Good Listening in Class

It is important for you to be a good listener in class. Much of what you will have to learn will be presented verbally by your teachers. Just hearing what your teachers say is not the same as listening to what they say. Listening is a cognitive act that requires you to pay attention and think about and mentally process what you hear.

Here are some things you should do to be a good listener in class.

  • Be Cognitively Ready to Listen When You Come to Class. Make sure you complete all assigned work and readings. Review your notes from previous class sessions. Think about what you know about the topic that will be covered in class that day.
  • Be Emotionally Ready to Listen When You Come to Class. Your attitude is important. Make a conscious choice to find the topic useful and interesting. Be committed to learning all that you can.
  • Listen with a Purpose. Identify what you expect and hope to learn from the class session. Listen for these things as your teacher talks.
  • Listen with an Open Mind. Be receptive to what your teacher says. It is good to question what is said as long as you remain open to points of view other than your own.
  • Be Attentive. Focus on what your teacher is saying. Try not to daydream and let your mind wander to other things. It helps to sit in the front and center of the class, and to maintain eye contact with your teacher.
  • Be an Active Listener. You can think faster than your teacher can speak. Use this to your advantage by evaluating what is being said and trying to anticipate what will be said next. Take good written notes about what your teacher says. While you can think faster than your teacher can speak, you cannot write faster than your teacher can speak. Taking notes requires you to make decisions about what to write, and you have to be an active listener to do this.
  • Meet the Challenge. Don't give up and stop listening when you find the information being presented difficult to understand. Listen even more carefully at these times and work hard to understand what is being said. Don't be reluctant to ask questions.
  • Triumph Over the Environment. The classroom may too noisy, too hot, too cold, too bright, or too dark. Don't give in to these inconveniences. Stay focused on the big picture - LEARNING.

Identifying Lecture Styles

Lectures given by your teachers are usually organized in one of the following lecture styles:

  • Topic-List
  • Question-Answer
  • Compare-Contrast
  • Series of Events
  • Cause-Effect
  • Problem-Solution

Identifying the lecture style used by your teacher will help you take good notes. Read to learn about each lecture style.

Topic-List

The teacher begins by presenting the topic followed by associated subtopics. Each subtopic includes details and sometimes subdetails. Number words like one or second and transitional works like next and finally indicate that the teacher is using a Topic-List style. The transitional words also indicate a change from one subtopic to another subtopic.

Question-Answer

The teacher begins by introducing a topic that is followed by one or more questions about the topic. Each question is answered after it is introduced. Words such as who, what, where, when, why and how indicate that the teacher is using a Question-Answer style. Phrases such as in what way and how did they react also indicate that this style is being used.

Compare-Contrast

The teacher begins by identifying two things that will be compared and contrasted. The teacher then tells how the two things are alike (i.e., compare) and how they are different (i.e., contrast). Words and phrases such as alike, similarly, correspondingly, in parallel, counterpart, equal to, resemble, and just as suggest similarities. Words and phrases such as differently, however, antithesis of, disparity, on the other hand, opposite, and on the contrary suggest differences.

Series of Events

The teacher begins by identifying the topic. Then the teacher describes an initial event, step, or stage related to the topic. Information is then presented about additional events, steps, or stages. The teacher concludes by revealing the final event, step, or stage. Words and phrases such as initially, at the outset, next, followed by, then, later, after, succeeding, intermediate, last, culminating, and finally indicate that the teacher is using a Series of Events style.

Cause-Effect

The teacher begins by presenting the cause of something, followed by one or more effects related to the cause. Details are included for some of the effects. Words or phrases such as since, thus, therefore, consequently, for that reason, on account of, owing to, and as a result indicate that the teacher is using a Cause-Effect style.

Problem-Solution

The teacher begins by introducing a problem and explaining why it is a problem. The teacher continues by describing attempts to solve the problem, providing details as needed. Finally, the teacher concludes by identifying the solution to the problem if one has been found, or the status of attempts to solve the problem. Words and phrases such as puzzle, issue, point of dispute, enigma, and complication indicate that a problem is being presented. Words and phrases such as solution, explanation, answer, cleared up, and worked out indicate that the problem has been resolved. Words and phrases such as unravel, investigate, clear up, and untangle indicate that an attempted solution is under way.

