© Copyright 2020 Watson Institute. The Watson Institute (Watson) encourages you to access and print material from our website at www.thewatsoninstitute.org for personal use only. Any other copying, linking to another website, blog post or social media, distribution, modification, transmission, or dissemination of the website content is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of Watson. For full terms of use, click HERE.
Situation:Guided Notes are teacher-prepared hand-outs that outline lessons but leave blanks for key concepts, facts, definitions, etc. that the student fills in as the lesson progresses.
I have a student who sits in class and never seems to be paying attention. He doesn’t take notes during the lesson and when test time rolls around; he seems unprepared and ends up doing poorly on the exam. How can I help him follow along with the lesson in class?
I have a student who sits in class and never seems to be paying attention. He doesn’t take notes during the lesson and when test time rolls around; he seems unprepared and ends up doing poorly on the exam. How can I help him follow along with the lesson in class?
Use a Guided Notes template (*see Process and example below) to help him attend and focus on pertinent information. Encourage him to use the notes to review lesson content and study for upcoming tests.
Guided Notes are teacher-prepared hand-outs that outline lessons but leave blanks for key concepts, facts, definitions, etc. that the student fills in as the lesson progresses.
Some printing/handwriting ability OR keyboard skills
Review your lesson to determine the most important content you want student to learn and retain. (Try to keep to minimum with necessary information.)
Create an outline of the lesson, leaving out certain key words and phrases that will later be filled in by the student during class.
Leave ample space for the student to write but limit the amount of writing required to single words or short phrases.
Practice completing the Guided Notes with the student and demonstrate how they can be used when studying.
If appropriate provide a word bank i.e. the words that will be used to complete the assignment.
If you have questions or concerns about the Watson Institute’s use of this information, please contact us.