Hammer, Saw, Notes

A hammer, a saw, the notes you take for class: these are all tools. As tools, they are means to an end. Most people do not use a hammer for the sole purpose of hitting a nail; usually there is some end in mind, such as building a new fence or hanging a painting. Similarly, do not take notes for the sole purpose of writing down what your textbook or teacher is stating. Keep in mind the desired end, which is to learn the material being covered.

When you build a fence, do you just hammer one nail, and then another, and then another, until all of the sudden - magically- a fence is complete? No! You have a plan, perhaps a blueprint or an image in your mind. Before you start hammering nails and as you progress along, you are thinking about how the pieces relate. Where does this long piece of wood go? In relation, how about this smaller piece? Without the big picture in mind, you will probably end up with a bunch of boards nailed together, not an actual fence.

It is the same with note-taking. Before you start taking notes and as you progress along, you need to be thinking about the big picture. How does this note relate to what I wrote yesterday? The textbook says one thing and the teacher says another: how do these two pieces of information go together? You need to step back from your note-taking periodically to make sense of the "fence" taking shape. To use a different metaphor, what sort of image are your notes painting? What is the big picture? What does all this mean?

A carpenter that arbitrarily hammers nails without thinking about how the pieces relate will end up with one odd-looking and ineffective fence. Just the same, a student that takes notes without thinking about the big picture and meaning will not be able to learn and understand.