Roland O'Daniel's List: Interactive Student Notebook

• such as accessing the notebook from home or outside of class.
• students adding their reflections or notes on a daily basis to create a class version of the ISN
• a class version to share with your students next year and you already have examples to share with them
• a formative way of assessing and seeing how their thinking has evolved, grown during the course of a year
• motivating factor because it creates an outside audience
• allows connections to other resources that is not possible in a regular paper and pencil notebook. I reference your email to me in which you hot linked to several resources making the email more interactive and in this case more informative. It also, lets the students focus on their thinking instead of focusing on how to solve the problem or define the term, which I think is valuable. It allows them to state an idea, base it on fact, and develop understanding of that very critical process. Making students critical thinkers is hard and I think is a real objective of your ISN.
• allows you to look at the notebook from year to year to see how it has developed. I know in my work with several other teachers the accelaration from year to year online has been exponential. Each year we get better about using a  resource, but with the inclusion of technology students are able to accelerate it even further.
• the notebook can become intereactive
• uploading your notes allows students to access them when not in class. not a primary focus but a potential benefit.

 

3. Have students process information on the left side of the notebook.
The left side—the “output” side—is primarily used for processing new ideas. Students work out an understanding of new material by using illustrations, diagrams, flow charts, poetry, colors, matrices, cartoons, and the like. Students explore their opinions and clarify their values on controversial issues, wonder about “what if ” hypothetical situations, and ask questions about new ideas. And they review what they have learned and preview what they will learn. By doing so, students are encouraged to see how individual lessons fit into the larger context of a unit and to work with and process the information in ways that help them better understand history. The left side of the notebook stresses that writing down lecture notes does not mean students have learned the information. They must actively do something with the information before they internalize it.

Left Side Student-Processing “Output”	Right Side Teacher-Directed “Input”
Here is a simple example of the right-side, left-side orientation of the Interactive Student Notebook in action. The student began by taking class notes on late nineteenth-century industrialism on the right side of her notebook and then, for homework, completed a topical net on the corresponding left side using information from her class notes.

Right Side ideas for ISNs from History Alive and annotated by me

• 1. Advertisements – design advertisements to represent migration, settlement, or the significance of a specific site.
• 2. Annotated Classroom Maps – create annotated classroom maps after Experiential Exercises to show how classroom experiences relate to historical situations.
• 3. Annotated Illustrations –make annotated illustrations to recount a story of travel or migration,to represent a moment in time, or to label architectural features.
• 4. Annotated Slides – use simple sketches of powerful images, accompanied by annotations, to help students understand difficult content.
• 5. Book or Compact Disk Covers – design book or

• 6. Caricatures –draw caricatures to present the main characteristics of a group inhistory or how an individual or group was perceived by another group.
• 7. Eulogies – write eulogies to extol the virtues of prominent historical figures or civilizations.
• 8. Facial Expressions – draw facial expressions to summarize the feelings of groups who have different perspectives on a single event.
• 9. Flow Charts – create flow charts to show causal relationships or to show steps in a sequence.
• 10. Forms of Poetry – write various forms of poetry to describe a person, place, event, or feeling of a moment.

• 11. Historical Journals – assume the role of a historical figure to keep a journal that recounts the figure’s feelings and experiences in language of the era.
• 12. Illustrated Dictionary Entries –explain key terms by created illustrated dictionary entries. Write adefinition, provide a synonym and an antonym, and draw an illustrationto represent each term.
• 13. Illustrated Outlines – use simple drawings and symbols to graphically highlight or organize class notes.
• 14. Illustrated Proverbs – create illustrated proverbs to explain complex concepts.
• 15. Illustrated Timelines – create illustrated timelines to sequence a series of events in chronological order.

• 16. Invitations – design invitations that highlight the main goals and key facts of important historical events.
• 17. Making Connections Outside the Classroom – after completing an activity, find examples outside of class of the topic or concept studied.
• 18. Metaphorical Representations – create metaphorical representations to explain difficult or abstract historical concepts.
• 19. Mind Notes –draw and label outlines of the heads of important historical figures.Fill in the outline with quotations and paraphrased thoughts from thefigure.
• 20. Mosaics –synthesize information from a broad content area by creating mosaics.Use visuals and words to represent similarities, differences, andimportant concepts.

• 21. Perspective Pieces – design drawings or write newspaper articles to represent different perspectives on controversial figures, events, and concepts.
• 22. Pictowords – create pictowords (symbolic representations of words or phrases tha show their meaning) to help define difficult concepts.
• 23. Political Cartoons and Comic Strips – create political cartoons and comic strips to provide social or political commentary on important historical events.
• 24. Postcards – after studying specific content, write postcards to summarize information about places or events.
• 25. Posters – draw posters to emphasize key points about political ideas, a political figure’s point of view, or reasons behind important historical events.

• 26. Provocative Statements – have students react to provocative statements to introduce historical themes or to critically assess a historical period.
• 27. Report Card – used graded evaluations to assess the policies of leaders or governments.
• 28. Sensory Figures –create sensory figures (simple drawings of prominent historical figureswith descriptions of what they might be seeing, hearing, saying,feeling, or doing) to show the thoughts, feelings, and experiences ofhistorical figures.
• 29. Spectrums – place information on spectrums to show multiple perspectives on a topic or to express an opinion about an issue.
• 30. Spoke Diagrams – create spoke diagrams as a visual alternative to outlining.

• 31. T-Charts –create T-charts to compare classroom experiences with historicaldetails, to look at advantages and disadvantages of a topic, or tocompare and contrast two different items.
• 32. Venn Diagrams – create Venn diagrams to compare and contrast people, concepts, places, or groups.
• 33. “What If?” Statements – use “what if?” statements to apply newfound knowledge to hypothetical historical situations.

Concept Maps
Acrostics
Comic Strips
Venn Diagrams