10 Ways To Make Your Study Notes Stand Out As An Educator

We all have those times when we want our notes to stand out.?

Sometimes they don’t, and it’s due to laziness; sometimes, it’s a result of us not staying on top of the most recent trends and buzzwords.?

Regardless of your situation, there’s no reason why you should continue to settle for mediocre results.?

Whether you’re a student who wants to get a good grade or a teacher who wants to make sure they’re teaching students something worthwhile, study notes don’t have to be boring.

Did you know that students tend to skip over 30% of the content??

This means that your notes might be optimized for yourself rather than for your future students. It also means that you can create a study guide simply from your own lecture notes.?

Here are 10 tips to maximize the impact and effectiveness of your study notes.

Use simple writing

The secret to good writing is simple: say what you want to communicate clearly and directly.

I spend a lot of time writing notes for students as well as our dear teachers, and it’s always tempting to try to sound “professorial.”?

But if I want them to understand what I’m saying, the best policy is just to write the way I usually do.?

To be more precise, I?try to use shorter sentences than usual and shorter words than usual in my notes.

That doesn’t mean I try to avoid complicated material. On the contrary, I often want to write about things that are difficult and require complex explanations. But the more complex something is, the more critical it is to write simply about it.

Next time you write a note to a student, try to express yourself in the most straightforward possible language. Don’t worry that this will make you sound dumb or leave you looking stupid if anyone else reads it. If someone else does read it, they’ll probably be pleased to see how clearly you’re able to explain things and how much care you take with your students.

The most straightforward possible sentence is often not very simple.?It may take a few tries to get it right:

“I think I have most of the logic right, but there is one small detail I’m getting wrong.”

“I think I’ve got most of the logic right, except one small detail.”

“I’ve got most of the logic right.”

“I’ve got it!”

But it’s worth the effort. If you can use more straightforward language, why wouldn’t you?

Focus on simplicity

Simple Note-Making is Better.

Most teachers often make the mistake of making their notes more complicated than necessary. They feel that to prove their value and expertise, they must over-complicate things. This is the wrong approach.

Students do not need teachers to tell them how smart they are or how much the teacher knows about a topic.?

Too much information can be confusing and overwhelming for students.?

Instead, it is better to simplify things and focus on only sharing basic information that students need to know.

A common example of a teacher over-complicating things is creating long lists of vocabulary words without any context or explanation as to why they are important or how they relate to the lesson.?

Students do not want to memorize these lists of words without understanding their meaning or why they are essential.?

Instead, it is better for teachers to choose the most important vocabulary words and show how they are used in sentences or phrases so that students can see the context and understand their meaning.

Limit the use of distracting colours

The colour red is a great choice for the colour of notes.?

Red is clear and sharp, easy to read in poor light.?

Red looks good on paper too. But it’s also a very distracting colour if you’re trying to make notes for students.?(Click here to continue reading...)