Strategy Reflection #2 Summarizing & Note Taking

What?

I decided to implement note taking in my classroom. I thought about which class to work on first and decided to try it out on my sophomore World History class. We had just finished studying the Middle Ages and Medieval Times. At the conclusion of the chapter, I showed The Sword and the Stone. Although The Sword and the Stone is a children's movie, I showed it to them in clips each day.

So What?

I reviewed the Middle Ages with my class and reminded them of key terms that we learned about. I told them that while they watched the video they needed to write down everything in the video that mentions what we discussed in class during that chapter. I only showed about 15 minutes of the video each day because I put it in after we finished the days work. I was amazed at how well my student's paid attention to the details of the movie. When I got back their notes I noticed that, for the most part, they really took to the assignment. They picked out the moat around the castle, the description of how the castle looked (as we discussed in the chapter), knight, page, squire, etc.

Now What?

I have learned that I underestimated my students. I never expected them to identify so many things in the video that came from what we learned in class. They really enjoyed the video and were able to understand, visually, more of what we learned. I am going to make note taking a part of my lesson plans. Even though the notes they took weren't long sentences or thought provoking statements, I found that they were able to pick words out of the video and remember to write them down. I especially am going to make it a point to teach my seniors since college success depends on it.