Jessica Southern

Being an effective teacher is very important to the learning process of

students in a classroom. Robert Marzano created 9 instructional strategies to help
teachers be effective in the classroom. These strategies are used around the world in
classrooms to engage students and help them achieve at higher levels. In this paper
we will focus on the second of Marzanos strategies Summarizing and Note taking.
Summarizing and Note taking is one of the most basic foundations for all
students. One of the biggest complaints of high school teachers is that their students
do not know how to take notes properly. It is something so basic that students need
in every single class that they take. Many students do not know how to pull the key
information from a lecture and end up writing down word for word what the
teacher says or writes on the board. This gives students too many notes to look
through with unnecessary information. Middle school is primarily where students
start taking notes and this is why those teachers need to focus on teaching students
how to summarize and effectively take notes.
There are many great ways to teach students how to take notes. A good place
to start is to have students take their current notes that typically have too much
information and look through them and cross out all the information that isnt
relevant or that is repeated. This is called the strike out rule. This helps students see
that you dont need word for word to get all the information. Having them do this a
few times first will help them get the idea of what is relevant so that next time they
will be able to write down less and pull the important information on their own.
Then from there you can teach them other strategies by giving them fill in the blank

note sheets or teaching them how to fill out Cornell notes. The nice thing about a
more structured approach like Cornell is they have to summarize what the lesson is
about and the key points in a few sentences after the lesson. This could be dont at
the end of any lesson to see if students really got the main focus of the lesson and to
see if they were able to pull out the key information. It is a good idea to teach a
bunch of different strategies to your students so that they can pick which best helps
them since every student learns differently. Some students might be more visual
and would like to take bubble notes because they can see that clearer but other
students may like the structure of different notes such as a bulleted overview. At
the same time depending on the subject it may be easier to have all of your students
take the same type of notes so that as a teacher you can go around and check them
and make sure they getting all the information.
In math particularly it is a good idea to have students set up their notes a
certain way so that they are able to pull out the information that they will use the
most. A good way to do this is to have students keep a few pages in the front of their
notebook for equations that they will use. Since math builds off of itself you may use
an equation at the beginning of the year and again at the end if they are all in one
spot it will be easy to find. Worksheets can also be very effective in math because
there are a lot of lessons that require pictures of a shape or a graph and a student
that isnt very good at drawing could get lost because when they study their notes
wont look like what it is actually supposed to look like.
Note taking and summarizing is a skill that everyone uses throughout
their life and is better to instill good practices into students when they are still

young. It has been proven that putting a pen to paper and writing something out
helps you remember it better. Knowing how to take good notes and summarize
what a teacher says could be the difference between a good grade and a bad grade
on a test.

Lesson Plans:
#1 Quadratic Formula

Standard:
o

HS.A-REI.B.4. Solve quadratic equations in one variable

a. Use the method of completing the square to transform any quadratic equation
in x into an equation of the form (x p)2 = q that has the same solutions. Derive
the quadratic formula from this form.

b. Solve quadratic equations by inspection (e.g., for x2 = 49), taking square roots,
completing the square, the quadratic formula and factoring, as appropriate to the
initial form of the equation. Recognize when the quadratic formula gives complex
solutions and write them as a bi for real numbers a and b

Objectives:
o

Sub-objectives:
o

Students will be able to say the quadratic formula.

Students will be able to identify what part of the equation is each variable in the
formula.

Activities:
o

Students will be able to solve quadratic equations for x by using the quadratic
formula.

The students will be given a note worksheet with the quadratic formula song on it
with missing words that the students have to fill in the words and every example
will need to have the a circled, b underlined, and c squared.

Students/teacher can sing the quadratic formula song.

Students can circle, underline, and square the a,b, and c respectively.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGJrH49Z2ZA

Application of Strategy 2:

Students have to write a summary of the use of the quadratic equation (2-3
sentences).

#2 Graphing quadratic functions

Standard:
o

Objectives:
o

HS.A-APR.B.3. Identify zeros of polynomials when suitable factorizations are

available, and use the zeros to construct a rough graph of the function defined by
the polynomial.

Students will be able to graph basic quadratic equations by identifying the zeros
and one additional point on each side of the vertex.

Sub-objectives:
o

Students will be identify what a parabola is.

Students will be able to say what the end behavior of a graph is.

Activities:
o

The students will be given a worksheet where there will be two equations that
have to be matched to two graphs and one where they have to write the equation
by looking at the graph, and one where they have to draw the graph from the
equation.

http://www.brightstorm.com/math/algebra/quadratic-equations-andfunctions/graphing-quadratic-equations/

Application of Strategy 2:
o

The notes will be a fill-in-the-blank worksheet that they do as the teacher

instructs the lesson.

Works cited
Marzano's Nine Instructional Strategies for Effective Teaching and Learning. (n.d.).
Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://www.ntuaft.com/TISE/ResearchBased Instructional Strategies/marzanos 9 strategies.pdf
Summarizing and Note Taking. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2014, from
https://magnificent-marzano.wikispaces.com/Summarizing & Note Taking