This document provides information about interactive student notebooks including: 1. The purpose of interactive notebooks is to enable creative and independent student thinking while organizing class notes and student work. 2. Interactive notebooks appeal to multiple learning styles and encourage skills like organization, sequencing, and review of instruction. 3. Both the right and left sides of the notebook are used - the right side for teacher notes and the left for student processing, summaries, reflections and creative responses. 4. Examples of interactive notebook components are provided like cover pages, table of contents, rubrics, and examples of note-taking structures and graphic organizers for the left and right sides.

2. Self-Assessment Card
Name
Question: Explain what you know
about ….
Rate yourself:
1 = high confidence
2 = medium confidence
3 = I’m not sure on this
Would you
help
someone
else learn
this?
YES
Not at
this time

4. Have you ever heard
your students say . . .

6. What is the purpose of an
Interactive Notebook?
• The purpose of this 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 students are asked to
express their own ideas and process
the information presented in class.

7. Interactive Notebooks…
• Organize the student
• Help students sequence
assignments
• Encourage pride in student work
• Facilitate cooperative interaction
• Appeal to multiple intelligences
• Provide opportunities to spiral
instruction and facilitate learning
• Formative & Summative

8. What are Interactive
Student Notebooks?
 A student thinking tool
 And organizer for inquiry questions and what I
learned…
 A way to access and process the learning utilizing
various modalities (writing, drawing, and
discussion)
 A place for writing rough drafts based on hands-
on learning
 A formative assessment tool for teachers

9. Why Use Interactive
Student Notebooks?
 Improve organization skills
 Improve critical thinking skills
 Express understanding creatively
 Improve ways to learn vocabulary

10. Why are we using Interactive
Student Notebooks?
 Record data
 Study for tests
 Record progress
 Communication

11. Students can…
• Transform written concepts into
visuals
• Find main points of a lesson or
concept
• Organize historical events into a
topical map
• Draw whatever illustration that
makes sense to them
• Personalize the historic event
or lesson.

12. Parts of the Notebook
• Cover Page
• Rubric
• Table of Contents
• Unit Cover Page
• Standards/objectives
• Notes/Activities
• Student Reflection
• Parent Review

13. Right vs. Left side of the spiral
Left brain
controls the
right side
Right brain
controls the
left side

14. Brain Based Learning
Experimentation has shown that the two different sides, or hemispheres,
of the brain are responsible for different manners of thinking. The
following table illustrates the differences between left-brain and right-
brain thinking:
Left Brain Right Brain
•Logical
•Sequential
•Rational
•Analytical
•Objective
•Looks at parts
•Random
•Intuitive
•Holistic
•Synthesizing
•Subjective
•Looks at wholes

15. How is it organized?
Left Side Right Side
Learning Objective:
Summary
Cue
Questions

16. Left Side – Right Side
Orientation
• The Left side
is “left” for
students. This
is the side that
students can
use to
demonstrate
their
understanding
& creativity.
• The Right side
is “Restricted”
and contains
teacher guided
notes

17. Right Side
Teacher presents new info
• Class notes (Cornell)
• Discussion notes
• Reading notes
• Video notes
• Handouts with new
information
• Graphic organizers
• Vocabulary
• Foldables
Odd Pages
An opportunity for
teachers to model
how to think
graphically

18. Left Side-
Students Process New Ideas
• Reorganize new information in creative
formats
• Express opinions and feelings
• Requires students to actively do something
with the information to internalize it
• Gives students permission to be playful,
imaginative, experimental, creative
• Allows various learning styles to process
information
Even Pages

19. Right Side? Left Side?
What Goes Where?
Left Side
Student Output
Lots of Color
The brain remembers things in
color better.
 Concept Maps
 Drawings
 Reflective Writing
 Questions
 Data and Graphs
 Songs
 Poems
 Data from Experiments
 Cartoons or cartoon strips
Right Side
Teacher Input/Content
Blue or Black Ink/pencil
 Information given in class
 Lecture Notes
 Lab Activities
 Video Notes
 Summaries
 Textbook Notes
 Procedures for experiments
 Classroom Specific Information

21. What can go in it?
• Drawings
• Poetry
• Raps
• Graphic organizers
• Cartoons
• Maps
• Charts and graphs
• Invitations
• Letters
• ANYTHING!!!

22. More Examples of Left Side

23. “A Bit More On The Left”
Getting Students to Think About Their Learning
 REFLECTION: Use Guiding Prompts:
What are you curious about?
What would you like to test?
What was the main idea?
What are the important details to remember?
How does this relate to your life?
What don’t you understand?

24. OUTPUT
(your interpretation)
INPUT
(notes from teacher)
Example page:

27. Graphic Organizers
 Help organize thoughts
 Assist with answering open response
questions

28. Fish Bones

29. Venn Diagram

30. T-chart

31. Net

32. Wheel

33. Tree

34. Acrostics

35. Comic Strips

38. Venns & Thinking Maps

44. Why use them?
• Students use both their visual and
linguistic intelligences
– Approach understanding in many ways
– Use many types of writing and graphic
techniques
– Each student can select their best
medium to explore and learn new
content
(DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION!!!!)

