Middle School math teacher Lindsey Chase’s classroom is full of light, both from the sunshine streaming in from her windows and the energy of the Class 4 students studying the Distributive Property. As the girls build their math skills, they are also learning how to take effective notes. Ms. Chase and the other members of the MS math department have included notetaking strategies in their curriculum this year with the goal of helping each student develop age-appropriate notation skills to support their success in math and, by extension, all of their academic pursuits.
In Class 4, Ms. Chase is helping her students develop individualized math notebooks. During each class they add formulas, properties and key math concepts to their notebooks for easy reference as they learn. These notebooks will grow with them as they progress through their lessons. As Ms. Chase teaches the Distributive Property, for example, she includes time in her lesson for the girls to add a definition and example to their notebooks. As they write, the girls ask questions and listen to helpful hints from their teacher. These clarifications and tips are aimed to help the students create notes that support their learning styles. One student asks, “If I’ve come up with my own version of the definition, can I write that down?” to which Ms. Chase replies, “Of course! You should always write information down in a way that makes the most sense for you.”
She encourages them to think about how these notes will be most helpful to their future selves. “In April, will you remember the Distributive Property by the definition alone? Or will including an example alongside it be more helpful?” Ms. Chase asks. She waits patiently for the girls to finish including the information in their orange covered notebooks before moving on in her lesson. For the rest of the class, they solve several large-number, multiplication problems together as a group before dispersing throughout the classroom to solve more on their own.
Students in other grades are learning notetaking techniques, as well. In Class 5 math, Ms. Vardis’ students bring similar notebooks to lessons, jotting down rules, vocabulary and other “what I think will be important” notes. For Ms. Adams’ Class 6 courses, she shares sample notebook layouts for students to complete as the lesson progresses. In Ms. Rollins’ Class 7 math lessons, she encourages students to use the quadrant notes framework. With each lesson students can add four sections to fill with notes. Some examples are: warm ups, we do, you do, personal examples and reflections or check ins.
Ms. Chase encourages her students to think about how these notes will help them as far into the future as Class 7, which in MS years is a long time. For today, it's safe to say that these girls have mastered the Distributive Property, which, by the way, is when you break apart a large multiplication problem into smaller pieces and then add them back together, and with their new notes, they won’t be forgetting it anytime soon!
