AAE - Mr. Huffine's Problem Solving Strategies
Interactive Student Notebook

Interactive Notebooks allow you to record information and process it to improve your level of understanding. As you learn new ideas, you will use several types of writing and graphic techniques to record them. Then you will do something with those ideas. This process will get you to use critical-thinking skills to organize and process information. As a result, you can become a more creative, more independent thinker and will have a deeper understanding of what you are learning.

In Interactive Notebooks, key ideas are underlined in color or highlighted; Venn diagrams show relationships; cartoon sketches show people and events or summarize main ideas;

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To create your Interactive Notebook, you must bring these materials to class each day:

These additional materials would be helpful:

 

We do this because:

 

BOTTOM LINE: Your notebook becomes a portfolio of what you actually learned.

 

How To Use The Notebook:

The right hand side of the notebook - the "input" side - is used for recording class notes, homework, notes video/textbook reading notes, and questions and lab activities. Most "testable" information is found here. You should structure your notes so that key ideas and concepts are clear and supported by examples. Identify key ideas and develop graphic ways to show those ideas. Sometimes I may ask you to respond to a reading assignment in a specific manner. Other times the notes will be up to you.

Some graphic techniques:

Each right sided entry will be numbered and dated. You will set up a table of contents in the front of your book that will help you find specific entries quickly.

 

The left side - the "output" side - is used for processing ideas. You will work out your understanding of new material by using illustrations, diagrams, flow charts, colors, matrices, cartoons, etc. You will explore your opinions and clarify your values on controversial issues, wonder "what if" " in hypothetical situations, and ask questions about new ideas. You will review what you have learned and preview what you will learn. There are six general types of left-side entries:

1. Reviewing and Previewing (RAP): You will write or draw for two or three minutes in response to a question or statement. This prompt will help you to either review what we have covered or preview what is ahead. You may be called on to share your response with the class.

2. Working It Out (WIO): While you "wrestle" with new information and ideas, "WIO" assignments will help you work at understanding them. By "WIO" you will represent ideas in ways that make sense to you. You will learn strategies such as graphic organizers / CONCEPT MAPS to help you with this process.

3. Personal Response (PR): "PR's" may be either assigned by me or initiated by you when you want to express an idea or ask a question. "PR's" allow you to explore your feelings or reflect on how a topic touches your own life. "PR's" are to be a minimum of 5 to 7 complete sentences.

4. Here I Stand (HIS): "HIS's" allow you to state conclusions or best understandings. Their intent is to produce concise (short but to the point) statements on ideas you have been grappling with throughout a unit. These statements should demonstrate a relative mastery of the content and a well-supported conclusion.

5. Journal Writes (JW): Periodically I will assign topics for "JW's". I will use these to either open or close a class meeting or as homework. Your response should not be longer than a page.

6. Extras - Student Initiated Entries: Class notes, RAPs, Working It Outs, Here I Stands, and some Personal Responses are structured and shaped the instructor (Mr. Huffine). Once you begin to feel comfortable with the interactive notebook system, you are ready to explore ideas of your own, to raise questions of interest to you, and to make connections between "real life" and what you are learning using entries like...

 

How Will This Thing Be Graded?

 

Interactive Student Notebook will be assessed in multiple ways.

Daily Evaluation

Formal Evaluation
Toward the end of each grading period, I will formally evaluate notebooks. I will select several entries or pieces of entries at random to grade. It will be the same entries for everyone but you will not know in advance which ones will be evaluated.

Cautions


1. Students should be current with their notebook entries at all times. I may spot check the notebooks without notice. Students will not receive credit for any entries not up to date.

2. It is your responsibility to obtain class notes and do the left page processing activities when you are absent. This will be treated as part of your make up work for the missed class.

3. All entries are to be numbered and dated. Each entry must be recorded in order regardless of absence or the days activity.

4. A student may only copy another student's right-hand page to get missed class notes. Other portions of the notebook must be unique. Notebook entries must reflect your personal learning experiences.

