How to Teach Students to Take Better Notes

Academic coaches, tutors, teachers—are you looking for more and more ways to get students to actually remember what you teach them?!

In the video above, I analyze a wildly well-received note-taking presentation I gave at a local high school and break down what I did to help the content stick. I share five simple ideas for teaching the critical skill of note-taking in a way that actually results in students taking better notes—and using them.

You can watch the video at the top of this post, or keep reading for the full unpacking.

Recently, I taught the most wonderful workshop to a group of students and parents on note-taking at a local high school. I realized that what made it work so well wasn’t just what I taught, but how I taught it. So I wanted to unpack the experience for educators who want students to walk away with skills they’ll actually use.

I was completely exhausted afterward, lying on my couch and noticing how surprisingly powerful the session had been. In just 50 minutes, I was able to take a group of about 70 people through:

• An introduction to the two basic steps any good note-taking system needs (according to my Anti-Boring Approach),

• Time to practice those two steps together, and

• Lots of concrete examples that felt genuinely doable to students.

At the end, I asked students to share their takeaways in an online space—and their reflections were phenomenal.

Sample Takeaways Shared by Students After the Presentation

“I want to hone my notes for my hardest class.”

Note-honing, if that’s new to you, is the process of going back to your notes after you’ve taken them and sharpening, clarifying, and pulling out the most important ideas so the notes become your own.

It’s very important to me that students understand they don’t have to do anything perfectly. No perfection allowed. Instead, we look for a small, teeny, tiny next step and experiment with that. Practicing note-honing in just one class—the hardest one—is a great example of that kind of next step.

“I want to take Hone It notes on the bus or at home after school.”

I loved that they thought specifically about the bus. That tells me the teaching didn’t stay abstract. They could imagine their real lives and where this might actually fit.

That’s such a practical, incremental way to spend ten minutes gleaning from the day’s classes. And it didn’t come from me telling them exactly when to do it—they imagined it themselves.

“I will focus on listening more and copying less.”

This one thrilled me.

One of my strengths as an educator is weaving in short, relevant stories that feel different from the tip I was just teaching. Those moments alert students: Something just shifted—pay attention.

I shared an unplanned story about a sixth grader I once worked with who realized that while he was taking notes, he wasn’t listening at all. He was so focused on writing down everything the teacher said that it never occurred to him to actually try to understand it.

“Just listen when you’re taking notes” may sound obvious, but many students have never considered it. So seeing this as a takeaway was huge.

“Make my note-taking more fun.”

Of course. If it’s not fun, we don’t want to do it.

There is so much potential pleasure in good note-taking. Unfortunately, I think that pleasure often gets stripped out in schools. But note-taking is one of the biggest opportunities students have to make information their own—to develop a personal system, a kind of secret code. That’s exciting.

“I want to hone the way I like to for myself.”

This one made me incredibly happy.

So many academic skills are taught in ways that imply students need to become less themselves in order to be “smart.” And that version of smartness often pulls people away from their own preferences and instincts.

I loved that this student walked away understanding that you get to do it the way you like—for yourself, not for anyone else. That is rockin’.

“I want to date my notes… and make them more visual with boxes and arrows.”

This might sound mundane, but I love it for its concreteness.

Dating notes is a small habit that makes a big difference. And when students start thinking about boxes and arrows, they’re thinking about the quality of ideas on the page and how those ideas relate. That’s a powerful way to build metacognition.

I celebrated every single one of these takeaways.

How I Did It

I’m not going to give you my full outline—even though it’s a pretty kickass outline. What feels more important to share is how I approached the teaching, because if you’re reading this, you probably care deeply about how to inspire students to do something—anything—differently.

Part of my work is noticing my own quirky way of showing up and unpacking it so other educators can think about how to be more themselves too.

Here’s what I think made the session work so well:

1. I was unabashedly myself.
I have energy. I’m quirky. And I let that show.

2. I taught a clear, simple model.
Just two steps. That’s it. Easy to hold in your head. Something students could remember after one evening.

3. We practiced together.
I gave a short mini-lecture about my life and had them take notes. From the stage, I could see common note-taking mistakes (because I know note-takers). I named them gently, had students try something different, and we laughed together.

4. I helped students notice.
This is a skill I try to model throughout the Anti-Boring Learning Lab. Pausing briefly to ask: What’s happening in your brain right now? What’s happening on the page? How are you learning in this moment?
Those small moments of noticing matter. The better we notice, the better we think and learn.

5. I built in a lot of choice.
Even with a clear two-step model, there are countless ways to apply it. I was explicit about that. I modeled being myself so students felt free to be themselves too—and to adapt the tools to their interests and personalities.

I think that freedom is a big reason students were able to walk away with such thoughtful reflections after just 50 minutes.

So to you, educators reading this: I wish you a journey of being more and more yourself.

You don’t have to be like me. Not everyone has my energy or my lens on the world. But the more you unlock who you are, and pair that with a clear, flexible toolkit, the more you’ll feel that deep satisfaction of students who really get it—and actually integrate what you teach into their lives.

If you’d like to explore more free learning resources connected to teaching study skills, note-taking, and executive function in ways that stick, you can browse the Visitor’s Center of the Anti-Boring Learning Lab here:

Visitor’s Center:
https://antiboringlearninglab.com/resources

A version of the following article was originally published here on March 14th, 2023.