Wednesday 25 September 2013

Interactive Notebooks in Math

     This summer I was introduced to the idea of Interactive Notebooks in math class through Jennifer at 4mula Fun. As a first year math teacher, I'm always looking for different assessment ideas and the setup of Interactive Notebooks seemed like an interesting instructional method that would provide an easy assessment option for me.

     Fast forward to the end of September and I've officially implemented Interactive Notebooks (INB) into all three of my math classes at the Grade 8, 9 & 10 levels. After searching through different edublogs I've found a lot of different ways in which teachers are using INBs in their classrooms. In my classroom I bring out our INBs after we've been introduced to a new concept and have had a few days to practice our new skills.

     Students use their INBs as a way to show me their understanding of the concept(s) they've just learned. I ask them to write out how to solve specific problems in their own words and include an example of their choice. Here are two examples from my Grade 8 and Grade 10 class:


interactive notebooks, interactive notes, interactive notebooks in grade 8
Grade 8: Working with Integers
interactive notebooks, interactive notes, interactive notebooks in grade 8
Grade 8: Working with Integers
interactive notebooks, interactive notes, interactive notebooks in grade 10
Grade 10: Types of Payroll Deductions
interactive notebooks, interactive notes, interactive notebooks in grade 8
Grade 10: Types of Payroll Deductions
     By using this type of setup:
- Students are able to review their understanding of a concept
- I am able to see how students explain a concept in their own
  words
- Students have pre-made flashcards to help them review before
  assessment activities

     So far, I really like the idea of INBs and my students have said that they like that they already have pre-made flashcards for studying and that it is, "way cooler than boring notes"!

7 comments:

  1. I really like this idea!! It would be so useful for all classes! I was thinking a cool idea might be to get a small key ring and then students could transfer all of the INB's onto a keyring for studying purposes!

    Love reading your blog :)

    -Morgan

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    1. Thanks Morgan! If I ever end up teaching social studies again then I think I will transfer the idea over to my other classes as well because usually students associated social studies with A LOT of notes (which I don't like). So far I just have it in my math classes, not science or art. Thanks for commenting :)

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  2. I saw INB's being used in a grade 6 classroom during my non-student teaching classroom and I loved them! I didn't really think it would work well with older students, but you've obviously proven me wrong. Cool! I'll think about implementing something similar and manipulative in one of my classes in the future.

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    Replies
    1. I have been using them from Grade 8-10 and have gotten similar results with each grade. I think explaining the different learning options really helped some of my older students.

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  3. We've been doing this too in Grade 5. They really enjoy the hands-on nature of it. Yours look great!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! Do you use them just in math or in other classes too?

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  4. I like to read such texts.

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Thank you for commenting!