The LINKS Strategy
A Helpful Way to Take Notes
Taking notes is very important and requires practice in order to do it well. Having notes on something, like the science lesson your teacher gave last week, makes it easier to study what the teacher wants you to know!
The LINKS strategy is a helpful way for you to become better at taking notes! LINKS is an acronym - each letter stands for something.
L - Listen
I - Identify
N - Note
K - Key Words
S - Stack Information
L is for Listen
I is for Identify verbal clues
What do these first two letters ask us to do? They ask us to listen and identify verbal clues. This means that you need to pay careful attention when the teacher is talking. Listen for information and for cues or signs that she wants you to know something important and that is worth writing down!
Some verbal cues you might here would be:
"Listen carefully..." and "Now we're going to talk about..."
Other important verbal cues might be the teacher's tone, speed and volume. If the teacher really wants you to know something she might say it louder, slower and may even repeat it.
So what do you do now that you are listening and paying attention for verbal cues?
N is for Note
K is for Key words!
Note the key words from what you hear - get the good stuff written down so you can refer back to it.
Then.....
S is for stack information
Use the 2 column format for "stacking" your key words and important information. It's an easy, convenient way to organize your thoughts and look back at them, when you need to.
How do you stack it? In columns just the same way as this page is set up!