Note Taking

taking notes is an easy concept. At least I thought. Yesterday several students were not taking notes in class and were more worried about science class then math class. So we were working with solving equations for a specific variable. We had spent about 40 minutes going through the lesson when I gave students a(nother) opportunity to try solving these equations. After students tried them on their own I had two students come up to the board, show their work, and explain how they got their answers. I then asked each student if they had these two questions in their notes. I told them if they did not have these in their notes they should copy them down.

Then I erased the board, gave each student a blank piece of paper and said "pop quiz, do these two problems, you may use your notes" some students started whining, another student said "didn't we just do these?" Which I responded with "yup." In a class of 19 only 3 students got both of the questions right. I thought this was pathetic since it was a gift. Hopefully students will be wise and will take notes from now on instead of focusing on science class or the daily gossip.

I did this again in my second hour class only since they again did not use their class time wisely they owed me 4.5 minutes from their lunch, which they were given the pop quiz and were allowed to use their notes after being told several times to copy these examples in their notes.

My 4th hour class we did the same thing. I made contact with each student and asked them "do you have this in your notes" after every student told me yes I erased the board and gave them the pop quiz, some kids then said "I guess I should have taken notes"

I don't have a problem with students not taking notes if they know the material but if they don't know the material students need to take notes in order to help them with homework and help study for quizzes and tests. I see more pop quizzes in the future!