Get Your Pencils Out

Okay, don't just laugh this off.  There's something interesting in Ainissa Ramirez's article "The Lowdown on Longhand: How Writing By Hand Benefits the Brain."   I don't think this author is saying that technology doesn't belong in the classroom, she's saying that it's not the only thing that should be in the classroom.

When I was a college student (which seems like scores of years ago at the speed this technological age is moving), I took my laptop to class a few times, but soon opted for pen and paper.  I've always had strange note taking methods.  If the teacher was making actual points, I'd write them down.  Otherwise there would be odd charts and spider webs with plenty of unrelated pictures and the occasional poem in the margins (I found myself especially inspired in poetry class to compose poems of my own).  Then, sometime later, I took out all my hand written notes, cracked open a textbook (because I underlined stuff in the books and wrote the page numbers in my notes) and then proceeded to type up the notes and every thing I had outlined and underlined.

Now, before you start judging my pre-college education and lack of proper written note-taking skills, let me just say, I know how to take notes in a proper fashion.  I just chose to make up my own style.  Subconsciously, I probably was practicing for my alleged future career in secret ops (Hey, a girl can dream, right?).

I'm not advising anyone to take hand written notes the way I did.  My point is that by initially taking notes by hand, my notes became short cues that triggered my memory, something my typed notes couldn't do.  Whenever I tried to type notes in class, I became a perfectionist, typing lengthy notes, or became distracted with Minesweeper (what is it with that game, anyway?) and nothing stayed in my memory.  I'm sure it's different for different people, but maybe note taking by hand has some form of tactile approach to learning, and, if anything, I'm a hands on learner.

Anyway, if you're in a position where you're taking notes, but they don't seem to be helping to jog your memory there is a cheaper alternative than purchasing video equipment and making movies of lectures you don't really want to watch again, and that's the good old pen and paper.  So go and spend $3-$10 on a pen that fits your grip and get the refillable ink or go with some good old fake lead pencils, purchase a notebook (the paper kind), and scratch away.  See if you feel smarter at all.  If it doesn't work, well, you can burn the notebook and pick up the laptop again.  And if it does work, you can still burn the notebook, after the class ends and you've passed successfully.  Fire is awesome!