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Saturday, September 21, 2013

New Fav ISN Product

So I played at using ISNs (Interactive Student Notebooks) last year, but was rather unsuccessful and had all but decided not to bother doing them this year. Then I found two ah-mazing resources that I just can't get enough of! Erin over at I'm Lovin Lit created this awesome common-core-aligned ISN resource that is beyond perfect! I can't even put into words how pleased I am with it! There are two separate resources - one for literature and one for non-fiction. (I have both!)




It is truly interactive and my eighth graders are LOVING it!! She even includes YouTube links to short (1-3 minute) videos that pair perfectly with the lessons!

We've been using it for a week, and every day my kids have come in and asked, "Do we get to cut and color our notes again today?" And because everything is associated with a picture I really feel like they are retaining the information better. We started reading "Raymond's Run" and were using our Story Vocabulary to talk about it. Some of the kids couldn't recall a definition, and before I could say anything, another student said, "Remember, that's the vocab word behind the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood." Fabulous! It instantly jump-started their memories and they immediately made the connection and could tell me who the antagonist in RR was!

I'll try to remember to take some pictures of our ISNs in action next week!


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5 comments:

  1. I love it! Thanks so much! My students also definitely benefit from the visual associations as well as the aspect of being active. I love how sweet 8th graders can be when given the opportunity to "color and cut" their notes!
    :) Erin
    I'm Lovin Lit

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  2. I just bought some of her templates to use as well!!! I can't wait to try them out!

    Jamie

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  3. This sounds awesome! Currently in my teacher education program, we are discussing how to design IN's for science classes. I haven't seen a strategy or setup that I'm completely sold on though. I like these templates for language arts and maybe I could change them a little for science. Thanks!

    Chelsea

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  4. What a great way to keep students engaged in the content! As a pre-service teacher, I'm slowing collecting ideas for my future classroom and I think these would be helpful in an English as well as a social studies classroom. Thank you!

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  5. What a great idea! These products allow students to read, write, think and talk about what they are learning. Studies show that when students do all 4, that they will remember 90% of what they are studying. Also, since I focus on students understanding the elements of literature so they can build durable comprehension homes, I love these products.
    Happy Teaching,
    Connie
    teachitwrite.blogspot.com

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