Note Taking

• Why take notes at all?
• What is the best way to make taking notes work?  Why is it effective?
• Do I take notes in this way?
• How have I, as a student in AP Language and Composition, have been taking notes up until now?
• Is what I’ve been doing effective?
• Is there anything I would do differently?

Notes are essential to understanding the information during a lecture. Listening to the lecture is not enough you have to take notes to have a more personal understanding of the information. The reason to take notes is because it helps you recall the information learned in class and allows you to narrow the information down to the main points.
The best way to make taking notes work, is to be sure that it is concise yet still able of stating the most important information fully. Make up abbreviation that you can understand clearly so that you don't spend more time than you actually need on writing down every word. Also paraphrase and make the information your own to help you remember and understand the notes better. Only use word for word if the quote is important or the way that the information was presented had a certain significance.
I take notes quite efficiently, jotting down only the main/most important points and making sure that i don'y spend too much time taking down notes as the teacher moves on to the next point. However when compared to the Cornell note taking method, my own lacks quite a few things. All i have are the main points that i thought were important and a few key words here and there. It not extremely organized either, no separate column for different purposes i just start from the top and continue downwards. In APELC i do not take as much notes as i would in other classes because a lot of the things are critical thinking based and i find taking down notes for things like that are un-necessary. I type up a few things that i think are important that gets brought up in class but other than that i rarely have my computer out for taking notes, more for checking facts. However at home while doing the assigned readings i do take notes and i have a system of formatting that allows me to see immediately what is more important. I keep it concise and try to follow a 10 pages for one page of notes format. That allows me to be concise with my notes and make sure that i don't include un-necessary information. I do a lot of my notes on the computer and sometimes it can be hard to access. So i think from now on i'll do the main notes on the computer and make a even more concise version on paper. However i do not think i will be using the Cornell note taking system because i would get too lazy to go back and do the summary and cues, which would make it a waste of time trying to organize everything before hand. I do summaries and cues on my own when i go back to review the information though, just not as soon as possible.

The Role of the Moderator

Moderators should be there to moderate, to keep the debate in check and make sure that the rules are followed. The moderator should have authority over the debater to be able to stop them when needed and use their position. Unlike the first moderator, who was not using his authority, Candy Crowley does her job and fights with the debaters to keep the debate regulated. She doesn't allow extra comments that would be against the rules and she guides the debate and eliminates small talk that is unnecessary. However she still allows some chaos here and there, probably for entertainment. She links statements made by Romney and Obama to the next question and keeps the debate moving in the right direction. Moderators are suppose to maintain the structure of the debate like a cop, to keep it clean. Candy Crowley does a good job of doing so. At times Romney and Obama seem to be ready to swing fist but the Candy breaks up the fight, good job! Time is kept in check and over lapping and interruptions were limited. Compared to the first debate the second debate is much clearer and contains much more content. Instead of staying on one topic for the first half an hour Candy Crowley moves the debate along, but stopping the speaker when she needs to. To be honest, i feel bad for the first moderator but he didn't use his title to the fullest, he struggled to man up and doing his job.

Groups I Identify With

In Angelou's writing of Champion of the World all the African Americans are gathering around to watch the boxing match that would decide the fate of their people. The match was extremely important and as a group the African Americans showed their attachment to the match. I have not personally experienced anything like what Angelou has written about; however, i have others ways of identifying which group i belong with.There are so many groups that i can identify with, both big and small. The largest would be species of course, and the smallest could come down to what fruit i prefer more. First of all my species. I am human, capable of speech and actions all other humans are capable of. Second of all my race. I am Asian, just like my parents who gave birth to me, i was born an asian and will stay an asian. Now to the more confusing parts. Although i am Asian in blood and appearance, i am many times called an "ABC"; American born Chinese, although i have never lived in america before. It is only because i speak fluent English and prefer it over Chinese more than half of the time, people call me an "ABC". However i identify myself as a "ABC" in my society because I act like one and all my friends do too. However identifying oneself with a "group" is not a one way thing. One doesn't belong to a group just because one thinks so, he also has to be accepted by the rest of the group. Most of the times big groups are not hard to get into because they are mainly general traits what people are born with, really don't have a choice. For smaller groups such as sports group, a person will need to have some kind of skill set needed to start the sport. With out the skill set a person will never be able fit into the group.Some groups you are born into and some you'll have to find a way to fit into.