizing all seven organizational structures, provide practice passages for note-taking. • During independent practice, ask students to • identify the organizational structure of the text, and • take notes using the appropriate graphic organizer.

19. Modeling the Strategy

20. Read The Civil War Text #1. Use the “chain of events” graphic organizers for chronological organization to take notes based on your reading. Discuss your notes with a partner. Modeling the Strategy: Chronological Organization

21. Sample Graphic Organizer: Chronology

22. Read The Civil War Text #2. Determine which organizational pattern is the dominant one. Create a graphic organizer or outline that reflects the organizational pattern. Take notes using the organizer or outline. Discuss your choice with a partner. Independent Practice

23. Adapting Structured Notetaking to Your Classroom • How might you use Structured Note-Taking in your social studies classroom? • What adaptations to the strategy might you make?

24. Adaptations include: • Introduce and model one organizational structure at a time before introducing the next. • Vary the length and sophistication of the text. • Vary the graphic organizer based on level and sophistication of the students. • Have students create their own graphic organizers.

25. Websites for Graphic Organizers • Education Place http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ • Index of Graphic Organizers http://www.graphic.org/goindex.html • SCORE http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/actbank/torganiz.htm • Graphic Organizer Makers http://teachers.teach-nology.com/web_tools/graphic_org/ • Write Design Graphic Organizers http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers/ • Graphic Organizers http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers/biography/index.shtml (need to be a member)

26. Final Thoughts • Effective readers recognize and use organizational patterns to comprehend text. • Students who understand text structures and can graphically depict the relationship among ideas improve both comprehension and recall.

27. Structured note-taking: • provides a visual framework that mirrors the structure of the text. • reinforces the features of the specific organizational pattern. • supports students in organizing their notes around the relationship among ideas in contrast to a simple listing of ideas.