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Add to FavoritesAs a straight "A" student in high school and college, I used to look down my nose at other lower ranking students who would use Cliffs Notes to finish their assignments in writing classes or to study for their tests in literature classes. But then, two college degrees and six years later, I became a teacher of what else but English and Language Arts.
It was actually as a teacher that I developed an appreciation for the little yellow books and some of their more obscure companions. It was as a teacher that I realized that these books can actually serve as an aide to my students if used correctly. And it was as a teacher that I actually began to encourage the use of these books in my classroom so that students would learn how to use them appropriately.
One of the primary ways that I used a Cliffs Notes guide in my lesson plans was as a companion reader for more difficult texts. For example, Nathaniel Hawthorne's text The Scarlet Letter is exceptionally hard for mid-level and struggling students in the tenth grade. (To be honest, that text can be difficult for adult readers.) To help my students, we would keep both texts on our desks side by side.
Alternating texts, we would read a paragraph of Cliffs Notes summary followed by a page or two of Hawthorne's complex text. Then we would discuss any vocabulary or syntax that made the original text difficult to understand. We would read the original out loud after the discussion to solidify the sound of the various structures and the new vocabulary in the head of the students. Then we would press forward.
As the students became more comfortable with the more complex text, we would switch up the process, reading Hawthorne's original text first, discussing it, and then checking our understanding by reading summaries in Cliffs Notes. I found that many of my students became more comfortable with stopping and exploring a text rather than just trying to breeze through it to say that it was done.
I also found that using the Cliffs Notes as a companion text modeled the necessary skill of keeping a dictionary or other research materials nearby to help you dissect a complicated passage or to help you understand outdated syntax and vocabulary.
The second way that I would encourage the use of a Cliffs Notes guide in the classroom is as a review guide. After you have read the original text, explored the text on your own and in study groups, and taken notes during your discussions, you will probably be preparing for an objective (multiple choice or short answer) or subjective (long answer or essay) exam if you are still in school.
As a teacher, I used to encourage my students to scan the Cliffs Notes guide in order to refresh their memories on specific events and details in the book. I explained to them that it was more time efficient when studying to re-read the summaries rather that trying to re-read large sections of the book.
If helping students prepare for a written essay, I would encourage them to use the summaries and discussions in the Cliffs Notes to mark passages of the book that they could use as concrete examples during the course of their writing, rather than having to go search for quotes during their writing and testing time.
Above all, I would encourage students to use the handy question guides in the back of Cliffs Notes to help them practice their test-taking skills. I would warn them that the questions that are in the back of the yellow study aide probably wouldn't show up on the test (although I did usually stick in one or two), but I would advise them that answering those practice questions helped warm up the brain and helped charge the thought processes necessary for finding the literary nuggets that they had stored in their brain during studying.
Now, given these two excellent uses for Cliff Notes in the classroom, here's the rub. Many students will (and did) want to replace reading the original text with reading the Cliffs Notes guide. That choice is cheating and is inappropriate.
But can a teacher control that? While students read in the classroom, yes; however, many reading assignments occur outside of the classroom, and therefore, the teacher ultimately has to trust the student's own intuition and reason. If the student chooses to circumvent the learning process by reading the study guide without the original text, then unfortunately, the student is cheating himself and his brain.
However, if an educator uses these two teaching methods in the classroom...if he or she actually teaches the student how to learn rather than what to learn, then the students will hopefully develop a better understanding of how and when to use not only Cliffs Notes or other similar study guides, but also research materials in general. And that is learning not for the moment, but for life.
Learn more about this author, Walter Allen.
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No
There is something dishonest about Cliff's Notes; however, it's not in terms of cheating. The yellow-and-black, annotated booklets are great guides for developing reading comprehension skills for a complex novel. It seems to work well after a student has read a chapter in a book and uses the booklet to get a clearer understanding of the story's plot. Also, teaching methods such as anticipatory reading (getting to know what's going to happen in the story before you actually read it) seems to work well with some of the questions the thin yellow booklets offer. However, despite its usefulness, it is one of the most abused learning tools in the American public school system. Over ambitious students swamped with school work use them as short-cuts for actually reading the novels. Others, looking to avoid reading all together, use them without ever opening the book it was meant to demystify. For this reason, a helpful booklet has become the bane of high school English classes across the country. And, as a result, Cliff's Notes - while not academically dishonest as a learning tool - fosters dishonesty.
Most students in high school are looking at those four years as the last step before adulthood. Many will consider college while others will try to find a trade after those final four years is done. In the way of the post-secondary world, however, is the high school English class. Most, if not all, high schools require four years of English. That's more than any other course offered through the school system. And, as a result, an ever increasing amount of reading is needed to pass the courses. In California, an English class standard (set by the state) will call for at least two or three novels to be read by the end of each year. This doesn't take into account summer reading lists, the amount of short stories, and supplemental reading assignments. For a high school student taking six to seven courses in math, science and social studies, the workload can be daunting. And, as a result, many will look for short-cuts to remedy this situation.
Cliff's Notes were not supposed to be short-cuts. They were available to students as a means to help them comprehend and understand stories such as Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlett Letter," Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" or William Shakespeare's "Hamlet." These stories are some of the finest example of English literature. And, they are some of the most complex stories in the language, as well. Cliff's Notes for these stories helped to demystify some of the symbolisms, character development, word usage and figurative speech used by the authors. The booklets broke chapters down into easy-to-read outlines, guiding questions and definitions of vocabulary and literary terms.
However, these booklets worked too well. They became substitutes rather than supplements. From honor-roll students to students with special needs, Cliff's Notes became the unofficial "cheat sheet" for their English classes. Most often, the students stopped reading the novels and relied heavily on the booklets. Students who relied on this booklet thought they were getting an edge. However, the consequences usually showed its ugly head later on in life.
Dependence on Cliff's Notes may help a student get through the tedious task of reading, but it doesn't improve their reading skills. If one is to improve his or her reading skills, they will have to dive into the novels and plays that the Cliff's Notes attempt to explain. There's no real way around it. They need to see the language and terminologies in action. They need to read about the plot, get to know the characters, and ultimately put it all together to come up with a meaning.
All stories have meanings: Themes or messages that the stories convey. While Cliff's Notes help with the other parts of reading comprehension such as plot and characterization, it does nothing to help the student understand what the author's message is. This is something totally dependent on the reader. The reader's interpretation and understanding the author's intent is part of reading. And, it's tough to find this out when all you have is an outline and few defined terms. Reading comprehension, in terms of finding a theme goes much deeper than that.
When students rely heavily on Cliff's Notes rather than the actual stories, they miss something in their education. The student may pass the course in which he or she used Cliff's Notes, but they didn't learn how to decode a story's complex array of figurative language, themes, plots and other literary terms. It's a hollow victory for these students, for they passed the class but didn't learn the rules. There's no telling what type of future these particular students will have; they'll probably struggle in college, avoid reading all together, or get into the habit of finding short cuts for everything just to get by. That's not learning. And, despite how powerful a tool Cliff's Notes can be, its misuse deems it dishonest.
Learn more about this author, Dean Traylor.
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