[nabs-l] law school course outlining

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi Jay and all,

While I'm not a law student, I think outlining techniques are an
important skill for all students to develop. The thing about
notetaking as a blind person is that the notetaking strategies that
work for you aren't always going to be what is most intuitive for
sighted people. When I write presentation handouts for sighted
readers, I try my best to do the outlining/indenting thing, but the
indentations aren't too helpful when I'm writing notes for myself to
read later. I think  when you are the only person  who will be reading
your notes,  what's  important is to do things in a way that makes
sense to you, even if it's not following the conventions typically
adopted by sighted people.

What format do you typically take notes in--hard-copy Braille, print,
on a Braille notetaker or on a computer? I typically  use my Braille
Note, so I use paragraph breaks as a way to separate my notes into
sections. Beyond that, though, I don't use any special bulleting or
numbering in my notes, beyond  giving each section a title (i.e.
"Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc." Also my habit is to read chapters or
articles from beginning to end, skipping around only if there's
something like a figure or something technical that doesn't seem
essential. I write down anything that seems surprising or unfamiliar
in my notes and also try to get down the main points expressed at the
beginning or end of the article. To many reading things all the way
through may sound time-consuming, but if you're reading with JAWS or
you're a decent Braille reader it really doesn't take longer than it
does for print readers, and you don't risk missing anything important.
Again, everyone has their own method of recording important
information and, for instance if you take your notes in Braille, you
may find traditional outlining and indenting to be helpful.

Arielle

On 10/30/09, Bruce Sexton Jr. <bjsexton at comcast.net> wrote:
> hello,
>
> write me at:
> bjsexton at comcast.net
> and I would love to strategize with you about study methods.  I have used
> several within the past year that have been extremely helpful.
> Thanks,
> Bruce
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Johnston" <withat at msn.com>
> To: <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 10:24 AM
> Subject: [nabs-l] law school course outlining
>
>
>> Hello all,
>> I am new to this list, so please pardon if this is a repeat of a recent
>> thread.  What course outlining methods have blind law students used?  This
>>
>> is my first year in law school, so everything is new to me.  I question
>> whether the typical method of using Roman numerals, Arabic numbers,
>> letters, etc. with indentations would be ideal for me.  It seems like it
>> would be hard to see the big picture and to navigate the concepts in a
>> document like this.
>>
>> I'm open to any/all suggestions/ideas.
>>
>> Thanks much.
>>
>> Jay in Oregon
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-- 
Arielle Silverman
President, National Association of Blind Students
Phone:  602-502-2255
Email:
nabs.president at gmail.com
Website:
www.nabslink.org