Cornell Notes Made Simple

I am a huge fan of Cornell notes. They lay out the information so simply for the students, and there are so many different ways you can use them in the classroom.

Avid describes Cornell notes as focused note-taking. Where students are given an essential questions, can take notes, jot down questions or interesting ideas, and summarize their findings at the end. It allows them to review and reflect on the information, and at times, make judgements.

I have incorporated Cornell notes into my classroom; however, I mold them to fit my particular lesson or concept that I am teaching.

I teach two on-level classes (co-teach) of 8th grade science and 3 Pre-Ap 8 grade science classes, where I have to reach many different types of learners. I mold the Cornell notes to help each of the different learners in my classroom.

Here are two examples of how I use Cornell notes in my classroom:

1. Fill in the blank Cornell Notes to outline PowerPoints or chapters.  

These are great for very slow writers, visual learners, or trying to teach Cornell Notes. I especially like these for my students with modifications or accommodations, because it helps them take notes, organizes the information for them, and gives them pictures and visuals.

How to create: I use word to make these Cornell notes, and I insert a 2 x 1 table. I move the center line over to the left to create the topics column.

Extend their use

~As students are writing, they can jot questions or interesting things that you say in the left hand column. That way, they can remember what questions they want to ask when you are finished talking, or interesting facts you might have mentioned that are not in the notes.

~At the end of Cornell notes, I like to add a summary box at the bottom with 3-5 specific key terms they have to use in their summary. This gives them a chance to review their information and condense it into the key ideas and topics that were discussed. This can be done right after taking the notes, or even the next day as a warm-up to familiarize themselves with what they did yesterday.

2. Cornell Notes Outline 

These are great for taking PowerPoint notes in class or reading an excerpt of material with partners or on your own. I especially like these for my Pre-AP classes, where I like to teach note-taking strategies for them to be able to use in any high school class.

This type of note taking helps focus their notes by giving them an essential question to focus on. It also gives them the topics to look for as they are in the process of listening or reading. It organizes their notes into meaningful concepts, and models good note taking.

When I tell my students to "set up for Cornell notes" in their interactive journal, they know exactly what to do. They immediately title their Cornell notes, draw their margin line, and if necessary write down the topics I put on the board in the margin.

Extend their use: 

~You can extend the use of these Cornell notes the same way that you can with the above version.

~With this version or Cornell notes, you can have students skim the reading and come up with their own topics for the margin as a class.

~Eventually stop giving them the topic, but just the essential question. Have them practice dissecting the question as they read or take notes, to determine what they think the topics should be.


***Be warned: If you use this idea, please make sure you tell them how many spaces they should skip between topics in the margin! Think ahead, so students do not run out of space.