The information below is available in the DSS office as handouts to give to your volunteer notetakers on how to use the carbonless notetaker paper and how to take good notes and how to your professors help you et good class notes. There is also a letter for faculty on helping your student with a disability in finding a volunteer notetaker. You can also print these pages, or you can download here:

Microsoft Word format (.doc)	PDF format (.pdf)
Letter to Volunteer Notetakers (20kb) Letter to Faculty (21kb)	Letter to Volunteer Notetakers (17kb) Letter to Faculty (11kb)

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To Volunteer Notetakers:

As a student you know how important it is to have good notes. Thank you for helping a classmate with a disability by sharing your notes! If you have any questions, please contact Les Lichter at Disability Support Services (240-567-5060).

To make this process as convenient for you as possible and as useful for the recipient as possible, please consider the following:

How to use the carbonless-copy paper:

By itself: Use two sheets. If you write on the top sheet, the writing transfers to the bottom sheet. You keep the top sheet and give the bottom sheet to the student with a disability or to your teacher to pass on to the student.

With your own notebook: You can use your own notebook paper. Just put two sheets of the carbonless-copy paper under your own notebook sheet. The first sheet of the carbonless-copy paper will act as the ink transfer; the second sheet will be the copy of your notes that you will give to the student. Press down firmly! When you turn to your next notebook page, you can re-use the first sheet of copy paper, but remember to add a second sheet of copy paper on top of it. When you need more copy paper, just ask your teacher or the student.

What the student hopes to see in your notes:

On each page, please write the Date, Course Number, and Page Number of the notes (for example, page 1 of 4; page 2 of 4; page 3 of 4; page 4 of 4). Please write legibly, preferably in pen.

Please write down all assignments and due dates, as well as anything written on the board.

Please write down the primary and secondary points, any key terms or concepts. Everyone takes notes differently, but good notes do have certain aspects in common. We have found that good notes use headings and subheadings and follow a logical sequence. We have also found that useful notes give some details to flesh out the main points.

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To Faculty:

In the Accommodations Letter that you have just been given by a student with a disability, you will find the recommendation of "peer notes." The student will discuss with you whether he/she wishes to make a request to the class for volunteer note takers and to receive the notes directly, or whether he or she prefers you to make an announcement and to collect the notes after class for him/her.

If you make the announcement, you may find it helpful to read the following statement to your class. Once two volunteers are secured, please distribute to the volunteers the blue note taker instruction letters along with the carbonless-copy paper the student will supply.

Sample announcement:

"Disability Support Services is asking for two or three students from this class to volunteer to share their notes with a classmate with a disability. Students with a disability attend class regularly; however their disability may interfere their ability to take notes. They may not be able to take their own notes because they may have to watch a sign language interpreter closely, they may have low vision or have very limited use of their hands, or they may have difficulty listening and writing at the same time."

"Disability Support Services would like to stress two points. First, it's very convenient to be a volunteer note taker. You never have to give up your notebook or visit the Disability Support office for xeroxing. All you have to do is use the loose-leaf carbonless-copy paper provided, which can be used by itself or with your own notebook paper. I will hand out blue instruction letters explaining all this to the volunteers. If you prefer to type your notes or do it some other way DSS can work this out with you."

"Second, please don't feel that you have to be the best note taker in the world to volunteer. We're looking for people who write legibly, get the main points, and want to help."

Thank you for your assistance! If you have questions about the student's accommodation, please call the counselor listed on the Accommodations Letter. If you have questions about this procedure, please call Les Lichter at Disability Support Services (240-567-5060).

 

These handouts were developed by Marjorie Raley in the DSS Learning Center.