ACUE Portfolio | Mario Guerrero | POLS | Powerful Notetaking | Skeletal Outline | Final

 

POLS 1 - 35 and 37: Essentials of Government

Reflection on Instructional Change:

"The practice I used from the ACUE course was creating and using skeletal notes paired with a quiz to improve students reading/lecture comprehension. I created a skeletal notes document that included various sections including learning objectives, key terms, questions for later, and summary. I extended the quiz (I already had a quiz created for just about every week) time and told the students that they could use their notes on the quiz. Previously, the quiz was 10 minutes and it was closed book/notes.  

When I implemented this practice, I started by sharing with students the practice I was implementing and the benefits to the students. I asked students to give me feedback on whether this was helpful to them or not by sending me a copy of their notes and sharing their perspectives. Some students found this helpful, others did not. Some students were used to taking notes a certain way. Other students had suggestions on additional structure of the skeletal notes. 

I had trying from Sacramento State (Summer Camp) where we had similar learning tools and activities. I used skeletal notes because it was something I had not tried and a concept I was not familiar with. The observe and analyze exercise really helped me think about how to improve using this tool with my classes. 

One take away from my "Observe and Analyze Session" was that I didn't do such a bad job with implementing this tool. The reasons this is important is because I think I will be less afraid to try new things in the future with the realization that it is ok if it is not perfect the first time. 

Professor Guerrero goes over the benefits of taking good notes and the skeletal notes outline.

Skeletal Notes Outline

 

Practice and Reflect on: Teaching Powerful Notetaking WTP Skeletal Outline Chapter 2 and 3.docx Download WTP Skeletal Outline Chapter 2 and 3.docx

  

Faculty Biography

Mario Guerrero is an advocate both professionally and personally. He is the current Chair of the Sacramento City Community Police Review Commission. He is Deputy Director for Legislation at the California Human Resources Department and a lecturer at Sacramento State where he teaches in the Political Science Department. He is a veteran of the United State Marine Corps and a graduate of Cornell University where is received a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a focus on government, politics, and policy. He also received his Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish with a minor in Computer Information Systems from the University of La Verne.

This work was supported by  the Developing Hispanic Serving Institution Project INSPIRE