![]() ![]() It’s better than imagining the alternatives.)įor students who were absent, cutting and gluing the sheet became another step in trying to get caught up. (On second thought, that may not have been related to the interactive notebooks, but I’m choosing to tell myself that all of the unidentified gummy substances I touched that year were glue. By the end of the day, my floors were littered with paper scraps and the tables were always unpleasantly sticky. By the time everyone was finished, I was in such a rush to get us moving that cleanup became a secondary concern. In my experience, there is always a straggler, creating idle time and a management challenge with my remaining students. I tried setting timers, playing songs and telling them to finish by the end, or helping them cut. My biggest problem was the time it took my students to cut and glue templates into their notebooks. While my interactive notebook journey started better than it ended, it was never quite the magical experience I’d built it up to be. I was ready to be an interactive notebook queen. I cleared the shelves of composition books at Staples’ back-to-school sale. Not to mention the papers were so cute that even the most surly middle schooler would certainly be charmed! Enamored with the interactive notebooks I saw on Pinterest and Instagram, I added class sets of safety scissors and glue sticks to my district-funded shopping list. I could provide scaffolded notes to set my students up for success. All of their papers would be held in one notebook that could be stored in the classroom. In these “modern” interactive notebooks, the interaction comes more so from the act of adding and manipulating the template, rather than synthesizing academic content provided by a teacher or text.Īs a first-year teacher exploring options for helping my middle school students stay organized, interactive notebooks seemed like a no-brainer. Some are simply charts or guided notes, while others are multi-flap foldables or pockets for paper manipulatives. ![]() ![]() These can vary dramatically in complexity. Many of the interactive notebook templates you’ll find on social media or TpT have abandoned the right-side/left-side method in favor of paper templates that are cut out and glued or taped into the notebook. You can check out an example of this format here. This may include creating flow charts or diagrams, completing practice problems, or responding to thought-provoking questions. The left-hand pages are left blank until it is time for students to further interact with the content. Think copying notes or recording lab data. In a nutshell, a traditional interactive notebook reserves one side of the notebook (i.e, all left-hand pages of an open notebook) for teacher-generated material. For a comprehensive look at the system and its variations, check out this article. If you’re one of the many educators searching for a new organizational system for your students this summer, maybe this will be the one that works for you too! What is an interactive notebook, anyway?Ī traditional interactive notebook is exactly what it sounds like: a way for students to both record notes and interact with the academic content, all within the binding of a single notebook. Going into my fifth year in the classroom, I’ve finally honed in on a system that works for me. And if you have been lucky enough to have a positive experience with interactive notebooks in your class, more power to you! However, my attempt to bring interactive notebooks to my middle school science classroom was less than picture-perfect. At first glance, they are a beautiful way to organize information. ![]() A Google image search for “interactive notebooks” brings up pictures of colorful foldables securely stored in composition books. Interactive notebooks are a popular choice to fill this role, and for good reason. Or maybe, like so many teachers, you’re still looking for that unicorn of a system. Maybe this was the year you found the perfect system for keeping your middle school students organized. This time of year, many teachers are reflecting on the systems and routines they used over the last year in their classrooms. ![]()
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