Interactive Notebooks: 7 Ways to Use Them in the World Language Classroom
“Why are we gluing pieces of paper to a notebook when we could be in our classrooms working?” I whispered during the staff meeting. Tables were littered with glue sticks.
My Spanish teacher colleague nodded in agreement and the French teacher let out a long sigh.
If the presenter had told us about the effectiveness of interactive notebooks and why we would want to use them in our world language classes, I would have paid more attention. I had no idea they would transform the learning process in my high school classroom. (They are great for middle school, too.) In this blog post, I’ll tell you what she didn’t tell us: How students’ interactive notebooks improve learning and HOW TO USE THEM.
A new INB convert, I set about learning as much as I could about interactive notebooks. A few years ago, I spent 30 minutes of my prep talking to one of the Interactive Notebook Gurus at my school. She showed me her interactive student notebooks and a CD she had bought full of templates. Seeing those students’ notebooks convinced me that my next Spanish and French classes would use an interactive notebook for the entire school year.
Student learning has dramatically increased as a result. No more students missing half the lesson rummaging through piles of papers and ultimately never finding the handout. No more passive students sleeping with their eyes open during the instructional part of the lesson.
Want to try out an interactive notebook activity? Scroll down to get your FREE Interactive Notebook Activity on La ropa Spanish Clothing vocabulary words.
In a previous blog post, I talked about why you should use INBs in world languages. If you would like to read it, here is the link: Why You Should Use Interactive Notebooks in World Language
However, I’ll briefly summarize below the benefits of INBs in world language education.
Interactive Notebooks: What are the Benefits?
- THEY PROMOTE ACTIVE LEARNING.
INBs actively involve students in their own learning because they are hands-on.
- THEY ENGAGE STUDENTS.
For many years, students sat passively while I presented the material or PowerPoint presentations. They were not interacting with the curriculum mentally or physically, making it far too easy to disconnect or dream about their current crush.
- THEY ENHANCE RETENTION.
Interactive notebooks use more of the senses and therefore increase the chances students will remember what they learned. INBs incorporate interactive elements such as foldables, flipbooks, and graphic organizers, which help reinforce learning and improve retention.
- THEY KEEP STUDENTS ORGANIZED.
This is huge! No more excess papers littering the floor or stuffed into the student backpack never to be recovered.
- THEY KEEP STUDENTS INTERESTED.
Folding and pasting and coloring are fun!
- THEY PROMOTE SELF-REFLECTION AND STUDENT ACCOUNTABILITY.
INBs encourage students to think critically about their language learning progress. Since they are essentially creating their own Spanish or French textbook, they often refer to their class notes in their notebooks when reviewing. Witnessing students eagerly flipping through their own pages, taking charge of their learning, brought a surprised smile to my lips.
- THEY BUILD LANGUAGE SKILLS.
The interactive activities and flipbooks provide opportunities for writing and listening practice, vocabulary expansion, and grammar reinforcement.
Here is what you need to know to get started:
1. Tell students to buy a college-ruled notebook at Target or other store.
“College-Ruled” means it must be 8.5 x 11. Tell students to take their syllabus with them to see if it fits. The spiral notebooks are not large enough if students have to cut the syllabus in order to make it fit. Some foreign language teachers recommend a composition notebook, but I find it to be too small.
2. Have students put a Table of Contents on the first page (on the left).
Every time you paste a page into the interactive notebook, you will write the title and page number on the Table of Contents for easy reference. The students watch you and do exactly what you do. Click the image below to download this document.
Here is a short video of my Spanish One Interactive Notebook
Below is my Master Interactive Notebook for Spanish Two
Click on the image below to get your FREE PowerPoint
Click the image to see the Table of Contents.
3. Number all the pages at the beginning.
4. Keep a Master INB.
Yours will look exactly like the students’. That way, absent students can see what it should look like.
5. Have students put the syllabus on page two of their Interactive Notebooks.
6. Have students paste your rubric on the last page.
(Develop a rubric for grading the INB. You may want to assess them on completeness, creativity, use of color or highlighting, use of Cornell Notes, accuracy of Table of Contents) I recommend training your T.A.s to grade them and grading them every quarter. You can also randomly grade one page. I instruct my T.A. to grade two notebooks a day so students always have to be ready and organized. Here is my rubric. Click the image below to download.
7. Which Order?
Many teachers have students paste teacher-created materials on the right-side pages and student-created ones on the left side because of the way the brain works. However, that seems counter-intuitive to me as the eye (in Western countries) moves from left to right. Therefore, I tell my students to put teacher-created materials on the left and student-created on the right. Here is an example of a student using the teacher-provided handout (teacher input activities) on the left to fill in the INB (student output activities) on the right. This printable interactive notebook activity and flipbook are for stem-changing verbs. Click on the image to see the details.
BUT INBS REQUIRE TOO MUCH PREP AND THEY USE TOO MUCH INSTRUCTIONAL TIME!
I didn’t find interactive notebook activities time-consuming. In fact, the use of interactive notebooks saved me instructional time because my students were more organized and engaged. I put the instructions on the overhead during bell work so students pasted and glued during the warm ups. Also, my Teacher assistant cut and stapled flipbooks and handed them out to the students. If you do not have a T.A. (You don’t? Why not?), develop a classroom culture of cutting, gluing, and stapling INB activities at the beginning of the class, or assign it as a rotating student chore.
Here is an interactive notebook activity I created for the Imperfect vs. Preterite and to help students know when to use the imperfect tense in Spanish. This activity greatly helped my students internalize the concept.
The Interactive Notebook Activities Bundles below include a wide variety of activities, such as digital interactive notebooks and Google Slides activities, which can be used in Google Classroom or other LMS. They can be found in my TPT store (previously called Teachers Pay Teachers).
Click here to see the Spanish One Interactive Notebook Activities.
Click here to see the Spanish Two Interactive Notebook Activities.
Click here to see the Spanish Three Interactive Notebook Activities.
Click here to see the Spanish One and Two Interactive Notebook Activities.
Click here to see ALL of my Spanish One, Two, and Three Interactive Notebook Activities.
There are various formats and many different ways to use interactive notebook activities. Flipbooks are a great way to reinforce verb conjugations and grammar concepts. Color and draw activities improve listening proficiency and provide comprehensible input in the target language. Question / Answer INBs are great Spanish or French reading comprehension activities.
Click on the link or the image to get your FREE La ropa Interactive Notebook Activity.
If you have any questions or ideas about how you use Interactive Notebooks in your class, I’d love to hear them!
If you’d like to get more tips and f-r-e-e resources in your email, subscribe to my newsletter. Just click this link and scroll to the bottom to subscribe: Best PowerPoints for Spanish and French by Angie Torre. You’ll also get a F-R-E-E 122-slide PowerPoint on Spanish verbs and infinitives.
CONNECT WITH ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
TO RECEIVE FREEBIES AND NOTIFICATIONS OF NEW PRODUCTS, CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK TO FOLLOW MY STORE: ANGIE TORRE
Pinterest
Get More Freebies and Teaching Tips!
Testimonials
Youtube VideosMy Youtube Videos
Looks interesting! What is under some of those slips of paper glued on? Examples of the concept?
It depends on the activity and/or concept. Which activity are you referring to?
would you use INB beyond level 3? I have level 4 and AP and am considering it in the level 4´s.
Hello: I think interactive notebooks are wonderful for any level. Yes, I’d use them if you have them. In AP I would not have time for them because there is so much material to cover but for 1-4 I think they are engaging and helpful to students.