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Subject:RE: Can you teach someone how to learn? From:KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 9 Oct 2002 14:59:48 -0400
I can take good notes at meetings, and then create
dynamite meeting minutes. But, I was never very
good at taking notes-for-understanding at a lecture.
For me, it was always better if I could just sit
and absorb what was being said/shown, and then try
to summarize afterward. (Didn't work so well when
I had back-to-back classes.)
If I tried diligently to take good-enough notes
during the class, I was too busy scribbling to
keep up with understanding, or to formulate decent
questions. The lecture was always getting ahead
of me. Of course, OTHER people thought my notes
were just dandy.
My best tactic -- learned in first-year, the first
and only time I ever tried to cheat -- was to try
to write crib-notes or cheat-sheets, summarizing
the whole course. Doing that -- and in a way that
would fit onto a tiny sheaf of notepad pages or
a few feet of cash-register tape -- forced me to
grasp the material, and helped me to retain it.
I had all these little sheets of paper tucked into
cuffs and shirt-front and waist-band... and I
never even looked at them during the exam. The
intense effort of making them had burned the
material into my poor little brain.
> I agree. At the same time, though, I think that people can be
> coached on
> good habits that will help them learn better, such as
> note-taking techniques
> and re-reading their notes frequently.
> > No, you can't teach someone to learn. People know how to learn,
> > but using methods known only to them. The key is figuring out
> > how someone learns then learning how to teach them in a way they
> > can process information.
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