Identifying the lecture style used by your teacher will help you write good notes in class.

Taking Notes in Class

In classes, your teachers will talk about topics that you are studying. The information they provide will be important for you to know when you take tests. You must be able to take good written notes from what your teachers say.

Taking good notes is a three-stage process in which there are certain things you should do before class, during class, and after class. Here are the three stages of notetaking and what you should do during each stage.

1. Get Ready to Take Notes (Before Class)

  • Review your notes from the previous class session before you come to class. This will help you remember what was covered and get you ready to understand new information your teacher provides.
  • Complete all assigned readings before you come to class. Your teacher will expect that you have done this and will use and build upon this information.
  • Bring all notetaking materials with you to class. Have several pens and pencils as well as your notebook.

2. Take Notes (During Class)

  • Keep your attention focused on what your teacher is saying. Listen for "signal statements" that tell you that what your teacher is about to say is important to write in your notes. Examples of signal statements are "The most important point..." and "Remember that..." Be sure to include in your notes information that your teacher repeats or writes on the chalkboard.
  • Write quickly so that you can include all the important information in your notes. Do this by writing abbreviated words such as med for medicine, using symbols such as % for percent, and writing short sentences.
  • Place a ? next to information you write in your notes, but about whose meaning you are not sure.

3. Rewrite Your Notes (After Class)

  • Rewrite your notes to make them more complete by changing abbreviated words into whole words, symbols into words, and shortened sentences into longer sentences.
  • Make your notes more accurate by answering any questions you had when writing your notes in class. Use your textbook and reference sources to obtain the information you need to answer your questions. If necessary, ask your teacher or other students for help.
  • Check with other students to be sure you did not leave out important information.

Having good class notes will help you to be better prepared for tests.

Using Abbreviations To Write Notes Quickly

Many of the questions you find on class tests will be based upon the information your teachers orally present in class. Therefore, you need to write class notes that completely and accurately include the most important information presented by your teachers. This is hard to do because your teachers can talk faster than you can write.

It would be nice if your teachers talked slower so that you could keep up with what they are saying as you write your notes. This is not realistic though. It is up to you to write more quickly. One way to do this is to write abbreviations for words. An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word used when writing to represent the complete word. You must be able to recognize the complete word from its abbreviation.

Many words have a commonly used abbreviation. Here are some examples of words that have a common abbreviation:

Word / Abbreviation / Word / Abbreviation
department / dept / package / pkg
introduction / intro / negative / neg
junior / jr / magazine / mag
mathematics / math / foot / ft
weight / wt / highway / hwy

You can form your own abbreviation for just about any word. Here are three ways you can do this.

1. Write just the beginning of a long word. Here are some examples of long words that have been abbreviated by writing just the beginning of the word:

Word / Abbreviation / Word / Abbreviation
different / diff / feminine / fem
incorporated / inc / population / pop
elementary / elem / ambiguous / ambig
molecular / molec / separate / sep
division / div / hippopotamus / hippo

2. Leave out the vowels when writing a word. Here are some examples of words that have been abbreviated by leaving out the vowels when writing the word:

Word / Abbreviation / Word / Abbreviation
century / cntry / point / pnt
mountain / mntn / school / schl
reason / rsn / clean / cln
popular / pplr / teacher / tchr
quality / qlty / progress / prgrss

3. For words that have just one syllable, write just the first and last letter of the word. Here are some examples of words that have been abbreviated by writing just the first and last letter of the word:

Word / Abbreviation / Word / Abbreviation
quart / qt / land / ld
tick / tk / round / rd
girl / gl / pack / pk
night / nt / field / fd
link / lk / heart / ht

Use common abbreviations of words whenever you recognize them. For other words, form abbreviations by using one of the three ways you just learned. Use the way that best fits the word for which you are writing an abbreviation. Do not try to abbreviate every word you write in your notes. Abbreviate those words that are important and for which you can quickly form an abbreviation. REMEMBER: YOU MUST BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE THE COMPLETE WORD FROM ITS ABBREVIATION. Knowing the context in which you wrote the word will help you recognize the complete word from its abbreviation.

Using abbreviations for words will help you take good notes more quickly. Having good notes will help you do better on tests.