This past year has been crazy hard on us all. A few weeks ago I really felt like I hit a wall with learning new things, career growth, all of it. So I shifted my focus a bit.

Giving Back

Now I'm trying to spend part of my work time creating resources to help those just starting out their journey learning to code!

So far I've done articles on:

• Agile methodologies and teachers
• The Dutch Flag quick sort (and currently in drafts: Boyer-Moore-Horspool, my favorite string search!)

Today, I'm reaching back to my days spent literally studying how people learn...

^{Sample of my Cornell Notes Notion template}

Why Cornell Notes Matter

Today I'm taking it back to my teaching roots with a learning resource! My favorite notetaking style to teach was Cornell Notes. It was a part of the AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) skills that I taught. Essentially it involves:

1. Taking notes using ideas, shorthand, sketches, etc. (rather than full sentences)
2. Going back to add a main idea or guiding question for each section
3. Summarizing each page based only on the main ideas/questions (cover the notes!)
4. Reviewing the notes multiple times (I did 24 hour, 48 hour, and one week later)

Developing the main ideas, then by summarizing from those main ideas only help to build connections and process what was learned, versus regurgitating information. The review helps to cement those neural pathways each time.

Get Started!

I've really fallen in love with Notion recently. Naturally, I created a Notion template for Cornell Notes🙌. It includes a notebook and notetaking sheet that you can duplicate. It's designed to use Cornell Notes' review and repetition strategies to boost memory and understanding. I hope you find it useful!

^{Preview of the Notebook layout}

Free Template:

Get the template here and duplicate it to your Notion workspace!