Power Outlining and Notes

Santa, Havens, Maycumber. Project Criss-Second Edition. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1996.

Definition: Power outlining is a thinking strategy that helps students put information into a hierarchy of importance from main ideas to refined details. The thinking process required is similar to Roman numeral outlining but is simpler in format, requiring only numbering of the "power levels" and indenting to show relationship of details to their super- ordinate main ideas. Power outline notes can be recorded as simple phrases,, complete sentences, or branching graphic maps.

    Pattern of Thought:
    Power 1:    Main Idea
        Power 2:    Detail or support for power 1
            Power 3:    Detail or support for power 2
                Power 4:    Details or support for power 3
                    Power 5:    ...and so on...

    Example:
    Power 1:    Companion animals
        Power 2:    Dog
            Power 3:     German Shepard
                 Power 4:    Loyal Guardian
            Power 3:     Cocker Spaniel
                Power 4:    Long ears
                Power 4:     Wavy coat
        Power 2:    Cat
            Power 3:     Siamese
                Power 4: Crossed eyes
                Power 4: Plaintive meow
            Power 3:     Calico
                Power 4:    Multicolor spots on white coat
                Power 4:     Female

-(Santa, Havens, Maycumber 27)-

Instructional Uses: After modeling, power outlining and notes become a useful organizational tool for all phases of reading, prewriting, and studying.
Before Reading	Use power levels to brainstorm background/prior knowledge.
During Reading	Teach selective underlining/highlighting of text accompanied by power outlining to determine the importance of text.
After Reading	Test comprehension and retention by choosing power 1's from your content area and having students organize the subsequent power levels.
Pre-Writing	Power outline in graphic format to narrow a writing topic; help students elaborate/expand paragraphs by outlining to power levels 4, 5, and beyond.

http://drscavanaugh.org/ebooks/ebrs/note_taking.htm

Online lesson plans that use this strategy:

http://teacherlink.org/content/social/instructional/support/assessment.html

http://www.fairfield.k12.ct.us/Rogerludlowe/crogerludlowe11/THE%20SITE/

Connections	Anticipation Guides	Text Structures	T-Notes	Power Notes and Outlines
Question Answer Relationships	Vocabulary Diagrams	SQ3R	Strategies Chart

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Revised: 08/24/2006