Interactive Student Notebook- Part I
A Brief Introduction

Last year, my colleague, Ken, and I started using something called an Interactive Student Notebook (ISN) for all of our classes. We got the idea from a workshop at our school run by History Alive! The most basic definition of an ISN is this: A notebook in which students preview, process, and assess their learning. Ideally, according to History Alive!, the ISN should hold a portfolio of all student work; however, Ken and I have adapted this notebook to suit a semi-traditional classroom experimenting with some non-traditional ways of teaching.

All 8th grade history students are required to purchase a spiral notebook with 8.5×11 sheets of paper in it. The notebook should have a plastic or hard cover. The reason for the 8.5×11 sizing is that the students are required to attach most hand-outs to the inside of this notebook using tape or a glue stick. At first, all papers are attached at school using glue or tape provided by the teacher. This takes a little time and patience as the students get used to putting handouts in their books. Once students are used to the system and know what to do, they are required to put the handouts in their notebooks at home as part of a homework grade for the week. The very first papers we put in are those that explain our class rules and the purpose of the interactive notebook. I will provide these instructions in Part II of this post.

The notebooks should have a hard cover because the first homework assignment of the year is for students to decorate their notebook covers. By having a unique notebook cover, the student has 2 advantages. The first advantage of the notebook cover collage is that the student takes ownership of the book. It is something that they are proud of and that they show their friends. Its not just any old red or blue notebook- it becomes “Jaime’s Notebook” or “Andrew’s Notebook” because they took the time to make it very “them”. The second advantage of the collage cover is the ease of finding the book if it is lost. If it is stuck at the bottom of a locker, the book looks different than the others. If the book is left in the hallway, Jaime can tell everyone that she is missing her notebook and describe the notebook (“I lost my notebook. If you see one with surfers on the cover, it is mine.”.

This is a picture of what one of my students’ ISNs looks like. None is exactly alike- just like our students!

Part II of this post will explain why the ISN is called “interactive” and why it is a useful tool for both teachers and students.