I have always struggled with student note-taking in class. It always seems that very few, if any, students really know how to effectively take down information, discern the important facts from the peripheral tidbits, and most importantly how to actually use their notes to study or refer to later on. Well, thanks to Stephanie over at Eat.Write.Teach. and Sarah at Everybody is a Genius I may have found a great solution to this problem. Smash books, or Interactive Student Notebooks as they are more commonly called, will serve as the main note taking device in my classroom this year.
For those who haven't heard of Smash Books they are a notebook with a very specific purpose. I think Stephanie at Eat.Write. Teach. said it best, so I will let her do some explaining for me:
For those who haven't heard of Smash Books they are a notebook with a very specific purpose. I think Stephanie at Eat.Write. Teach. said it best, so I will let her do some explaining for me:
"The ISN is a classroom tool that is used for recording classroom notes, but it is also used to help students process new information. The idea is that it encourages students to be creative, independent thinkers while they practice new class skills."
Basically I intend to use Smash Books as a reference guide for all the MOST important skills, processes, concepts, and ideas required for student success in English and Social Studies. I do not intend to use them for ALL information we deal with in class. The reason for this is if every piece of information is in the Smash Book then I think it will lose its "value" as a special handbook for success. In other words, it will just become the place where all the stuff from class is kept and students will be less invested in its use. I will further create an investment in its use by encouraging students to customize the cover and use creativity in the activities we do to make each Smash book feel like it is the student's very own book.
Now, how do Smash Books work? There are probably a million different ways to tailor Smash Books to meet the needs of students, but in my class this is how they will be used. The right side of the notebook will be used to record new information. Normally this information will be recorded in the form of some kind of foldable or other interactive way to work with the new information. The left side of the notebook will be where students will practice or work with the new information in some sort of application activity using the right side as a reference. All of the pages will be recorded in a table of contents for quick future reference.
There other essential component of the Smash Book is the Words Worth Knowing (WWK) section. This section is found in the beginning of the book behind the Table of Contents. I will be using this to record the most important vocabulary words students will need to know. Again, I won't be recording every new word we learn, but only the words that are essential to the greater understanding of the main concepts of the course. I think this will help students focus a bit and continue to see the value in the Smash Book.
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I am very excited to use this new tool in my classroom. I will be starting the year off with a Boot Camp (a future post on this will be forthcoming) in each of my English and Social classes that will use the Smash Book to it's fullest extent. Please share any experiences you have had with Interactive Notebooks. I would love to hear them!