Plug-In Notes and 1 Plus 3 Notes in DRA 115

Hi girls! I hope none of you got blown away by the wind yesterday! It was crazy outside! I came back to the dorms from dinner looking like I had just jumped in a pool!

This week I applied both strategies, Plug-In Notes and 1 Plus 3 Notes! I decided to use them in my Introduction to Theatre class, because my midterm was this past Thursday, and I knew that the strategies would specifically help me anticipate exam questions, as well as helping me learn the material in general.

My professor, Geri, generally begins class by asking if we have any questions on the readings we've done for that class. That is when I find that she gives us most of the answers we need to do well in the class. Geri is also known for going off on tangents, so it's a great storytime as well :)

First, let's talk about how I applied the Plug-In Notes strategy to DRA 115. Personally, I prefer to take notes by hand. I find that actually physically writing out my notes helps me to remember them better, most likely due to the fact that I am a Kinesthetic learner, so the more my body can move around while I'm in class, the better. Typing just doesn't do it for me, so I hand wrote my Plug-In Notes. Due to the fact that they are hand written, they may not be as pretty as all of yours, but I tried to liven them up with some color. Here is a screenshot of one page of notes I took and used for the Plug-In strategy:

I think it went pretty well! I was able to relate what was talked about in class to definitions we had learned previously, and it was a great way to review for the midterm (which by the way, I think went really well!! Yes!) As you can see, the more into class we get, the messier my penmanship is, which I am trying to work on!

Next, let's take a look at the 1 Plus 3 notes I took for Intro to Theatre!

I set up the page like the directions in Dr. Blumin's book said to, with key terms or concepts in the first block on the page, graphic organizers in the second block, and possible exam questions in the third space. Here is what it turned out looking like:

I am extremely pleased with this strategy! Again, I hand wrote the notes so that I would be more mentally involved with the process, and I love the set up of the page! The graphic organizers are awesome to look at to memorize the terms and their categories, and having the possible exam questions right beneath them works like a charm for instant testing on how well I know my stuff.

As I mentioned, my midterm was this past Thursday, and I think it went as well as it possibly could have! In addition to using these note taking strategies, I used my flashcards and created my own study guide, which really helped me to learn everything I needed to know to take the exam. See you all tomorrow, and get a good night's rest!