Interactive Notebooks Help Students Organize and Synthesize Information
The purpose of the interactive notebook is to enable students to be creative, independent thinkers and writers. Interactive notebooks are used for class notes as well as for other activities where the student will be asked to express his/her own ideas and process the information presented in class. The purpose behind an interactive notebook is to help students organize and synthesize information given to them in class. Interactive notebooks are one way for a teacher to accomplish the goal of meeting the variety of learning styles and multiple intelligences of all the students in his or her classroom. The classroom that these interactive notebooks are being utilized in this year is a middle school language arts class.
Challenges or Obstacles
- Materials that are needed can be difficult to collect at times in at risk classrooms
- Students who do not have strong organizational skills can find interactive notebooks difficult
- Initial organization of an interactive notebook can be time consuming.
Benefits and Successes
- Interactive notebooks are one way for a teacher to plan lessons that involve the spectrum of intelligences.
- These notebooks provide teachers with an organizational tool for their lessons.
- Interactive notebooks help teachers to integrate a range of learning styles to meet the needs of the students
- Note-taking is an effective, proven strategy. The process of taking notes actively engages students in the learning process which increases comprehension.When students are involved with note taking, they retain an understanding of the content.
- Interactive notebooks can help students¹ process information, review for assessments and personalize the content knowledge being presented.
- Interactive notebooks allow students to express their creative side.
Additional Materials:
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Submitted by: Milissa Crum, Anderson Community Schools