I searched for many weeks to find something that would teach these students how to take notes, keep themselves organized, and most of all have fun while doing it. Enter in Interactive Student Notebooks!
SETTING UP ISN
- Composition Notebooks (from what I've read they are the most durable, and it's also hard to rip out pages. I found these for 93 cents at Target)
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| This is mine |
- I had my students cover their notebooks in colored paper, and cover it with "Numbers Important to Me". I have seen some notebooks where they are covered in pictures from magazine. I like keeping it math related! When they were finished I covered the front and back in clear shipping tape, it helps keep them clean and extra durable.
- The first page of the ISN was a grading rubric. I'm terrible at writing rubrics so I found one online. You can get a copy of it here.
- The next two pages became our table of contents. This will include the topic we covered, what pages it's on in the notebook, and what date we created them on.
- The pages after your table of contents are used for notes. Generally one side of the page (left side) is for the students. They create fold ables or any sort of discovery activity. The other side (right side) is for the teachers notes on the topic. Each page should have a title (the topic) along with page numbers and dates.
**I will try to post as many of the pages as I can that we have created**
When my students came in and saw the table with the notebooks piled up, the markers, colored paper, glue, scissors, and tape their faces lit up. They were so excited for class to start and they had no idea what we were even going to do with it all. To them it simply meant they weren't doing worksheets, and they were happy about that!
Anya, I just started Interactive Math Notebooks this year, too. I LOVE them and so do my students.
ReplyDeleteStacy,
DeleteMy students love it as well. They get so excited when they see the supplies out on the table. I have a student with severe ADHD, and they have a hard time focusing and sitting still. On the days when we are putting together our notebooks I don't hear a peep from them and I never have to tell them to get back to work. It's like a miracle is occurring in front of my eyes on those days :)
I just found your page and love the ISN idea. Would it be difficult to start it now? I think this would really benefit my struggling students.
DeleteNancy
Nancy--
DeleteNo, the first year I started them I started them in the spring. I have seen great retention, progress, growth, and enthusiasm in my math students now that we have been doing these. They are also great for ELL students!
Although I have taught for many years, I have just recently learned about interactive notebooks. I am collecting ideas, foldables, pages, etc. too. I have a question for those of you that are "veteran notebookers"....how do you work this into your lesson? Do you do the pages at the beginning, say for example, the day you present the topic or...??? I would love to hear how you are using them.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Denise
Denise,
DeleteI use them on the day I introduce a new topic to my students. The students will use them every day to help them remember how to work out the problems, or use it as a reference guide to older topics that are brought back up in a new lesson. I don't answer questions on topics we have already covered, instead I teach them how to use their notebooks to find the answers they are looking for. Hope this helps! If you have any other questions I would be happy to answer them.
I am also teach math for students in special education. I would love to start using ISNs next year but I am struggling with how to make them work with my curriculum. What curriculum are you currently using with your algebra class(es)?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Lauren
I was using our general education Algebra 1 curriculum, but since we have adjusted to common core I will now be using that curriculum instead. We are still working out our units for that but we are starting the year off with Statistics. What curriculum are you using? Maybe I can help you out.
DeleteInstead of packing tape. I use clear contact paper.
ReplyDeleteContact paper works well too, I'm just not coordinated enough to use it. It always bunches up and get stuck to itself. With the packing tape it's smaller pieces and less of a chance I'll screw it up :)
DeleteI just learned I will be teaching a geometry class for sped students. I am totally clueless as the last geometry class I taught was for students who were alternately assessed and not on the common core. We are now with common core and I have been removed from geometry for 3 years. I want to use INBs but not sure how to begin. Thoughts? Is this too much to take on when I am just getting myself familiar with the content? It seems what I teach gets switched every year, but I know these kiddos would much prefer interactive notebooks to lecturing all the time. HELP!!!
ReplyDeleteMy students are high school students too and we do our best at getting to all of the Common Core Standards but since the students I've had for the past few years in Geometry were not doing Common Core all along they are not at the spot they should be. So I find myself having to go back to the very basics, like what an angle is because they have no idea what that is. Interactive Notebooks take time to plan but are well worth the investment of time. I did them my first year teaching my Algebra 2 students (when I never had taught it before) and thought I was going to be in over my head but I found that I understood the content so much more by planning the pages out. So it was a great learning process for me too. I would start by reading some blog about how to set them up. I set mine up a little differently by doing the input on the left (foldable or notes) and the students output on the right (practice), my students hate writing on top of foldables and such so the right side is clean and flat for them to do their work on.
DeleteI teaching Geometry this year for the first time in a few years and I am overhauling a lot of my pages. I will have the first few done here in a few days and I'm happy to share what I have. I will probably write a blog post about them too. I'm happy to help you with this throughout the school year and send you anything I have, feel free to email me or post comments on my blog: anyaostapczuk@gmail.com
Hi, I know this is an old post, but I've been looking into interactive notebooks on the web, as the concept is new to me.
ReplyDeleteI am not in the USA so working with totally different curriculum and (unfortunately) mindset; I'm a one-on-one teaching assistant to a special needs 10-year old (multiple issues: dyscalculia, dyslexia, sensory and fine motor skills problems, short attention span, etc.) in a regular class, who is struggling with math basics such as number sense, counting to 10, doesn't understand basic operations (does them mechanically, using number lines, etc).
While it seems the student is not physically/mentally capable of getting past grade 1 or 2 math, they still need to do something in school in math classes, so I am trying to come up with novel ways to engage and motivate them. School resources are extremely limited, so I mostly rely on paper, pencil and my home computer and printer, and the DIY principle. "Regular" teachers can't really help as they are not well informed about special needs educational methods.
What I am looking for are ideas how to present very basics of math to a student with such difficulties, how to make it interesting instead of a horrible chore? His peers are learning operations with numbers over 100.000 while my student struggles with 2+2. Could something like a simplified interactive notebook help? Or maybe you could point me to some other resource which might be of help (website or literature)?
Thanks, and also thank you for the interesting website!
I teach a Special Ed Consumer Class where we create interactive notebooks. All of my students in the class are seniors so, as you can imagine, I hear a lot of, "what's with the arts and crafts?" at the beginning of the year. Soon though they really get into it and take real ownership of their notebooks. In the 3 years we've been doing INBs in the class I don't think even one student has lost their notebook! And, my husband (who also teaches at my school) says that one of my students who he has in study skills class often takes class time to make his notebook really nice. My students struggle with math, but there is something special about INBs. Thank you for your post! I hope you are having a great year! - Shana
ReplyDelete