Power+Notes


 * Summary and Rationale**

The //Power Notes// strategy (Lenski et al., 2011: 239) teaches students useful skills when taking notes on assigned readings or presentations. The purpose of //Power Notes// is to classify text and information hierarchically into three categories: (1) main idea/topic, (2) details, and (3) examples. As they are reading, students must write a 1, 2, or 3 alongside the text. //Power Notes// is an effective way for students to rank the importance of information and consider how it fits together hierarchically. Students are given the skills to read for a purpose--to consider whether they should focus on one level or all three (skimming versus a precise reading).

//Directions//:
 * 1) **Model** the Power Notes strategy using text from the course. As the class is reading the text aloud, indicate which information would be classified as a main idea (denoted by a "1"), a detail ("2"), or an example ("3").
 * 2) Have students collaboratively **practice** analyzing and organizing information with the course texts in groups.
 * 3) Have students **complete** Power Notes independently for an assigned reading.


 * Example**

In the text, //History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals//, the teacher might model the use of Power Notes in front of the class for the beginning section or two of one chapter, and ask students to practice taking Power Notes for the rest of the chapter with a partner, section by section.

Chapter 2 focuses on founding ideals embedded in the Constitution of the United States. There are five founding ideals, and each subsection focuses on a different ideal. In a US History course, the teacher might want to model taking notes on Section 2.2 (the first ideal) and have students collaboratively complete Power Notes for the remaining four ideals.

"Power Notes for Subsection 2.2"

1. Main Idea: Equality was a founding ideal of the new republic.
 * 2. Equality was motivated, in part, by Christian belief that people were all equal in the eyes of God.
 * 2. Equality in 1776 was restrictive.
 * 3. Equality was only extended to freemen, excluding women of all races and non-white males (slaves and Natives).
 * 2. The idea of equality has been extended over time to include more individuals.
 * 3. Now, laws ensure equal treatment of all citizens.