Practicum+4

Practicum Four I believe students should create a foundation of their notes using the text during homework reading assignments and take notes in class to write down examples and further explanations of concepts. I would request students to use the Cornell format for notes for homework and allow them to use any way they want in class. I feel that promoting the Cornel note taking style would allow them to organize their initial thoughts. The reading assignments would be assigned before I go into the topic in class. Mr. Smith follows this same pattern and I believe it benefits class discussion and encourages homework to be completed. I decided on this approach because only having students write their complete notes at home would not encourage the students to have a full and proper set of notes when it comes time to prepare for tests or experiments. Having the students copy down in-class demonstrations and examples, I feel, promotes increased memory when they have to recall the concepts or definitions. Mr. Smith encourages students to take notes during homework reading assignments. He assesses their note taking by having daily quizzes on the topic they should have read and allowing them to use their notes. If the student took appropriate notes, they can complete the assignment quickly and easily. Mr. Smith also uses a non-verbal cue to signal his students to write down a bit of information he wants them to know. The difference between the ways I want to approach note-taking and the way Mr. Smith handles it is that I would use non-verbal or verbal cues for students to explain examples and demonstrations in class more than he does. If students do not remember the definition, they could work it through using an example I did in class which would be available in their notes more frequently than in Mr. Smith’s classroom. After speaking to a couple students, I discovered that one student would write down the notes off the slides in-class and only do the bare minimum during the homework reading assignments. She would write down formulas and definitions but would not write down any explanations of examples. In class, she would try to write down everything on the slides as fast as possible but misses some information. Another student will write down examples, formulas and definitions from the book but will not write anything down in class. I don’t encourage either style of note taking and would have to find a way to encourage both students to take notes in a way that makes their information readily available and easy to understand. Both students had unorganized notes and had to scan through their notes a few times to find main topics.