Cassie White

Self Study
Summary of Project:
In my self-study project, I will be focusing on the style of note taking for students. In the
beginning, students are receiving notes in a presentation format with the teacher
clicking through the slides. As I was observing the students, I noticed that many seemed
unengaged and weren’t taking notes. My proposed solution is to try taking notes by
writing on the board. My hope is that students follow along with me and take their own
notes, making them more engaged in the content.

Bibliography:

Armour, Chris, et al. “Writing on the Board as Students' Preferred Teaching Modality in
a Physiology Course.” American Physiological Society, 2023 The American
Physiological Society, 22 Apr. 2016,
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/advan.00130.2015#:~:text=Wh
en%20instructors%20%E2%80%9Cwrite%20on%20the,effective%20as%20long
hand%20note%20taking

Best, Jackson. “20 Student Engagement Strategies for a Captivating Classroom.” 3P

Learning, 3P Learning, 8 Feb. 2023,
https://www.3plearning.com/blog/20-student-engagement-strategies-captivatin
g-classroom/.

“Engaging Students in Learning.” Center for Teaching and Learning, University of

Washington, 11 July 2022,
https://teaching.washington.edu/topics/engaging-students-in-learning/#:~:text
=Promoting%20student%20engagement%20through%20active%20learning&tex
t=Strategies%20include%2C%20but%20are%20not,on%20activities%2C%20and
%20experiential%20learning.

Roberto, Michael. “Engaging Students on the First Day and Every Day.” Harvard
Business Publishing Education, Harvard Business School Publishing, 9 Apr.
2021,
https://hbsp.harvard.edu/inspiring-minds/engaging-students-on-the-first-day-a
nd-every-day.
Analysis Drawn from Data:
● Conclusions:
○ Writing notes on the board rather than using presentation style notes
engages more students in this specific math class
○ I also noticed that writing notes on the board made me slow down when
presenting the notes, which allowed the students to write down more
information
○ I was able to make the notes more simple to understand. In presentation
style notes, we can add a lot of cool things to the slides but in the end, I
believe that is more confusing for the students. When writing the notes
down on the board, I can keep things simple and straight forward, giving
students the information they need to know
○ Taking notes on the board also allows students to format their notes to
their liking. Some students need different things in order to succeed in the
classroom

Reflection Log:

Day Agenda for # of # of Reflection

the Day Engaged Students
Students who took
notes
Wednesday Notes 30 24 Students know that the slides will be
March 8th (Presentation) posted in Google Classroom for them,
so they are not paying attention during
notes

Thursday Worksheet N/A N/A Students were asking many questions

March 9th while doing the worksheet. Most of
them didn’t even look at the notes
before asking for help

Friday Notes 45 37 Notes were a little bumpy 1st Hour as I

March 10th (Document was getting used to using the document
Camera) camera, however I did notice that more
students wrote some of the notes down

Monday Notes 50 40 Doing notes on the board went way

March 13th (Writing on better than using the document camera.
the Board) There were a few more students taking
notes

Tuesday Notes 55 46 Second day of doing notes on the board.

March 14th (Writing on Seems to be successful so far. Many
the board) students taking notes
 Wednesday Worksheet N/A N/A I think this worksheet went a lot better
March 15th because more students had notes to
look at than the one before.

Thursday Notes 62 49 Students are looking at the board

March 16th (Writing on during notes. Not all of them are taking
the Board) notes, but they are engaged in the
lesson

Friday Notes 67 52 Last day of notes. Most students were

March 17th (Writing on engaged in this lesson because it was
the Board) interactive

Monday Review Sheet N/A N/A A lot of the students had notes to help
March 20th them fill out their worksheet

Tuesday Review Game N/A N/A Those students who took notes used
March 21st them while playing the review Quizizz

Wednesday Quiz N/A N/A Those students who took notes were
March 22nd able to use them on the quiz. It really
made a difference in their scores

Data:
● Total Number of Students: 85
● There are 11 students who refuse to do anything when in class
● Students were asked which note-taking style they preferred more
○ 76% of students preferred notes that were written on the board
○ 24% of students preferred presentation style notes
● Presentation Notes
○ 35% of students engaged
○ 28% of students took notes
● Document Camera
○ 52% of students engaged
○ 43% of students took notes
● Writing on the Board
○ 78% of students engaged
○ 61% of students took notes