 

I hope you will find the Interactive Student Notebook helpful to your learning process.

 

What is the purpose of a Interactive Student Notebook?

1. To keep an up-to-date assignment record
2. To keep all class work in one place...notes, hand-outs, labs, returned quizzes, and homework
3. To provide you wilh an organizational method that reduces the loss of papers.
4. To provide a record of one semester course work in one book.
5. To allow you to review your progress or improvement in a course.


How do you organize an Interactive Student Notebook?

1. Number all pages in the book, front and back. Never remove a page! (There are 100 sheets / 200 pages in a wide line 7 1/2 x 9 3/4" MEAD bound composition book, cost $1 each)

2. Set aside the first 6-8 pages of the book. These pages are used for the table of contents, course information, and grading data.

3. Start each unit with 2 assignment pages, either side by side or front and back. If a teacher gives a 1/2 page unit outline/syllabus, this is taped in with the assignment pages.

A Sample ASSIGNMENT PAGE : (more than 1 page is needed for a 3-4 week unit)

Date ---------------In Class Activities ---------------------------Homework -------------------------Due Date
9/8 ----------------Notes on food chains ------------------------ Read pgs. 5-10 ---------------------------9/9
9/9 -----------------Group campus activity -------------------Review notes for quiz ---------------------9/10
9/10 ----------------------------------------------------Quiz & Start food chain lab Lab follow-up ?'s------9/11
9/11 ----------Lab completion check & discussion-make corrections Correct returned quiz----- 9/12

4. As the students complete work, it should be entered in the table of contents in the very front of the book.

Sample TABLE OF CONTENTS :

----------------------------------------UNIT I ECOLOGY

Date------------------------- -----Entry title -------------------------------------------------pages
9/8 -------------------------Assignments Unit 1 Ecology -----------------------------------10-11
9/8 -------------------------Notes on food chains ---------------------------------------------12
9/9 -------------------------Group observations of campus - Look alike list -----------13-15
9/10 -----------------------Lab and follow up ?'s - Make a food web --------------------16-17
9/11 -----------------------Returned quiz - taped in and corrected ----------------------18

5. PLAN AHEAD, you may prefer doing assignments on consecutive pages.

It is OK to leave some blank space or even a blank page. One semester of work fills 3/4 of one 200 page wide line "composition book". You may want to skip a line between questions you answer, so there is room to write comments or corrections.

6. Supplementary papers such as worksheets, data tables, video outlines, lab follow up questions, and quizzes are taped into the log book with the corresponding lesson and entered in the table of contents. HAVE A LARGE TAPE DISPENSER or GLUE STICK!

7. At the end of each unit you may paper clip all unit pages together so they can turn quickly to the current unit materials. Have students underline the last unit entry in the table of contents, and make a title line for the new unit.

 

-----------------------------------UNIT II - POPULATIONS ----------------------------------------

What is a Journal Write?

Periodically you will be assigned topics for Journal Writes. These are used either as homework, or to open / conclude a lesson. Journal Writes may be used in number of different ways, but the main idea is to get you to clearly express your ideas and opinions in writing and to practice using examples or observations to support these ideas. These are usually short, not over l page.


How will you, your parents and your teacher evaluate log books?

1. As assignments are due, teachers may do completion checks by "walking-about" the class checking to see if work is complete and assigning a completion score, initialing or stamping the work done, or both. In this way your teacher(s) might evaluates effort rather than content. This may be followed with class discussion where students are expected to write corrections in their logs.

2. About every 2 weeks, log books might be collected in class sets and graded by the instructor, or parents / students can be given a rubric(s) for parent checkups / self reflection. At this time, one or two specific assignments are carefully looked at and graded using a rubric. You will be told ahead of time, which assignments will be graded.

3. At the end of each unit all log books will be collected. Prior to this collection you will be given a check list which allows you to organize and self-evaluate your log book, essentially a "completion check." (In addition, some assignments can be / maybe / will be teacher graded for content. ) This log check will be weighted so that it counts for about 1/3-1/2 the total points of the unit test.

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