I’ve struggled with note-taking as long as I can remember. Any type of notes! Having adhd makes it difficult and I had two surgeries on the hand I write with – so writing for long periods is also tough.
When I started working with dogs, the people I worked for never taught me about taking lesson notes or even putting lesson plans together. So there is also some imposter syndrome issues going on. “Am I doing this right?”, “This isn’t going to work”, “This is stupid”.
I’m using a small ARC notebook for lesson notes. I write down what I plan to work on and anything I need to follow up on, like results from a vet visit.
That ARC notebook is actually a neat idea, especially if you like paper organizers. I really wish I could make it work for me.
There is also the issue of my horrible penmanship, and most apps with OCR capabilities struggled to understand me. Story of my life!
I tried the Rocket Notebook. Reusable pages and the app would scan the page and add it to a compatible app. I was impressed at how well it actually worked and that it could read my writing (if I write slowly). But I still had to write notes. Legible notes. Sometimes the ink would smear making a mess and cleaning the pages was annoying.
So how do I prepare for lessons and take notes when I struggle with writing and deskwork in general? I go for a walk.
I seem to do all my lesson plans in my head while I’m out for a walk. So one day, while out on a walk, I thought what if I use a voice to text app and go for a walk to transcribe my notes?
I use Otter.ai to transcribe my virtual meetings and installed the mobile app on my phone. Grabbed my earbuds with a built in mic, and headed out the door.
The first few minutes I felt like an idiot. But once I was “in the zone” the words came out pretty close to what I was thinking in my head. Besides, who was watching me? Literally nobody (unless they were creeping at me out their window). Anyone I walked past probably thought I was talking to someone on the phone.
I was able to get two lessons planned and one email response complete during a 3-4 mile walk along the East Bay Bike Path here in Rhode Island.
For post lesson notes I’m doing something similar, but in the car while I’m driving to my next destination. Anything that didn’t make it on paper at the lesson goes to the Otter.ai app.
The next step was to get the notes from Otter.ai into something that wasn’t paper, but in a format that was easily accessible while at a lesson.
That will be the next post. I’m trying to keep it smaller and more readable but adhd, hyperfocus, and time blindess ya know ……