45. Note taking becomes an
active process
– Students are invited to take notes—
it’s fun! 
– Students will read their notes—they
have to in order to process for the
left side
– Students will be working with
(rehearsing) the information which
facilitates learning
– Students will actively be involved
with the information
What do students
think about it?

46. Notebooks help students
to systematically
organize as they learn
– Organization is key to the
notebook
– Concepts like
• Table of Contents
• Numbering pages
• Topic headings
– They stress the organization of
a book & they don’t lose papers


47. Notebooks become a
portfolio of individual
learning
– These are personal
– Creative
– They record student growth in
history
– They show progress
– They serve as a chronological
record of the learning and are
great for review

48. Getting Started…

49. Getting started -
Step 1:
My Name
My Grade
On the cover,
write your name
and period #.
Draw a diagram of
something that
reminds you of
______________.

50. Language Arts
Interactive Notebook
• Implementation
• Notebooks can be kept in your backpack, binder or
stored in the classroom. Bring it to class every day. It
will not be in your best interest to lose it.
• Number the pages sequentially. Do not remove any
pages. Both right and left pages should be
numbered. It is important that all of us have the same
information on the same page.
• The first pages are reserved for a table of contents,
and instructions. Other information will be included as
appendices.
• Use color to help organize your information.
• Handouts, foldables and other papers should be
glued or taped in place. No staples.
• You will need other supplies: markers, glue stick,
tape, ruler, pencils, colored pencils
• Notebooks will be graded randomly using self, peer
and teacher checklists.

51. Lets Begin….
• Have students save 5-10 pages at
the front of the notebook to house
information about notebook
(rubrics,syllabus), and the
cumulative table of contents.
• Have them number the pages
immediately so that they start in
an organized fashion.
• Number each page front and back
• Odd pages on left Even pages on
the right.
• There will be no blank pages
• Pages do not get torn out!!!

52. Step 2:
 Starting with the first page, number the first 50 pages.
Numbers should be small and at the top outside corner of
every page.
1 32
Cover
of N
otebook

53. Step 3:
At the top of pages 3,4,5, write Table of
Contents. Divide each page into 3
columns, date, description, page #.
Table of
Contents
3 54
Table of
Contents
Table of
Contents
(Skip pages 1 and 2)
Date Description Page #
Date Description Page # Date Description Page #

54. Page Topic Date Grade
14 summary 8/14
15 How to use Cornell Notes 8/14
16
17
18
19
20

55. Step 4:
2
•What are you curious
about?
•What would you like to
test?
•What was the main
idea?
•What are the important
details to remember?
•How does this relate to
your life?
•What don’t you
understand?
Add the following reflection questions on page 2. You will use
these as open response questions.

57. Example of communicating with others:
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
What are you curious
about?
What would you like to
test?
What was the main idea?
What are the important
details to remember?
How does this relate to
your life?
What don’t you
understand?

58. Student Handouts
• The notebook should hold everything
when possible
• Folding and gluing, cutting and
gluing are key to organization
• As students age and material
becomes too complex a separate
folder (pocket folder) can be added
to hold handouts that are multi-
paged or make a pocket foldable

59. Assignment Record Sheet: US History
Interactive Notebook
Date
Assigned
Due
Date
Title of Assignment Teacher's
Stamp
Grade
8/28 8/28 IC: Notebook Guidelines
8/28 8/28 R: Table of Contents
8/28 8/29 L: Opening warm-up: SS Classroom
8/29 8/29 R: My Clock appointments
8/30 8/30 L: People Hunt
8/30 8/31 R: ISN Cover Directions
8/31 9/4 L: Warm-Up: Where In The World 20/20
8/31 9/5 R: Ch 1 & 2 Vocab(Flipper) 30/30
9/5 9/6 L/R: Why Study History?
9/6 9/7 L: Write Your Own Quotation 16/15
9/10 9/10 R: ISN Cover Evaluation 36/30
9/10 9/10 L: Warm-Up: Understanding Chronology
9/13 9/13 L: Warm-Up:
Expressing feelings about 911 Tragedy
9/13 9/17 R: Native American Migration
9/18 9/18 L: Concept Web: Native American
Culture Areas
9/24 9/24 L/R: Writing About Exploration
9/25 9/25 R: Ch. 3 Vocab
9/26 9/26 R: Warm-up Exploration

61. Cornell Notes
(For right sides of spiral)

62. Basic Cornell
Notes Instruction
Sheet
Samples

63. Why use Cornell
notes?• Cornell note taking stimulates
critical thinking skills.
• Note taking helps students
remember what is said in class.
• A good set of notes can help
students work on assignments and
prepare for tests outside of the
classroom.
• Good Notes help students organize
and process data and information.
• Helps student recall by getting them
to process their notes multiple times.

