Interactive Student Notebooks (ISN)
I swear by Interactive Student Notebooks in Social Studies classes. It is a comprehensive learning tool for all of students' work. Interactive student notes are an organized series of notes compiled with images, tables, maps, graphs and others that show student learning all in one place.
Setting up ISN's
In order to successfully implement ISN's into your curriculum, each student needs a notebook dedicated to your class; or for my school (we're 1:1 iPad) an notebook app that is easy to import charts, pictures, and draw on. I prefer to use GoodNotes. Once you have a notebook it is important to explain to students how you want it organized and be sure to give specific directions. The right hand side is for teacher-created notes or graphic organizers with students responses. When these are created, whether it is a foldable, or a graphic organizer; make sure it gets stapled or glued into the notebook. The left hand side is for students to practice. This could be questions on the board that students need to write on.
Table of Contents
I start out by creating a table of contents on page 1. Every time we add new pages or notes, we automatically update our table of contents. The ToC is important to help students find their work while reviewing for unit and semester tests. This will enable students to quickly identify sections where they need to spend more time reviewing.
Bell-ringer
To start each class period, I begin every day with a series of bell-ringers, only I call them 'Sponge Questions.' The purpose of the sponges is to review the previous days work and/or introduce the days topic. Each sponge will be dated and numbered. Questions will be written down or captured in a screen shot, so when students come back to review at a later date you know the question that goes with each answer all there in their ISN.
Notes
All notes should be kept organized, chronological (in terms of when discussed in class), and identified by chapter and section.
To truly make interactive notes, there needs to be media attached to it. Students are encouraged to include maps, graphics, tables and graphs, screen shots, video clips and pictures you take to make it the most comprehensive set possible.
Benefits of ISN's (TCI, 2014)
Setting up ISN's
In order to successfully implement ISN's into your curriculum, each student needs a notebook dedicated to your class; or for my school (we're 1:1 iPad) an notebook app that is easy to import charts, pictures, and draw on. I prefer to use GoodNotes. Once you have a notebook it is important to explain to students how you want it organized and be sure to give specific directions. The right hand side is for teacher-created notes or graphic organizers with students responses. When these are created, whether it is a foldable, or a graphic organizer; make sure it gets stapled or glued into the notebook. The left hand side is for students to practice. This could be questions on the board that students need to write on.
Table of Contents
I start out by creating a table of contents on page 1. Every time we add new pages or notes, we automatically update our table of contents. The ToC is important to help students find their work while reviewing for unit and semester tests. This will enable students to quickly identify sections where they need to spend more time reviewing.
Bell-ringer
To start each class period, I begin every day with a series of bell-ringers, only I call them 'Sponge Questions.' The purpose of the sponges is to review the previous days work and/or introduce the days topic. Each sponge will be dated and numbered. Questions will be written down or captured in a screen shot, so when students come back to review at a later date you know the question that goes with each answer all there in their ISN.
Notes
All notes should be kept organized, chronological (in terms of when discussed in class), and identified by chapter and section.
To truly make interactive notes, there needs to be media attached to it. Students are encouraged to include maps, graphics, tables and graphs, screen shots, video clips and pictures you take to make it the most comprehensive set possible.
Benefits of ISN's (TCI, 2014)
- Helps students get organized
- Creates better note-takers
- Provides a great resource/portfolio/study tool for students to refer to
- It visually engages students in the learning process
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Grading the Interactive Student Notebook:
In this video, practicing teachers go through their thought processes and adjustments, and advice on how to grade ISN's. The first teacher suggests collecting them twice a quarter, and specifically looking for about 5 certain pages to take a grade on. The second teacher suggests a daily quick check of the notes to make sure students are completed their previous days work. This is done during the bell-ringer and she uses a sticker or a stamp to signify the work was done and completed on time, or it wasn't. She then collects those during a grade period and views all the stickers she's put in to determine the grade. |
Planning and Setting up Interactive Notebooks for Teachers
In this video, Jennifer Smith Sloane, shows great examples of ISN's that she has set up and created for her classes. They offer great examples for flippables and other insets. She goes through the steps for a teacher to go through to get one set up. Those are: 1. Have your state standards and your state's scope and sequence. 2. Download her Interactive planning sheet, to start setting up the pages. 3. Have students number the odd sides. 4. Provide page one for students to decorate and make their own. 5. Page 2 is dedicated for her math rubric and her Table of Contents goes on afterwards. (She uses 4 pages for her table of contents.) 6. She has students set up their goals for the class. |
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References
Kenney, J. (2013, April 12). Interactive Student Notebooks. The Educators Room. Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://theeducatorsroom.com/2013/04/interactive-student-notebooks-my-mathematical-lifesaver/
Sloane, J. S. (2013, July 3). Planning and Setting up Interactive Notebooks for Teachers.YouTube. Retrieved July 24, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5bUTkB_6sw
TeachTCI. (2011, August 3). Grading the Interactive Student Notebook. YouTube. Retrieved July 24, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCqZMaFvEsA
The Interactive Student Notebook. (2014, n.d.). Interactive Social Studies Notebook. Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://www.teachtci.com/interactive-social-studies-notebook.html