Interactive Student Notebooks (ISN)

Catie DiVito

Broad Creek Middle School- 7th Grade Math & Science

Twitter: @catiedivito

Email: catherine.divito@carteretk12.org

Presentation and other materials can be found at: http://goo.gl/NxaJ7g

What is it?

• Notebook (not online)

• Way of organizing class materials

• Allows students to have a choice

• Multiple means of expression

Why start?

“I lost my

homework”

“Uhh... it might

be in my

locker...??”

“I didn’t

know what

I was

supposed

to do”

“I forgot it at

school

yesterday”

“It was boring…

so I just didn’t

do it”

“oh, uhh,

what did we

do yesterday?”

What do I need?

• Notebook (**PLASTIC COVER**)

• Tape or Glue (sticks or bottle)

• Scissors

• Colored pencils (NOT markers)

• Colored computer paper for foldables (optional)

What are the different parts of an

ISN?

• Cover Page

• Table of Contents

• Rubric

• Essential Questions

• Title Pages

• Left Pages

• Right Pages

Teacher Input

• Notes/Lecture

• Instructional Worksheets

• Foldables

• Title Pages

• Pre-reading activities

• Articles

• Lab Notes

What are right page activities?

Student Output

Activities that allow for choice and creativity

Assign particular choices early on to help familiarize them with

each option

Can always allow choice or narrow down to one or a few

What are left page activities?

• Comic Strip

• Foldable

• Diagrams

• Charts

• Current Events

• Poems

• Song Lyrics (performed for extra points)

• Advertisements and Magazine Covers

• Hero/Wanted Posters

• Lab Write-Ups

• Vocabulary

• Section Review Questions

Left Page (sinker) Activities

Sinker Examples

Check and stamp sinkers daily (5 minutes at the beginning of class or while

they are working on an activity)

Student Peer evaluations (in notebook and on a Google Form)

Teacher checks them 1-2 times each 9 weeks (usually on a test day)

Rubric- YOU decide what is important

Ugh, What about grading?

Peer Evaluations

• Grading (they’re huge…)

• Time for set up

• Absent Students

• New Students

• Too many options for students

• Glue

• Pages fall out

What are the challenges?

What about Technology?

• Projects and assignments online

o Can be printed

o Can be summarized on a page

o Can just not go in a notebook

What do the parents think?

“I think it is

teaching my son

organization and

responsibility for

his work. I have

seen him study

out of this

notebook. ”

“I really like the fact that the students

have choices: comic strips. poems,

invitations, etc. My daughter

actually seems to enjoy herself! It

forces the students to think about

ordinary science topics in a whole

new way...all the while, achieving a

much more profound understanding

of the subject matter.”

“Since all the pages are numbered, this

lets the student know exactly what page

something is on….Each chapter begins

with Essential Questions that will be

covered in the material. There are notes

from the teacher, usually on the right page,

and colorful sinkers from the students on

the left page.”

“Sometimes

there is so much

in the notebooks,

that the pages

rip out.”

Pinterest: pinterest.com/cgd1015 “Because their notebooks are interactive”

Twitter: @catiedivito

Email: catherine.divito@carteretk12.org

Presentation and other materials can be found at: http://goo.gl/NxaJ7g

Links