Observations on Taking Notes

I got yelled at today for not taking notes in one of my lectures. I don't understand, just because taking notes works for some people, it doesn't mean it works for all. I personally learn best when I'm taking in a lecture like I'm watching a TED talk and not worrying about jotting down all the notes. Do we have no choice in school?
Connecting this with Student Engagement
The whole point in engaging a student is to help them learn better. If they are engaged more, they will learn more (that's the goal at least). So if one student is engaged well by taking notes, go right ahead, if another is not, don't force them to take notes, they may not be as engaged in what is actually being said and more worried about their paper.

Observations 2

In High School, I can't understand why some teachers try to stray from their students. Meaning they try not to be as friendly, I see this especially in older teacher. Teachers who are more frank with their students , who don't cover up their language like they're talking to a class of kindergarteners, are typically more liked by the students. That right off the bat can help engage a students, if the student loves the class but hates the teacher, there's no point in trying to engage the student because they've already lost respect for you and do not want to listen, at that point they're already discouraged to come to class.

First Observations

I've found it interesting as the correlation to my grades and teachers who have posters on their walls. Posters are distracting, making sure that students are properly engaged, you must do everything possible to eliminate every distraction. That's the primary. I do well in classes with nothing on their walls. But that's just "well". Where I do great is teachers who have color in their room. My geometry class in freshman year of high school had no posters on the wall but instead had purple walls. I got a 99% in the class. My current Pre-Calculus class had white walls, posters with words on them everywhere, and I'm one point away from failing because I struggle to focus. Just some food for thought.

My First P2PU class!

Woooo!