3 Reasons to Make Guided Notes a Staple in Your Math Classroom

Raise your hand if any of these statements resonate with you:

•  My students literally forget everything I say to them
•  I’m so over having to use tis textbook, it’s not helpful at all.
•  I’m so tired of my students being so confused when they have to complete their independent practice. 

Guided notes are a tool that you can use to help support your students learning by helping them retain key information from your class. Guided notes come in many shapes and forms but the most basic format is a “fill in the blank” process where students follow along to your lesson by actively taking down notes as you are teaching. Guided notes focus on the essential key information that students must master in order to be successful with a particular skill or content.

They are a form of scaffolding that provide students with a note-taking structure that encourages student participation during class and minimizes the amount of writing required to keep up with the information being presented. 

Guided Notes have become such a staple in my classroom that I honestly can’t imagine a lesson without them. The number one question I constantly get asked about is “why do yo use guided notes in a math and how do you use them exactly?

Research shows that taking organized notes reinforces what you learned in class as well as helps you retain this information. Guided notes will help your students focus on what’s super important for the lesson and help them become confidence independent learners. The best part about guided notes is that they’re very efficient, easy to create and benefits all students! Guided notes help support student learning by providing a structured routine for note-taking during class. 

Guided Notes have been proven to substantially increase student achievement across all grade levels and content areas (from elementary to college) and especially for students with diagnosed learning disabilities (Haydon, Mancil, Kroeger, McLeskey, & Lin, 2011)

Sample Guided Notes Routine: 

•  Problem of the Day/ Introduction
•  Essential Vocabulary
•  Explicit Model Problem with Steps
•  Scaffolded Practice with Visual Aids
•  Additional Independent Practice Problems
•  Exit Ticket aligned with learning target

Imagine your an 8th grade student that has a test tomorrow in your Pre-Algebra class. Your math teacher asks you to do the following:

1. Take our your notes from the entire unit
2. Review your notes 
3. Create a summary of what you have learned

You then scramble to find all the notes that you have taken during class, You search your book bag and find your folder. When you open it, you realized you have lost some pages and some of the notes you have written do not really make sense. You start to worry so you lean over to a classmate to take a look at their notes. You quickly realize that they won’t be much help either as they to seem a bit worried about their notes as well. Your heart starts racing and your palms are sweaty from the nerves. You start looking down at your paper and see random numbers and variables and you panic. You are not ready for this test and you have no idea what notes you will use to study. 

3 Reasons why Guided Notes are such a helpful study tool:

•  Guided Notes are such a powerful tool because they can decrease the anxiety your students feel before an exam.
• The very guided notes that students take during class can serve as their study guide for an upcoming exam.
•  These notes can also be extremely helpful for parents as well, as they are importune stakeholders in a child’s educational journey. Parents may want to provide additional support at home during test prep but may need some pointers or reminders on the content. Guided notes can provide this for them as well. I usually upload an answer key on Google Classroom or a password protected Google Drive folder that parents have access to as well.

Some students diagnosed with learning disabilities have difficulty taking notes. For example, a student with an auditory processing problem may take few or unclear notes. If a students has an IEP that includes a Note-Taking accommodation it is intended to provide information that the student would have forgotten to jot down on their own, if it weren’t for their disability.  One of the most common ways to provide a note-taking accommodation is to provide guides notes. 

Other examples of note taking accommodations can include but are not limited to: 

•  providing students with presentation slides
•  audio recordings
•  having a peer note taker notes
•  instructor lecture notes. 

Students can also use a laptop or mobile decide for note-taking purposes and you can provides these outline electronically to also document how you have supported students with a note-taking accommodation. 

I highly recommend using a template so that you can easily switch out the content for the particular skill you want to focus on. This will also help with streamlining your creation process and helps establish a clear routine for students.  Here’s a link to my guided notes template for Secondary Math Classrooms. You can click on the link and simple insert your own content for your own classes.  

This Resource Includes: 

•  4 Guided Notes Templates For Use with Microsoft Powerpoint
•  4 Independent Practice Templates Included
•  2 Exit Ticket Templates included

If you feel that you do not have enough time to create your own, you can snag my year long bundle here for Algebra 1 or Grab the Fall Semester Bundle to save $

See what teachers like you are saying about my guided notes: 

“OUTSTANDING resource!!!  I am extremely satisfied with the quality of the bundle.  My students love the guided notes and practice.  The bell ringers are on point!  This resource is a time saver and learning targets can be accomplished within the period.  LOVE IT!!!  HIGHLY RECOMMEND. “ by Shelia M.

Let's Keep Teaching Math Simple

Stephanie Marrero

Founder & CEO of Algebra Made Simple LLC 

✏️ TpT Store: Algebra Made Simple 

✨ Join my FB Group Here for easy to use resources ✨

Reference

Haydon, T., Mancil, G.R.,  Kroeger, S.D., McLeskey, J., & Lin, W.J. (2011). A review of the effectiveness of guided notes for students who struggle learning academic content. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 55(4), 226-231.