Mary Angel

(5/2023) "Hey mom, I’m going to go study," is a quote I have heard all too often in my house. With four kids, homeschooling, elementary, middle, high school, and college, I actually couldn’t even count the number of times this phrase has been bellowed, as a child sulks back the hallway to their room. What I am really unsure of is what this actually means in the world we currently live in.

Let’s face facts, things aren’t the way they were when we were young. Yes, I know that statement automatically makes me sound old. Seriously though, everything is technological nowadays. Instead of flash cards kids are using apps, like Quizlet. This is an amazing little app where you can pick a subject and then narrow your topic down even further and use electronic flashcards. It takes it a step further by offering games with the information on the flashcards. You can also make your own flash cards if the specific subject you are looking for doesn’t already exist. So super helpful and amazing.

The kids also turn everything in online. There are no papers, actual papers, due to be turned in anymore. When my oldest was in high school he would still, every once in a great while, ask me if we had ink in the printer because he had an assignment that needed to be printed to be turned in. God forbid your internet is down, you can count on a lot of stress, tears, and a "0" in the grade book. The rest of the kids have had different school appointed programs for turning things in online. Although the programs have changed over the years, they are all about the same. Some of them you "write" the paper in word and then turn it in, but now some of the teachers use a program where you have to type the paper in the program itself.

The other thing that has gone to the wayside is note taking. You have heard me gripe about this over the years. The kids are given papers or digital versions of information, they watch videos, or the teacher talks, but there are little to no notes taken. My concern as the shift has been away from note taking is then how, or what are they studying. I also question whether they are studying or cramming. When we were young you had homework every night and class work every day. The information you were being taught was constantly being reinforced. Reading notes, completing homework, and doing activities in school, all on the same topic is studying. Taking a preprinted worksheet provided by the teacher and reading over it the night before an exam is cramming. I do not see that happening anymore.

My kids do not have a ton of homework, they don’t even have an average size amount of homework. They do have to write a paper now and again, but still not that often. I remember reading an article that said the best way to learn and retain information is to hear it, see it, write it, and say it. So if your teacher is teaching a lesson (hear it), you are taking notes (write it) while she is talking, you go home and do an activity to reinforce that (see it, write it) , and you read over your notes out loud (say it), then you will store that information in as many places as possible in your brain and therefore have a much better chance of retention and recollection than if you aren’t doing all of that.

My most recent conversation with an education specialist ended with us discussing this very thing. She said they are way more concerned with kids being able to apply information than retain information. I appreciate this philosophy, but when you sit down to take a test you need to be able to do both. If you can’t remember what you have learned, then you have nothing to apply. I believe these two skills are not exclusive of one another, but rather need to go hand in hand. It reminds me of some lyrics to an old song called love and marriage. It goes like this, "You can’t have one without the other!"

I think the simple skill of note taking is a lost art. I remember when the new school year was about to begin and my oldest would get so excited to go buy school supplies. Every teacher, from elementary to high school, required a notebook. By the end of the semester that notebook was full of, you guessed it, notes. Then we took the turn to the teachers supplying handouts that would get glued or taped into the book, so no note taking on that information. Now there are handouts and digital notes, but no note taking. The kids are missing a valuable skill. I was in a meeting the other day and took four pages of notes. Without the skill of not taking, I would have missed out on some valuable information I needed for my job. I am not saying every job involves extensive note taking, but good note taking skills can certainly benefit every job.

This doesn’t even touch on college. There have been many instances in college, when my boys have assignments, there is always an opportunity for a better grade if you have taken good notes and can apply them to your writing or test taking. The boys have certainly run in to their fair share of professors who do not have handouts or digital "freebies" in place of note taking. They expect the student to write down what they are saying. They also expect them to be able to discern what is important to write down and what isn’t. This is what I mean when I say note taking is a skill. You have to listen, analyze, and write down. This is the original multi-tasking and puts patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time to shame.

I am not suggesting that the learning apps, like Quizlet, are useless or to be ignored. They have their merits. What kid doesn’t love having a fun way to study. But they are but one tool in the education arsenal. None of these tools should work independently of the others. After all, if you haven’t taken good notes and there isn’t a Quizlet on the information you need to study, then what will you do? The bottom line is that note taking is important and not just for school. It is also a skill, and skills are, for the most part, learned. So, whether the school system is or not, make sure you are teaching your kids how to take notes and how to use them to study, not to cram. Lastly, please don’t tell your kids that I am the one that said they should study more, have more homework, and take more notes. It will be our little secret!

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