Skip to main content

ISN Series: Creating the Interactive Student Notebook


Today will be my first in a series on creating, setting up, using, and grading an Interactive Student Notebook in a middle school Language Arts classroom! I'm hoping to post once a week about this topic, as I go through the process again with my own students!

Step 1:



The first thing you need to do is gather your supplies.

I suggest a Mead Five Star Five Subject Notebook in whichever color you prefer. The sturdy cover and ring makes sure it stays together all year.

You will need glue, lots and lots and lots of glue. I highly recommend asking your students to have two bottles of glue for their own use throughout the year.

Student Supply List:
5 Subject Notebook with Sturdy Cover
2 Bottles of Glue
Art Supplies (scissors, crayons, markers, colored pencils)


Step 2:


This is your chance to create your own set of guidelines and information for students and parents about the ISN. What will yours look like? Will it be left side- student, right side- teacher, flip flopped, completely different? Use the internet to find models (Kelly Gallagher says to always have a model for writing!) and craft your own to suit your needs! Hint: Go to Pinterest. Type Interactive Student Notebooks. Prepare to lose 5 hours of your life. :)

No matter what, you should have an explanation of what it is, how it will be used, how it should function, and the incredible IMPORTANCE of the notebook. It should be stressed very clearly that, no matter what, they should NEVER lose their ISN!

This is also the time to decide how you are grading the notebook. I am grading the notebook on a 10:2 basis. For every ten assignments, they choose one, and I choose one. I don't count it for a grade, but it goes in the grade book towards their effort grade. More info on that from my grading post yesterday!

Also, I highly recommend that you actually spend a class period decorating notebooks, no matter how frivolous it may seem. Provide materials for students who don't have them at home. This gives them ownership of the notebooks, and helps them develop a "relationship" with them, lol. 

Next Post: Prepping On Your End: How to Plan for the ISN





Comments

  1. Thanks for the tips-I'm just setting up my guidelines for the notebooks, and am excited to keep reading your advice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love ISNs and can't imagine teaching without them. I'm always looking for ways to improve so I can't wait to read your series.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw you teach Social Studies, do you do stuff with History Alive!? Thanks for visiting! :)

      Delete
  3. Do you use a rubric to grade your INB? If so, what does that look like?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have a question about...glue! Does it matter what kind? My students always tend to bring in glue sticks, and the sticks are less messy; however, I've heard Elmer's in a bottle is better. Do you think it really matters?

    Lit with Lyns

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I there! I actually do prefer Elmer's glue in a bottle, only because sometimes the glue stick tends to "unstick" after awhile, and then pages fall out. I always tell them 4 dots in the corner, and one in the middle, that way they aren't drawing smiley faces with the glue and wasting it!

      Delete
  5. Thank you so much for blogging about your ISN!!! This is the most helpful resource I have found to start these in my classroom.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by! JW

Popular posts from this blog

Before the School Year Begins...

I decided that before I can start posting about what I'm doing this year, I needed to share some of my favorite strategies from last year that went really well with the students. I was completely inspired by Kelly Gallagher after reading devouring all of his books at the beginning of the school year! I had the opportunity to go to a Kelly Gallagher workshop at Judson this spring, and it was absolutely amazing! He was so nice when I went up to him (I was terrified and starstruck), and even wrote "You're Welcome" on this piece of paper, because my students actually asked me to THANK HIM for changing the way we read novels in class.  Students + asked me + to say thank you to an author + about school stuff = UTOPIA! Here are some of my abbreviated notes from the day: His TOP Points: Kids should write 4X more than you can physically grade  Students suffer from word poverty. Must get students reading more in order to be exposed to vocabulary. We ne

RAK Classroom Kit + Enjoy the Magic of The Holidays at Oakbrook Center!

Last week The Middle School Mob hosted a FB Live Holiday Hop, and I shared how I do a RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) activity with my students during the holiday season . This was my first time doing a FB live and I had so much fun! You can check out the RAK Classroom Kit here If you live in the Chicagoland area and want to have a fun family outing this Christmas season, be sure to check out my post over at Modest House, Extraordinary Home ! Save Save Save Save

Writing Notebook: Finishing up "Write Ideas" and first Invitation: AAAWWUBBIS!

Happy Monday!! Today I am continuing on with the Writer's Notebook! Last time I left off, students had just finished their "100 Things I Love". After that, students completed their writing territories, which I got from Nancie Atwell's book   Lessons That Change Writers.  We spent the first day discussing writing territories out loud, going through the list in detail, so that students had ideas of what to write about. I told them to think of it like the caption for a picture. One to two sentences that could become something more. Students had to complete this for homework. We also completely numbered our table of contents so that we could add in sections and start working in other parts of the notebook.  Students wrote their writing territories on these pages. Then we moved on to the Writer's Eye (I). Students had to place terms that described them within their "I" or around their "Eye". I created my o