Our Switch from Interactive Notebooks
A few years ago interactive notebooks took over the educational scene. They were everywhere you looked from homeschool books to the science classroom. They came in different versions from lap books and history “suitcases” to interactive science notebooks. I attended conferences where different versions of interactive notebooks were highlighted, but I struggled to use them.
Interactive notebooks might be popular, but…
… they aren’t always the solution. I’m not the only one that finds interactive notebooks a little tedious. The current version of interactive notebooks like we see on Teachers Pay Teachers and other sites I am sure can be useful for some educators and some students. If they are working for you that’s great. Some “new” types of resources have worked great for us, like escape rooms and breakout boxes. Interactive notebooks don’t work for me. If I can’t instruct using them, then the entire experience is set up for failure.
Is this an art project or notes?
Every single time we’ve used interactive notebooks, I’ve found myself bored out of my mind waiting for kids to cut, paste, color and/or clean up the little pieces of paper that are everywhere.
Then I was annoyed because I felt like valuable time was being wasted which would make me want to rush.
I lost focus on the content and often the kids were totally not focused while working on an interactive notebook. It was more like an arts & crafts project.
Getting the kids attention over and over
I found every time we pulled out scissors, printed pages, and glue that I lost the kids. It wasn’t just the task at hand of the actual cutting, pasting, stapling – no it was finding the glue, catching the glue that was rolling across the table, or picking up the glue cap that was on the floor.
It was the exhausting cycle of trying to get kids’ attention back on content. The kids weren’t the only problem, I found my own bored mind wandering while the kids were in cut and paste land.
Interactive notebooks weren’t working for my kids.
Once the interactive notebooks were made, I wasn’t happy with the results. The kids would struggle to find information in the notebooks no matter what I did.
I might ask a question and they were trying to dig through all these little pieces of paper in the notebook and find which one small bit had the detail they were looking for. More time was spent flipping pages than actually reading through information and looking for information.
The interactive notebook wasn’t helpful in relaying the content I was trying to teach. Again I’m sure some people can do very well with it, but it just wasn’t something that worked for me and then I stumbled upon doodles.
Graphic notes or visual notes to the rescue.
The idea is not new and I had already done a lot of reading on dual encoding before I found out about graphic notes. Dual encoding is an idea that being exposed to graphic representation and a written explanation together is a very powerful tool in learning and memory.
One of the first implications I read about was using flashcards this way. You could create flashcards so you can see the answer and the question at the same time. Being a scientist, I’m well aware of the power of illustrating your own things and it is how labs really clicked with me.
There is no cutting, glue sticks, rolling caps on the floor. Broken scissors aren’t your problem anymore. Kids yelling, “I can’t find the scissors” or “there’s no tape” won’t be happening. Those little scraps of paper aren’t littering the floor. No staples or staplers to break.
It’s just a sheet of paper and a pencil or pen. If you want to get really fancy you can use coloring pencils (but they can also color them on their own later as part of their study plan). It is still an alternative to old fashioned science notebooks, but more content focused.
What I love about using graphic notes (visual notes)
Graphic notes have many names. You will see them called visual notes, graphic notes, class sketches, drawing notes, coloring page notes, doodles, etc. They all are referring to a note that uses some form of artistic representation within the notes. The notes I make usually have word art, boxes to help divide information, and graphics and/or drawing boxes.
These graphic notes change how kids interact with the material:
- more time on task
- more interaction with the content
- less time spent transitioning between activities.
Graphic notes (aka visual notes) allow for:
- artistic variation (the more personal touches – the more engagement)
- practice with annotation skills and study skills
- kids go back and refer to the graphic notes much more often because they are easy to scan, read, and flip through.
How to make your own visual notes.
You can make them as simple or as complex as you need them and they are adaptable for your and your kids’ needs.
When I design graphic notes, I focus on a completed version first which serve as an answer key, teacher key, and notes for students that are absent.
Then I make a fill-in-the-blank version which is a great scaffolded model of notes. The blanks are usually designed to emphasize the vocabulary words that are the most important insert in the notes.
The final copy is usually headings and possibly some version of graphics, I consider these my blank copies. There are times where my notes have lots of graphics and there are some times where I also add an option where they have boxes to draw in (depending on the topic) – think old school science lab notes.
How I feel about the switch from interactive notebooks
This is one of the best things I’ve done for my kids I feel like it’s been a huge benefit to us. I am personally using these in the classroom as well and love them. I’ve completely abandoned interactive notebooks for graphic notes and couldn’t be happier.
You can find any of the graphics notes pictured by clicking on the image below.
