British Literature General Lessons/Handouts

How to Take Notes in and on a Text    Docx    PDF

One of the most important handouts that I give out all year.  I pass it out before we do our first major novel - Grendel.  I am lucky enough that most of my students were able to buy the novels and plays that we read, so they could write their annotations directly in their books.   I also give students printed copies of most of the poems and short texts that we read in my class (and these handouts can be found on this website), and they are expected to take notes (annotate) on these handouts when we go over these texts in class.  There are three lessons that are extremely helpful in this endeavor:  1) The Beowulf Circle   2) The Macbeth Circle  3) The Twelfth Night Circle.

As my school is a College Preparatory High School - I knew they would be using these skills in a year or two.  In fact, when students came back to visit - of all the academic skills we worked on - this is the one that they seemed the most greatful for.  I am indebted to my student teacher, Peter Tavolacci for recommending the poem, "Marginalia" by Billy Collins that is a part of the handout.

The instructions are pretty darn straight-forward.  I really believe the best way to annotate is to "just do it", and that every reader needs to find their own way that makes sense for them - the idea of this handout is to get them started.  And as I said, there is a delightful poem by Billy Collins on the back (which can be used in a demonstration for annotating) on the joys of taking notes in a book.

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