Thursday, July 25, 2013

Interactive Notebooks: Composition Notebooks or Spiral Notebooks?

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been delving into my professional development courses and making a mental plan of action for the upcoming school year. The first BIG thing that I will be implementing in class is the use of an interactive notebook. Perhaps you have seen this concept on Pinterest, other blogs, or previous professional development classes. The idea is to have everything necessary for learning in one area, and it allows students to interact with the materials inside. My interactive notebooks will also include foldables, similar to those of Dinah Zike. (She is AMAZING!!) Students will be able to take ownership of their learning, and be able to have everything they need to be successful in class at their fingertips.

And so the debate has begun! Do I use composition notebooks or spiral notebooks? I am torn between the two different options. Technically there are three options, but I don't want to use binders. I don't have the space to store student binders in my classroom, and they are not as portable as a single notebook for my students. I found a blog by Mendy Gannon who discusses the pros and cons for each of these three options.

Composition notebooks offer more positive attributes than the other options.

  • They can easily be customized for classroom purposes. I am thinking of putting colored duct tape around the bindings to differentiate between the classes. I may create some colored covers to put on the face of each notebook to also match the bindings. The students can then customize their cover with the name and class period. These are for them, so this step is important to me. 
  • They are all the same! Composition notebooks are very standard, and the only thing that really differs between them is the cover. I am planning on customizing the cover anyway, so size is really the only thing that I am looking for.
  • While the number of pages in the composition notebook is limited (about 70 pages a notebook), I can do one for the first semester and one for the second semester. No big deal in that department.
  • The actual size of the composition book allows for easy storage in the classroom. I can stand them up on their end on a book shelf or place them in a file crate (easily portable in their home!). I don't know for sure what type of storage options I will have at this point, but I think composition notebooks are the best option for me.
This year I will be trying out the composition notebook and seeing how it works in my classroom. I will keep you updated as the year progresses to see how both the students and myself like the use of the composition notebook. You only know if you try it! Let me know your thoughts about composition notebooks versus spiral notebooks. I would love to hear your thoughts.

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