Digital Notebooking


As I have been learning more and more about technology usage in the classroom, I have become really interested in Digital Notebooking.  I didn't attend TCEA, but many of my colleagues did, and they shared with me Jessica Worley's presentation about Digital Notebooking. This has definitely inspired me a in a lot of ways.

 So in order to learn more and share with teachers, I took the first unit I taught last year in 7th Accelerated Math (all 8th grade Math TEKS) and made a digital notebook. I used Google Slides, since we are a GSuite for Education district. Below are some of the steps I took to create the notebook.

  • I created a basic title page and table of contents (TOC) page. 
  • I broke the unit into sections (which we usually do, it is a hodge podge unit) and created slides for those sections, and then hyperlinked to those slides on the TOC page.
  • Since I have my TEKS, I know what students need to be able to do. I started planning how I wanted them to learn/practice.  
  • I created a completed sample first - what I expect a finished NB to look like.  This included everything I wanted students to do within the notebook. I also included links to videos, activities, and other resources I want students to have. 

  • Once that was complete, I started removing the things I want students to add. I made sure there were empty tables that were shaded gray so that students would know where I wanted their information to go.  (During this process, I was still making changes to both documents as I realized things were missing or weren't clear).  I came up with what I would distribute to students. 
  • I made sure to have an extra resources page at the end - for extra help videos and more practice if needed. 
As I was creating the digital notebook, I started to see even more benefits. By having this for students, all their resources are in one place. I don't have to link my YouTube playlists on my website - they are all there for students where and when they need them.  It is a great place to link digital activities, such as Desmos or Quizizz, so that students can find them and return to them easily if needed.

 Now to find a classroom to try it! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Math Icon Board

Image
In my job, I am always looking for new ideas to share, whether it is a new activity or a new twist on an established one. Recently I got an email from Matt Miller at Ditch That Textbook with this idea -   an icon board for visual thinking.  I really got me thinking about how it could be used... and what other icon boards could be created. Since I am a former math teacher, that is where my mind heads - to math.  I started looking at the icons in the Insert Icons for Slides add-on, and sure enough, I found plenty that apply to math. So I started adding them, and thus creating my Math Icon Board My goal was to add icons that could be utilized in a variety of math and science classes. Obviously I do not have everything, partly because I couldn't find it or it didn't come to mind during my creation. When students use this, my suggestion is that they copy the icon (either by right-clicking and choosing copy OR hitting ctrl and C keys at the same time) and then pasting it
Read more

Remote Learning Recommendations, part 1

Now that many of us are in the thick of remote learning, or for those of us in my district, where we are preparing for remote learning, I have come across some great resources that I wanted to share. I am sure that throughout all this that there will be more, so that is why this is part 1. First, I have to say, I love Slidesmania . Her templates are amazing and I am constantly recommending her site to everyone. Right now, her Weekly Planner template is a must for teachers teaching remotely. Check it out! Second, I have seen a lot about educational technology companies reaching out to teachers, schools, and districts with free offers of normally paid versions.  On one hand, that is really cool, but it can be really overwhelming to teachers to decide what new tools to try in their classes.  Edweek  even wrote a very good piece on it. Based on what I have seen, planning with teachers and instructional coaches for remote learning, my recommendation is for teachers to generally use wh
Read more

My Personal User Manual

Image
One of my bosses, Ryan Smith, recently blogged about the clarity of a personal user manual . As I thought more and more about his post, I thought about how it might help me in my role as an ITS. Something like this might be useful, considering a large part of being successful at my job requires building and maintaining positive relationships with my staff. So here is my personal user manual: I'm a pretty positive person and I tend to smile a lot. Sometimes I worry that others will think my smile is fake or looks fake because I do it so much. But I promise it’s not… I can’t really fake a smile. One of my biggest strengths is that I am willing to say yes to new projects and innovative ideas. One of my biggest weaknesses is that I have a hard time saying no. So if I say no to an idea/project, it is not because I don't want to be involved, it is because I feel that I cannot give it the time that it deserves. I hate looking incompetent. I prefer to be "in th
Read more