64. How is it organized?
Left Side Right Side
Learning Objective:
Summary
Cue
Questions

65. Page Number
Date
Topic
Questions,
Subtitles,
Headings,
Etc.
Class Notes
2 1/2”
3 to 4 sentence summary across
the bottom of the opposite page of
the day’s notes

66. Cornell Notes Step by Step
Note-taking column
1. Document- Always write the date and topic
at the top of the page
2. Write Notes- The large box to the right is for
writing notes.
Skip a line between ideas and topics.
• Don't use complete sentences. Use
abbreviations, whenever possible. Develop a
shorthand of your own, such as using "&" for
the word "and".
• Use whatever method works best for you
15
Aug 14
Learning Objective: Explain the process involved in taking organized
Cornell notes. How will this help me?

67. 3. Questions- Review the notes as soon as
possible after class.
• Pull out main ideas, key points, dates, and
people, and write these in the left column in
the form of questions. Use BLOOM’s!!!!
4. Recite- Cover the note taking column with a
sheet of paper.
• Then, looking at the questions or cue-words
in the question and cue column only, say
aloud, in your own words, the answers to the
questions, facts, or ideas indicated by the
cue-words.
5. Summarize- Write a summary of the main
idea of the notes at the bottom of your left
hand page. Try to answer the learning
objective question.
15
Aug 14
Questions
go
here

68. •Summary added AFTER questions
are finished
•Summary should address the day’s
learning objective
•Summaries DO NOT replace left side
processing. You still need to process
your notes. (on the left side)
Remember…

69. Cover Page Examples

72. Student Page Samples

77. Why use an ISN?
To be like a REAL scientist!
To record our thoughts,
observations, questions and

78. The Right Side
• This is the information given to you by
your teacher during class
• Examples may include:
– Lecture, video or textbook Notes
– Lab Activities
– Summaries
– Data from Experiments
– Classroom Specific Information
– Vocabulary
• Information on this side is TESTABLE
material

79. Left Side Options
• This is youryour side to
show you
understand the
material
• This ccoolloorrffuull and
creative interaction
helps your brain to
process and
remember the
information better
• The result is
greater success in
science!!
Left side choices
• Concept Maps
• Drawings/illustrati
ons
• Poems/raps/songs
• Flow Charts
• Graphs
• Teach your parent

80. Left Side Example

81. Left Side Example

82. Left Side Example

83. Left and Ride Side
Sample

84. Right Hand
❀ Always odd pages
❀ For notes (Cornell style unless told
otherwise). Notes that are more than a
page should be glued to the bottom of
the current sheet (see class example)
❀ Also for worksheets, tests, handouts,
and quizzes, classwork, and homework.
❀ Use highlighters and graphic organizers
to make notes meaningful.

85. Right Hand
Examples

86. Left Hand
 Used to synthesize information and
notes.
 Always even pages
 Can use any the following
activities:
Thinking Maps Foldables
Original Drawings Reflections
Postcards Cartoons
Sentences or Paragraphs (in
Spanish)
Posters/Comic Strips
Advertisements Poems
“What if?” Statements HOT questions w/answers

87. Left Hand
Examples

92. Where am I going?
1. Provide a clear and understandable
version of the learning target.
2. Use examples and models of strong
and weak work.
Where am I now?
3. Offer regular descriptive feedback.
4. Teach students to self-assess and set
goals.
How can I close the gap?
5. Design lessons to focus on one aspect
of a GLE/CLE at a time.
6. Teach student focused revision.
7. Engage students in self-reflection. Let
them keep track of and share their
learning.

93. Interactive Notebooks
Improving ways for students to learn
mathematics vocabulary.

94. The Elements
Covers
Notebook Guidelines
Table of contents
Index
Rubrics
Extras
Pockets

95. Covers
M
A
T
H
Name

96. NotebookGuidelines
Back of front cover

97. TableofContents
Save the first 3 pages

98. Rubrics
The last page…

99. Index
The last 6 pages…

100. Extras
The back cover…

101. EnvelopePockets

102. ClearPockets

103. LibraryPockets

105. Creative Note-taking
Flipped Triangles
Layered Books
Tabbed Books
Shutter Books
Accordion Books
Tri-fold Books
Frayer Models
Venn Diagrams

106. FlippedTriangles

107. LayeredBooks

108. TabbedBooks

109. TabbedBooks

110. TabbedBooks

111. ShutterBooks

112. AccordionBooks

113. Tri-foldBooks

114. FrayerModels

115. VennDiagrams

116. Need More Ideas?

117. &More

118. &More

119. &More

120. &More

124. Left Side 20 Right Side 21

125. Exit Card
Name
Question: Explain how you would use
a strategy (from this presentation)
that you could use in YOUR
classroom.
Rate yourself:
1 = high confidence
2 = medium confidence
3 = I’m not sure on this
Would you
help
someone
else learn
this?
YES Not at
this time