Overview for Interactive Notebooks

Notebooks have a “left-side, right-side” orientation to help you record, organize, and process new information. Much of the classwork and homework will be done in the interactive notebook.

Materials Needed–

  • Colored pencils, markers, scissors, stapler or rulers, etc.

Left Side
Students Process New Ideas:
  • Reorganize new information
  • Express opinions and feelings
  • Explore new ideas
  • Stresses writing notes does not equal learning
  • Do something actively to internalize information.
  • Playful and experimental
  • Various learning styles help to process English information.
/ Right Side
Teacher Provides New Information
  • Class notes
  • Discussion notes
  • Reading notes
  • Handouts with new information
  • Common set of information that all students must know.
  • “Essentials” of the English content
  • A model for students how to think graphically.
  • “Testable” information

Components of Interactive Notebooks:

Cover Page–Take pride

  • Thoughtful page which reflects the topic and theme of the unit
  • Makes the notebookyour own creation

Table of Contents–

  • Keep a running table of contents for your notebook

Author Page–

  • A page about yourself at the front of your notebook
  • Include a photograph and personal information: age, height, favorite foods, hobbies, sports, goals etc.

Works in Progress –

  • Placeincompleteassignments inside a pocket of the notebook
  • Place completedassignments in the appropriate place in the notebook

Grading–

  • The notebooks will be graded every quarter
  • Agrade check list will be stapled into the notebook

Lost and Found–

  • In the event of an absence or loss, review themaster notebook to determine what needs to be redone

Why Interactive Notebooks engage students:

Students use both their visual and linguistic intelligences.

  • Allows visual learners to explore and share ideas
  • Encourages non-visual learners to become more proficient with graphic approaches in a non-threatening way.

Note taking becomes an active process.

  • Left side of the notebook, which is reserved for your active exploration of new ideas.
  • Invite students to become engaged in their learning.
  • Put ideas into their own words, searching for implications or assumptions, transforming words into visuals, finding the main point of a story, etc.
  • Synthesize English concepts and make coherence of what they learn.

Notebooks help students to systematically organize as they learn.

  • Record ideas about every activity they engage in during a unit.
  • Use a variety of organizational techniques: topic headings, colored highlights, and different writing styles
  • Keeps assignments together in a regular place and in logical order.

Notebooks become a portfolio on individual learning.

  • Arecord of each student’s growth
  • Review a student’s progress in writing, illustrating, recording, thinking, and organization skills