Summarizing+and+Notetaking

= = **Educational Strategy: ** = =  The 21st century student needs to be able to **summarize** information. Research skills require understanding of material to adequately paraphrase it without plagiarizing. Plagiarism often says that a student does not have the skills needed for achievement. Strategies teach students how to restate information in a logical way by finding the main idea, sequencing events, giving the gist of the story in one sentence, or presenting a position either for or against in a few brief sentences. When students can summarize efficiently, they can then learn to analyze information and identify key concepts.
 * Summarizing and Note Taking **

Going hand in hand with summarizing is **note taking**. Teachers use it to support student learning and if this skill is not learned properly, students may write every word, often without understanding what they are reading and writing. Then, when assessment time comes around, the student (and sometimes the teacher) can’t understand why they performed so poorly. A student will retain more of an understanding of the meaning of the information when they can summarize effectively and then put notes in their own words. Strategies for both summarizing and note taking need to be less formal and include activities to support the learning of these skills. Technology integration of activities often aids in a deeper understanding of the material, thus helping to retain more knowledge.

**Technology Resources **
 __ ReadWriteThink Notetaker __ [] This free website – ReadWriteThink.org, sponsored by the International Reading Association, National Council of Teachers of English, and Verizon Foundation provides educators, parents, and afterschool professionals access to many excellent free materials in reading and language arts instruction. On the site there is a resource called ReadWriteThink Notetaker. It is an online tool that creates an outline of your notes in 3 formats (bullet, Roman Numeral, or letter). You enter your information and it puts it into the outline form. You may delete, add or move sections. When you are finished, you may view and print it. The Notetaker includes a tutorial that demonstrates how to use it and a Notes area for information that does not fit into your outline. This tool can be used during and after reading to compile and organize notes. During the writing process students can use Notetaker to organize their text and ideas from pre-writing and writing to revision. www.**readwritethink**.org  Resources needed: • computers (supplied by school) • ReadWriteThink.org-free online program GL: 3 – 12



__ BrainPOP __ [|http://www.brainpop.com]

It can be used in many ways, including introducing a new lesson, to illustrating complex subject matter, to reviewing notes before a test. It is content aligned with state standards which can be searched with their online State Standards Tool. It requires no downloading, installation or special hardware and is compatible with video projectors, SmartBoards, Mac and PC, and learner response systems. Teachers can choose from notetaking tools such as closed captioning, graphic organizers, vocabulary pages. BrainPOP uses linguistic and non-linguistic representation of notes in their animated movies, audio and video clips, print, and image representation. All of their movies are closed-captioned, which helps with visual reinforcement and literacy. Resources needed: GL – K-12
 * BrainPOP** is a subscription online website that provides animated, curriculum-based content to engage students and support educators. Internally supported by in-house educators, writers and animators who are constantly updating and improving BrainPOP.
 * computers (supplied by school)
 * some videos and resources free but full subscription @ $1.10 per student.

__ Inspiration 9/Kidspiration __ []

 Above is a screen shot of a web style of note taking on Abraham Lincoln.
 * Inspiration/Kidspiration** is software for visual mapping, outlining, writing and making presentations. The integrated Outline View is used for taking notes and organizing information. It takes main ideas with supporting facts and clarifies your thinking into written form. Inspiration is for grades 6 – adult and Kidspiration is for grades K-5

Resources needed:


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">computers (supplied by school)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Single computer-$69.005 computer site license-$310.00
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">10 computer site license-$550.00
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">GL- Inspiration – 6-adult
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Kidspiration—k-5

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Educational Challenge**
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Literacy** develops as a skill that students learn over time from a beginning reader to a skilled reader who can analyze more complex text. Literacy itself is the simultaneous development of reading and writing. Literacy development begins when a child starts to talk, and continues to develop as they recognize pictures and words. Writing, or scribbling, continues the development as a child grows and learns. Well-designed literacy programs provide students with ample opportunities in the reading. writing, speaking, and listening of language.

Technology enables us to further enhance literacy training while also raising the level of literacy needed for 21st century skills. It is imperative that information and communication technologies be included in any level of literacy development.

[] This free online resource is very user friendly and allows students to type in their own notes and gives 3 different formats of outlines that allow the student to be in charge of their notes. They can edit and print these notecards. It encourages them to refine and revise which ultimately helps their understanding of materials they are working with.
 * ReadWriteThink.org Notetaker**