Remember New Information Easily with Organized Note Taking
Call me old fashion or perhaps call me ahead of my time? Taking notes, yup hand written notes, has always been important to me to help recall information but more importantly organize my thinking. When laptops came out I was ecstatic thinking that they were the answer to organizing my thinking. And indeed, it has been great organizing a variety of things but it is not the best thing for memory. My metacognition was well aware of the fact that I always remembered more when I took long hand notes.
The new research ( Psychological Science, Pam A. Mueller of Princeton University and Daniel M. Oppenheimer of the University of California, Los Angeles) has in fact legitimized my thinking with the above study and proven that students remember more when they engage in long hand notes.
It is important to have structure when taking notes because it helps you remember better and facilitates easier scanning and studying of material (Journal of Family & Consumer Science of Education, 30, Spring/Summer 2012) The above picture is a version of a “Cornell Note Taking” format to help organize thinking in a productive way that makes remembering more facile.
Essentially the left hand column is the WHAT and the middle are your NOTES neatly categorized. Now in the case of My Memory Pal therapy the categories that make the most sense in the beginning of therapy are:
Habit of the Mind: What is the new habit you are trying to form?
Best Practices: I like keeping this at the top of a list so it reminds me for example: “Set an alarm.”
Brain/Body: This might be notes you are taking about good self care such as sleep and memory, nutrition and memory.
Anti-Anxiety: This section might be about exercises for calming when one gets stuck.
Metacognition: This would be the section to journal your thoughts before, during and after an activity. Perhaps it’s about how you are feeling. And the list goes on.
RIGHT HAND COLUMN: The far right hand column may be about things you want to remember to do re: the item you are writing to the left about.
MISCELLANEOUS COLUMN: Sometimes I will even make a small subcategory at the bottom for “Misc.” so things I don’t know where to file like the name or subject of a YouTube video I saw that I want to remember during the session.
Sure you can make a form but the very best solution is to have a book with you, something simple like a cheap composition book. You draw the 3 columns in the book and always include a title and the date. Once you get into the habit of taking notes like this, the whole memory world falls into place with ease. You can even do it on the back of a napkin!
Remember Me Until Next Time,
Jenn Bulka, Memory Therapist
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