Taking Notes

My first week's plan is as set in stone as it is going to get. I have hashed out how I will handle each day as best I can. The first week of school is always subject to change, but for now I have a plan. And as Harry Wong says, "If you don't have a plan, you are planning to fail." At least I'm one step ahead for now.

I've never taught in a block schedule situation before, so this will be new for me. I teach four 75 minute blocks each day and I have 75 min of personal prep time each morning. So today I sat down and wrote one of my first block schedule lesson plans, and I have to say that I'm quite excited about it.

The first week of school I always spend teaching rules and procedures. I practice procedures with the kids over and over and over...and over...and over again. A new procedure that I'm going to practice with the students this year is how to take notes and follow directions. I'm going to introduce several note taking techniques and we're going to practice them by studying the life of Albert Einstein, my personal hero.

You might say, why teach high school kids how to take notes? Shouldn't they know how to do that already?

"Shouldn't they know how to do that already?"

I hear that all the time from people when I tell them some of the simple tasks and arithmetic that I teach high schoolers. Sadly, no. The kids I teach don't know how to do these types of things a lot of the time. They don't know how to behave properly in a classroom. They don't know how to take notes. They don't know how to study on their own. They don't know how to research for a project. They don't even know how to line up at the door.

So I teach them.

Now, my classroom is not a room where the kids sit and I lecture and they scribble notes all day long. But there are times when taking notes is an appropriate thing for them to do. I'm going to take most of a day to teach them how to know when it is appropriate and how to go about doing said activity.

Such a simple skill, but so useful. If I can teach them these simple things, they will be that much more prepared to go back to the main high school.