1. Tell Ms. O. if you still need to finish your SLO from yesterday.
Thursday, August 27th
Bell work: Turn in any completed parent letters or “Goals and Expectations” sheets to your class bin.
1) Have out your binders and/or a sheet of paper if you still haven’t gotten your binder. Title the first page “Note-Taking.”

2. Questions for the Class…
What are the qualities of a good note-taker?
On a scale of 1-10, how do you rank as a “quality note-taker”? (10 = THE BEST!)
What types of note-taking are there?

3. How to take notes during your high school and educational career.
Note Taking
How to take notes during your high school and educational career.
Seems redundant, right? Taking notes about note-taking. You’d be surprised to look into your classmates notebooks at the end of a school year and see the madness that has evolved since the beginning. To prevent that from happening to you, here we go…

4. What is note-taking?
It’s listening to the teacher discuss new information and also viewing new information being presented (via PowerPoint, white board scribbles, Prezi, Textbook, etc.)
Then, it’s deciding which information is MOST important to write down so that you may refer to and study it later.

5. Preparation
Gather your note-taking materials (pen, pencil, eraser, paper, highlighter, etc.)
Do you wear glasses or contacts? Sounds silly – but make sure you can SEE the board, or even read the text.
Review notes from the previous session. This may help you to link past information to the new.

6. LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS
This is what you are doing right now. 
Practice ACTIVE LISTENING! Do you comprehend what is being introduced to you? That is half the battle.
Ask Questions!
If you have a question, odds are, someone else in the room does as well.

7. Make the Best Notes Possible
Focus on KEY WORDS and CONCEPTS.
Identify the most relevant information.
Don’t waste time writing down something that you already know.
Short hand (A.K.A. a brilliant way to take notes).
Your generation should be EXPERTS in this field thanks to texting and twitter limiting you to only so many characters in each tweet.
Make this readable. Do not shorthand to the point where you have no idea what your notes say the next time you look at them.
Ex: Mk ths rdbl dnt s-h 2 tp whr u hv n idea wht ur ns sy th nxt tm u thm

8. Make your notes “pretty” Ok – how about just visually appealing?
Always start on a fresh page
Make sure your writing is legible (please)
Use symbols and diagrams when necessary
Color code if you’d like. Highlight vocabulary in one color and terminology in another.
*YOU DO NOT NEED TO HIGHLIGHT EVERY WORD OF EVERY LINE. You’ll go blind.

9. What are the major words you MUST include in your notes?
What would you write in your notes?
PUT IT TO PRACTICE…
Next up, an example slide introducing tomorrow’s topic of discussion.
You do not need to write anything down for this part; however, we will discuss what you should write down. 

10. “The American Dream”
What would you write in your notes?
What are the major words you MUST include in your notes?
This will be a central topic of focus throughout the year.
Each time we come to a new historical point or work in literature, you will need to ask “What is the author trying to say about the American Dream?”
Some define the “American Dream” as - a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers.
Any Questions?

11. TEXTBOOK NOTES (For those of you familiar with the term, we will be going over annotations later in the year.)
Preview the material.
Actively read the text
Place your notebook next to the text you are reading.
As you read, note important information and details in your notebook.
This also includes questioning the information you’re reading. Don’t understand something? Remind yourself to ask about it.
Disagree with the information? Remind yourself why!
Include page numbers for easy reference later.

12. So the notes are done… Now What?
Review, review, review, and then review again.
Test yourself on the information, or ask a friend to quiz you.
You never know when this information will become useful.

13. Tomorrow
Come prepared to take official notes. (This means, you MUST have your binder in class along with some loose-leaf paper!)
We WILL be discussing “The American Dream” and you will be assigned your first project – due Monday.
PARENT LETTERS AND “GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS” SHEETS DUE.