Jumping Feet First into Interactive Student Journals

I've Been Infected by the ISN Bug!

I'm letting the "virus" run its course.

I've been battling a bad virus since about April.  I sneeze.  I cough.  (Sounds like allergies, I know.)  But, I also take chills and run a fever.  (Sounds like flu, I know.)  Doctors say it's a virus and I just need to let it run its course.  So, that's exactly what I am doing.

Similarly, I have been battling this urge to implement Interactive Student Notebooks.  I'm just itching (I know, poor allergy pun) to use them in my classroom.   I have spent hours upon end researching example of ISN's.  I have added dozens of pins on Pinterest just devoted to ISN's.  I don't want to blow it (again, sappy allergy pun).  It seems that this trend has gone viral in education. (Okay, I'll stop ;)).  After great personal deliberation and fearless commitment, I don't want to be cured.  As you know, one of the skills I teach my fourth-graders is note taking.  I also teach them how to study.  These are two invaluable skills that my students will use the rest of their lives.  I honestly believe that ISN's will make for a more exciting approach to note taking as well as a creative and effective way to study.  So, as of 24 hours ago, I am taking this challenge and running with it.  

Kudos to Sarah http://everybodyisageniusblog.blogspot.com/p/interactive-notebooks.html

In my quest to learn as much as I can about ISN's I came across an absolutely brilliant blog.  It is a MUST guide for anyone even remotely contemplating implementation of this awesome form of student interactives.  I must acknowledge Sarah and her blog,  Everybody Is A Genius!  I have read her blogs numerous times.  I've bookmarked them, studied them and am truly inspired by what she does with them.  So, I Thank you Sarah!

Now, Sarah is a high school math teacher.  I, on the other hand, am an ELP 4th grade teacher.  We share, however, a love of teaching and a belief in student abilities.  Interactive learning is for everyone, regardless of grade level.  

How I will use these Interactive Student Notebooks

I have decided that I am going to use ISN's in Math, Language Arts, Science, and Utah Studies.  I am also going to have a general 4th grade ISN for expectations, procedures, and other things that don't fit quite so neatly into these core subjects.  I have taken Sarah's advise and I am generating sample pages of the interactives.  I am so excited about this new project.  Last night I even woke up from a dream with an idea for an interactive page.  

****Please  note:  I have yet to implement this idea, so I can't yet comment on the effectiveness.  Below are my preparations for using these ISN's this fall.  SUMMER PREP well utilized.****

General 4th Grade ISN

The first page of this ISN will be a self identification and introduction.  They will draw themselves (a creative self introduction at the beginning of the year) as a way to not only identify to whom the ISN belongs, but a little about their personalities.  I think it will be fun to look back at the end of the year to see how they saw themselves in August, compared to the older and wiser student in June.  Since this page has very little directive and is completely the creation of the student, I asked my son's girlfriend to create one for me as a sample.  I think it turned out pretty awesome!

The second page of this ISN will come from a class activity about What Kind of Teacher They Want and What Kind of Student They Will Be.  Here they can write down all the things they want from me as their fourth grade teacher.  We will then diagram as a class their combined expectations of me.  

Page three will be the second part of the activity.  I will conduct it in reverse order by listing all the qualities I like in a student.  Then they will create their page of what I can expect from them.

The next two pages are school-wide rules and classroom expectations.  I have two videos that I show during this discussion, after which they will record their interpretation of the school-wide rules and the classroom expectations in their ISN.

The last page I have planned for the first couple days is my personal contact information.  I have always prided myself in being highly accessible to my students and their parents. This page will act as reference so there is never an excuse for a lack of communication, at least not from my standpoint.  (And, yes, I do provide my students and parents with my cell phone number....I just don't provide you with it. ;))

There you have it, stage one of my new obsession....stay tuned for more ideas and planning.

Supplies, Covers, Classroom setup are just a few things I'm working on.

composition notebooks photo credit <ahref="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristinnador/7639841596/">KristinNador</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>

applause photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/neekohfi/4205372675/">neekoh.fi</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>