Free PD: Interactive-ish notebooks!

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For all the interactive-ish notebook resources on this site:  bit.ly/interactive-ishnotebooks

Interactive-ish Notebooks: Assessment

This is a brief excerpt from my presentation at NTPRS 2018.    

Things to keep in mind:

1) If I did not have to assess notebooks, I would not.

2) I have to assess something so that my class "looks like school".  Because it doesn't really. So this is what I do.

3) There is some value in holding students accountable for their learning. But I don't think there is value in a language class for holding students accountable for what they have not yet acquired.  Thus, I do not mark errors.  

4) Notebooks are graded as "work", or in my case, "Language Participation." 

5) If I assign summative assessments (e.g. reading quizzes), I have students turn in the quiz to me so I can grade it quickly (and not have a stack of notebooks). When I return the quizzes, they glue them in. 

Assessment Logistics

·     Graded twice within a marking period (but I tell them it is random)

·      Worth 50 points each time: 40 points content, 10 points organization

·      Each page is between 2-10 points, depending on what it is.

·      Grade on a rubric (click here for an editable version)

·      Grade for completion, not accuracy

·      Do not mark errors

·      Accept late/missing content up until the Hard Deadline.

Assessment Tips

·      At the beginning of each marking period, plan out when you are going to collect, grade, and return notebooks.  Also make note of your own deadlines (grades due, etc.) and decide when your hard deadlines will be. 

·      Use a reliable student to keep track of handouts for absent students and keep them in an "absent student" folder. 

·      Don't worry about keeping a "master" notebook for each class.  Instead, when you grade, chose a student who is never absent and fairly organized, and use theirs as a model.

·      It is worth keeping track of what pages you grade each marking period, and any notes about assignments

Interactive Notebooks: Year 3 and Lessons Learned

This is my third year using interactive-ish notebooks and I still love them.  The way I use them has not evolved a great deal from my first blog post, but the way I ask my students to use them has.

I realized that a) I really don't believe in any homework other than comprehensible reading, and b) I better give them the resources to do that reading if I want them to do it.

So my notebooks continue to be the place where everything- target structures, translation activities, song lyrics, stories, readings, and assessments gets glued in.  I do let my kids take a tiny handful of notes- usually just when introducing target structures, and at the end of class in a vocabulary organizer of their choice.  But there are a lot more readings.

The biggest changes that I have made are:
1) I ask students to write down the day of the week and the date at least once a day when we put something in their notebook.  I HATE doing "calendar" type of activities in middle school, so this takes care of that.

2) I have increased the number of comprehensible readings I give them.  This includes my attempt to create a reading (embedded or traditional) for every movietalk we do.  They are really time consuming to write but I am getting faster and the payoff is...more comprehensible readings! I also almost always include a comprehensible reading (short and sweet) with every song activity, and if we are doing discussion questions that I know ahead of time, I often have them glued in as well- because re-reading questions is still input, even if they answer them as output.

3) I moved the index to the first three pages, and included a bunch of class procedural stuff in the front of the notebook.  Everything from "what do I do if I am absent" to my office hours to my grading policy to reading, writing, and general level of proficiency rubrics are now glued into the front few pages.  (Not that anyone reads it, but at least I can respond with "Why don't you look that up?" in a friendly tone of voice rather than my "I have told you that 10 million times already!" screetch that any teacher is familiar with.)

Grading the notebooks continues to be super fast and easy.  Students can make up work and notes if they need to, but I do not allow them to make up any of the points on the "Visual appearance and organization" part, as I explain to them that the work is what is important for them to do and for me to spend time looking at; the other stuff is important but not Spanish related.  For my 8th graders, I use a rubric that I created in my on-line grade book (Canvas, if anyone cares)  and I just click click click through to be finished in minutes!

Starters (Bell Ringers) and Objectives

I recently posted on the tprs listerv (moretprs.yahoo.com) about my Bell ringers (I call them Para Empezars: PEs) and was startled by how many people wanted to see what I use.

I thought I'd take a moment to explain.  They are a great way for you to assess the previous day’s topic.

1) I use PEs to ease the transition from one class to another.  Since I am almost always at the door to greet my students, this gets them working right away.  Also, we don't have bells so holding students accountable for being on time is nearly impossible.
3) I do a variety of types, but they are all 2-5 tasks/sentences/errors to correct. Most fall into these categories: translate sentences (from L1 to L2 or vice versa), correct the errors, answer questions for PQA prep, fill in the blanks using target structures.It should be noted here that I use many of the PEs from Martina Bex's Somos curriculum, except when I don't. The example shown is from the La Universidad unit.


