Let me guess. You’re thinking we can’t use interactive notebooks in high school. Or that interactive notebooks are too baby-ish for high school students. At the start of my second year of teaching, I began using interactive notebooks with my high school students, and I have not looked back.
As far as notes are concerned, my first year was a mess. I had no system. I expected students to know what to copy, and when to copy it, and where to keep everything. Spoiler alert: They had no clue! Interactive notebooks solved so many issues, even for high school students.
Why interactive notebooks in high school?
Students in my school are not taught how to take notes. When would any teacher have the time? Students are also not taught how to organize. Because, again, when would any teacher have the time? (PSA: If you are able to make the time, teaching these skills will totally be worth it.) It is also worth noting that students need to take notes differently in their different classes. The biggest issue I have, however, is that geometry requires diagrams. Lots of diagrams.
Let’s get on the same page
The first big benefit to using interactive notebooks in high school is that we are all on the same page. Literally. Many issues I experienced in my first year could have been solved using any actual system for notes. What I love about interactive notebooks is that my students know where to put everything. They have a place for their notes, their homework, their exit tickets, and anything else we use in class.
I like to spend some time (approximately 1 class period) setting up interactive notebooks. We learn how to glue, how to number pages, how to fill in a table of contents, and how to keep everything organized with headings. This does take one to minutes each day that you add notes, but it is so worth it for students to be able to find what they need quickly and easily during practice. Also, as we initially set up our notebooks, I am setting my expectations and our class routines surrounding note-taking. With interactive notebooks we have a system. You can see how I set up my interactive notebook by viewing this video.
Interactive notebooks support student learning
The biggest perk of using interactive notebooks is that students have their notes. All of their notes. All of the time. There is always the one student that manages to lose their notebook in November, but for the most part, students usually have their notebooks with them in class. This allows students to use their notebooks as a guide during independent practice. When students ask for help, I usually start by asking them if they looked at their notes yet. This strategy helps me determine which students truly need my help, and which have yet to really try. It also reinforces that students have the tools they need at their disposal to be successful, and it is how I combat learned helplessness.
Interactive notebooks hold students accountable
The biggest change I noticed when I started using interactive notebooks with my high school students was a huge increase in accountability. Before interactive notebooks, if my students were absent and missed new material, then oh well. I would have everything ready for students when they returned from their absence, but those papers would often end up in the garbage. When I started using interactive notebooks, students would make sure they got the notes they missed, and added them to their notebooks right away. Now, this does not apply to every student. But now I have one or two students that do not make up their work when they’re absent. One or two students is a huge drop because before I only had one or two students that did make up their missed work. This may be attributed to the fact that I grade notebooks for completion, and a missing page means one point lost.
A built-in study method
As students add to their notebooks throughout the year, they create their own ultimate study guide. They are curating a year’s worth of content into one handy book. Our textbooks are almost useless, and the interactive notebooks are a fantastic substitute. To that end, it is helpful to incorporate foldables. Foldables allow students to quiz themselves while they study.
You can read more about how to help students study in this post!
Interactive Notebooks for High School Math
This benefit is specific to math. I strive to provide students with model problems to look back on for independent practice and homework. I love that interactive notebooks provide a way for students to have examples with problems and solutions. My first year, students were more often only writing the solutions. They never had the original problem to look back on, and so they were unable to differentiate when to use different processes. This also has the added benefit of saving time. I do not have to wait for students to write down problems, or to draw (and then to re-draw) complicated diagrams.
How can I make interactive notebooks work in my high school classroom?
The wonderful thing about interactive notebooks is that you can very easily customize them to your students, to your course, and to your teaching style. For example, I need structure, and I need my students to have problems and diagrams provided. My students prefer fill-in-the-blank notes, and the majority of them are not fans of foldables. I can easily create notes that support our collective needs.
If you want your students to learn how to take notes without a guide, you can create a structure for that within the notebook. You can use a ton of foldables, or no foldables. It is completely up to you.
