Overview for Interactive Notebooks
Notebooks have a “left-side, right-side” orientation to help you record,
organize, and process new information. Much of the class work and
homework will be done in the interactive notebook.
Materials Needed –
 Colored pencils, markers, scissors, stapler or rulers, etc.
Left Side
Students Process New Ideas:
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Reorganize new information
Express opinions and feelings
Explore new ideas
Stresses writing notes does not equal
learning
Do something actively to internalize
information.
Playful and experimental
Various learning styles help to
process English information.
Right Side
Teacher Provides New Information
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Class notes
Discussion notes
Reading notes
Handouts with new information
Common set of information that all
students must know.
“Essentials” of the English content
A model for students how to think
graphically.
“Testable” information
Components of Interactive Notebooks:
Cover Page – Take pride
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Thoughtful page which reflects the topic and theme of the unit
Makes the notebook your own creation
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Keep a running table of contents for your notebook
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A page about yourself at the front of your notebook
Include a photograph and personal information: age, height, favorite
foods, hobbies, sports, goals etc.
Table of Contents –
Author Page –
Works in Progress –
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Place incomplete assignments inside a pocket of the notebook
Place completed assignments in the appropriate place in the notebook
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The notebooks will be graded every quarter
A grade check list will be stapled into the notebook
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In the event of an absence or loss, review the master notebook to
determine what needs to be redone
Grading –
Lost and Found –
Why Interactive Notebooks engage students:
Students use both their visual and linguistic intelligences.
 Allows visual learners to explore and share ideas
 Encourages non-visual learners to become more proficient with
graphic approaches in a non-threatening way.
Note taking becomes an active process.
 Left side of the notebook, which is reserved for your active
exploration of new ideas.
 Invite students to become engaged in their learning.
 Put ideas into their own words, searching for implications or
assumptions, transforming words into visuals, finding the main
point of a story, etc.
 Synthesize English concepts and make coherence of what they
learn.
Notebooks help students to systematically organize as they learn.
 Record ideas about every activity they engage in during a unit.
 Use a variety of organizational techniques: topic headings, colored
highlights, and different writing styles
 Keeps assignments together in a regular place and in logical order.
Notebooks become a portfolio on individual learning.
 A record of each student’s growth
 Review a student’s progress in writing, illustrating, recording,
thinking, and organization skills