4) Students see it at the beginning of class every day. It’s got objectives, target structures, class jobs, homework, my office hours, and a place for me to write the starter.

5) I use my starters to let students get feedback on our objectives, and students track their understanding of the objectives and create their study plan almost every day. That’s the homework. The students who study progress. FYI, for me, studying means re-reading/retelling the story, unless they missed a class. Then, it’s quizlet. I also created a tracker for their notebooks that they use to record their progress. Here is what it looks like:

Please remember to share, attribute, and not profit!  (See copyright permissions on the right.)

 Click here for an editable version of the objectives.

Click here to see an example of the Para Empezar board.  Sorry, I can't provide an editable version. Since I modified it from a TPT purchase (many years ago, before I knew about things like citing), I still have to protect copyright. Thanks for understanding. But do what I did- look at my example and make your own. It will not take long. I promise! 

Update: A lot of folks requested an editable version of the Para Empezar board. Hey folks! Since I modified it from a TPT purchase, I can not share it! That would be violating copyright. Thanks.

Good note keeping and notebook reflections

Keeping track of what we put in the interactive notebooks is tricky, as is tracking what goes on what page. I take the time at the beginning of every unit to plan it out, and I put the information on a re-usable notebook tracker (page protector + wet-erase marker). I found that having a visual for me to see the lay-out of the activities is very important. More important, however, is being able to tell the students what page to glue something on. But note: the visual aid is re-usable, so as we move through units I erase and re-use. So when a student misses a class and has to make it up, I need to know what goes on which page. For four classes. It's a lot to keep track of!

My first solution was to keep a notebook for each class. That seems reasonable, right? It turns out that it's not. I had to make extra copies of everything (wasting paper) and then take the time to a)write the class and page number on each piece of paper, and b) glue it in sometime when I had a chance (seriously poor use of time). Having my faster processing students do it for me didn't seem to help much. I still ended up with a bunch of papers and a stack of notebooks that weren't helping me or anyone else, and no time.
My solution this year is much more simple. And technological. I already use a notebook/ handwriting app all time and it's very easy to use. I simply set up an electronic notebook for each class. Now, while they are gluing in whatever it is, I take a photo of it from the app, or if it's easier, I just write/type what the activity is. So simple and since I have my iPad all the time during class, it's easy. Let's face it: I am much more likely to keep track of my device than I am of a half-sheet of paper.
Tracking notebook assignments has really helped me when it came to assessing them as well, because I could note things like "check 22 for accuracy" and "did not finish 32 don't dock points!" Maybe if I started this year being able to write myself sticky notes, this wouldn't be such a big deal, but not being able to write (or pass out papers, or carry things) has impacted so much of my teaching practice.

What isn't working as well
In our school, it's an expectation that assessments get sent home to be signed by parents and it's much easier for the kids if those are glued in as well. And it's very easy for me to see if parents actually did sign when I grade the notebooks. That is working out fine.
What isn't working out as well is when a student re-takes a test, and misses the gluing-it-in instructions (usually the day I hand it back in class), possibly because it's in my to-be-graded file. Is it their fault then that it isn't glued in? Can they reasonably be expected to remember to glue it in once I have graded it? How can I help them remember better?
My solution for this this trimester is to place it on their shoulders, but in keeping with my "almost anything can be made up if you do it in my time frame" policy, they have the opportunity to be reminded about what they missed via the notebook rubric and turn it in again to be re-graded with no penalty. The downside is that I have to take the time to re-grade, but I also truly believe that they need the opportunity to fail and try again. They are only 12. Interestingly (at least to me), my students that I taught last year generally have no problem keeping their notebooks organized and complete.
For next trimester, I am going to try to be more systematic about telling them what and when to glue assessments, perhaps have them write it in their index, and maybe making the electronic notebook visible.
One more thing that made life easier: I graded my 8th grade notebooks last week and my 7th grade this week, giving both grades enough time to do "work improvement" if need be before grades are due. Splitting it up did make it easier on me and I am still able to give them work time to improve their work.

Logistics for Notebooks

Notebooks
 It's best to just buy them for students. There are too many options/numbers of pages available/spiral etc.  for you to control without supplying them yourself.

I use the 200 page wide-ruled composition books.  Spiral notebooks make it harder to store, and 200 pages seem just about right.

Cutting and Gluing
It seems so silly.  After all, I'm teaching middle school kids.  Cutting and gluing is first grade stuff, right?  WRONG.  It turns out that cutting and gluing is a lot harder than I thought.  For me, that meant reframing my expectations, explicitly teaching why and how to do it, and giving time to practice was important. (Hmmm- sounds like any procedure, right?)

