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! 

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