In-class support strategies : note-taking

This type of lesson, which becomes more common as students grow older and teachers have to cover large amounts of examination material, is only slightly easier to support. Where these are note-copying lessons (from book or board) they present particular difficulties for dyslexic students who may find writing and copying a slow, laborious process.

Copy for the student

Copy the notes for the student whilst they finish a previous piece of work. Dyslexic students often fall behind because of being slower writers. This is one way of helping them to catch up.

Act as secretary

Ask the student to read the notes out for you to write. Here you are acting as the student's secretary or personal assistant - but helping the student practice reading skills.

Copy alternate sentences

A variation of the above strategy is only to copy alternate sentences, allowing the student to copy the others. Again this helps to keep the student on schedule.

Cloze procedure

Copy out all of the notes but turn them into a cloze procedure for the student to complete.

Highlighting

Copy out the notes (or photocopy them) and then ask the student to underline / highlight key words

Multi-sensory input

Read out notes from the board to students - useful where the board is hard to see or where the teacher's handwriting is difficult to read.

Word-process and create activities

Where a computer is available, use it to word-process the notes and then develop activities to go with them for the next time (either with the same group at a later date, or with a different group to use instead of copying from the board).

Clarify meaning

Clarify the meaning of the notes. Test for understanding. Expand notes if necessary.