Next-Day Notes

Next-Day Notes is the note-taking routine I use in my chemistry classes. It takes a few minutes at the start of the next class, and it turns a page of notes into something students actually study from.

At a Glance

1. Take notes. During the lesson, students take notes in Cornell format the way they normally would.
2. Summarize the next day. Students get 2 minutes to answer the essential question by summarizing their notes.
3. Write questions together. As a class, we come up with 3 questions for the notes.

On review days, students turn all of their notes for the unit into a one-pager.

The Page Layout

I use Cornell notes, the format developed by Walter Pauk at Cornell University. Each part of the page gets filled in at a different time.

Step 1: Take Notes as Usual

During the lesson, students take notes in the large right-hand column the way they normally would. The left column and the summary space at the bottom stay blank for now, so there’s nothing new for students to learn on day one.

Step 2: Summarize the Next Day

At the start of the next class, students get 2 minutes to answer the previous lesson’s essential question by summarizing their notes. The summary goes in the space at the bottom of the page.

The short time limit matters. Students can’t copy everything down, so they have to decide what the lesson was really about.

Step 3: Write Three Questions as a Class

Next, we come up with 3 questions for the notes. I cold call students to suggest a question. If a student can’t think of one on the spot, I ask the class to help them. That keeps everyone ready to contribute without leaving anyone stuck.

Students write the questions in the left column, next to the notes that answer them.

Review Day: One-Pagers

On review days, students take all of their notes for the unit and condense them into a single page. I give them three guidelines:

• Cover every section. Summarize the most important topics from each section of notes.
• Focus on your weak spots. Spend the most space on the information you’re weakest on.
• Make it a cheat sheet. Pretend you can take it into the exam and use it.

Why It Works

• The next-day summary is retrieval practice. Pulling information back out of memory strengthens it more than rereading does, and the summary asks students to recall the big idea a day later, right when it starts to fade.
• Writing questions builds understanding. To write a question the notes answer, students have to think about how the ideas fit together, not just what they copied down.
• One-pagers make students judge what they don’t know. Focusing on weak spots points study time where it pays off most.

References

• Pauk, W., & Owens, R. J. Q. How to Study in College. Cengage Learning.
• Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.