Note-taking skills

**From KS4 onwards, students need to be able to take notes independently in classes. Some students, especially language learners and SEN students, struggle to adapt from scaffolded worksheets to independent note-taking. One issue is worrying about writing down every utterance in full and keeping up with the speaker. **

This activity and worksheet introduce students to using abbreviations when taking notes. Abbreviations can make it much easier for students to make notes more quickly, building their confidence in their ability to follow a lecture or other listening material for details.

The activity and worksheet are beneficial at the beginning of courses when students are expected to take notes independently (such as GCSE courses). They also serve as a valuable resource for students preparing to take a listening test where they are allowed to make notes and for preparing students for university.

The activity takes students through examples or abbreviations. Rather than giving lots of suggested abbreviations, the activity then encourages students to be creative and think of their own. Creating their own abbreviations can make them easier to remember as they are relevant to the student. Abbreviations can look like another language to some students, so giving them a long list of suggested abbreviations to memorise can be overwhelming.

There are two note-taking practice tasks and a page of valuable tips for differentiation and independent practice.

• Attractive design to engage students
• White and SEN-friendly background options
• SEN-friendly font, text colour, pt size and character spacing
• Part 1 can be completed in class or done as homework to prepare for doing parts 2 and 3 in class
• Page of useful tips for differentiation and independent practice
• Independent and collaborative tasks