Elmers vs. Glues sticks- Elmers or white glue all the way!  Glue stick glue, while easier and less messy to use, will not last a school year.  Sometime in January or February, everything will start falling out.

Dots vs. Xs or lines of glue- 4 dots, 5 if it's a larger document.  This is not a joke!  This year, I took more time to model the dots and explain it.  I also let the students know that improper use of glue (say, fingers or desk gluing) would result in the loss of privilege, and the overuse of glue in the notebook would result in a loss of the "Visual Appearance and Organization" grade.  This year, it's working out much better.

Real Scissors- I invested in real scissors.  It was worth every penny.  Having the kids label them ESPAÑOL means that several pairs have found their way back.

In Class-Not everyone has scissors and glue at their homes, so I try to keep activities in class.  Students who need glue are welcome to come in at any time to borrow supplies, and several take advantage of this when they need to.

Teaching the Set-up
I use a slideshow at the beginning of the year for set-up.
I also use a document that the students cut and glue in, for practice.  Sorry that the rubric is on a second page- googledocs did not want it on one.

Assessing and Grading Notebooks

Last year, I tried so many ways to grade these *#*$@-ing notebooks and it almost killed me.  My original idea, and what I told the kids I was going to do, was grade each page, worth about 4 - 8 points.  I created a little excel table, graded each page on "accuracy and completion" (oh, what does that even mean?!?), and spent hours adding sticky notes in their notebooks for feedback.

What I didn't realize then was that a) not everything needs to be graded, b) if accuracy is important, I need to focus on that in class and find a way to give immediate feedback, and c) I had WAY better things to do with my time.  Like plan lessons, and give relevant, timely feedback.

After a few more tries (and some serious thinking about what I really wanted them to get out of the notebook), I came up with a very general rubric.  I also re-organized the pages in the notebook itself so that it would be easier for me to find the things I need to check each grading period- like putting the Table of Contents (I call it el indicé because that's what one of the guides I bought off of TPT suggested) at the very front of the notebook.

I do want the organization and visual appearance to matter, but it is much less important than the accuracy and work itself.

I'm happy to report that this year, I graded my first "batch" of 50+ notebooks in less than 2 hours.

For grading homework, what seems to be working best for me is to give a quick look at the beginning of class (while students are working on their starters, or Para Empezars.  If I am grading for complete/ incomplete, I use a stamp to quickly mark it.  If I want to grade for accuracy or content, I give them a more substantial starter and mark it check plus if it's correct, check if they would benefit from doing it again or from checking their work, and check minus if it's incomplete, missing, or completely off the mark.  Students know that a check minus means they should plan on coming to office hours and going over it with me.  If they choose not to, they will lose points in the "Work is complete and accurate" category when I grade the notebook.  

Thus, when I grade the whole thing, I can easily see what pages are complete and/or accurate, students get timely feedback, and students have the time to go back to their work

It is also important to note that I give very little homework.    Students occasionally are asked to complete a task at home that is either identical or nearly to one we did in class.  If I give homework once a week, it's a big week!  More on my homework philosophy at another time.

Interactive (ish) notebooks

When I started teaching middle school, I knew that using binders would really frustrate me.  I had used interactive notebooks effectively as a grad student in math, and somewhat effectively as a teacher for writing.  I knew I wanted to use notebooks in Spanish, but I had no idea how.  Luckily, the internet exists.

I found so much information that I was completely overwhelmed.  Eventually, I put some ideas together and started to use the notebooks.

And I learned a few lessons VERY quickly, and some that took a lot longer to sink in.  So, for the edification of the language teacher who wants to use ISNs, here's what I've learned:

Interactive-ish:
Most interactive notebooks suggest that one side is the "input" side and the other side of the two-page spread is the "student" side, where they use mind maps, comics, and a variety of self-selected modes to respond to the input.  Doesn't that sound great?

The reality for me and my middle school kids is that I didn't want to spend class time modeling all the great ways to respond.  It would've taken months away from language learning, and I just don't have that much time with them to begin with.  The idea of choosing how to interact with the information was mind-blowing to the students, and while I still strongly believe in the value of doing so, it just didn't seem like the best use of time.  Thus, interactive-ish.

Instead, students keep all their information, notes, readings, practices, even assessments, in one place.  Occasionally, I collect documents to add to portfolios for P/T conferences, but most everything stays in one place for easy locating later.  Many parents and students love the simplicity of the system, and disorganized kids get some help in being more organized.

The real payoff this year is when I saw a few students using last year's notebook for reference during class!