I talked with Mr. Sheridan, our Middle School Tech Coordinator about a lot of different note taking apps. He suggested we try out Notability. I like it for a lot of reasons. Notability lets you take pictures and highlight or write on them; it lets you mark up PDF’s; it lets you organize your notes in folder and back them up on Google Drive or Dropbox.

Perhaps the thing I like best about Notability is that it makes it easy to draw diagrams and webs, almost as if you were using paper and pencil. I’ve been reading a lot about note taking, and one thing I’ve learned is that some research suggests that paper and pencil note taking is actually more effective than note taking by typing. (You can read an article about that here.)

We’ve been experimenting in my different sections of Academic Support. Here are just a few of the interesting examples of what Notability can do. In the comments below, explain what you have learned about Notability this week. Have you learned anything from looking at these examples?

Anna’s notes show photos and webs.

Lotso uses the highlighter

Anis uses words, arrows and the highlighter to reflect on her writing.

Amy uses photos, words and drawings to reflect.