Using Academic Notebooks in Middle-School Classrooms

In this helpful article in Middle School Journal, Alison Rheingold (a Massachusetts instructional coach), Caitlin LeClair (a Maine middle-school social studies teacher), and Jayson Seaman (University of New Hampshire) describe effective use of academic notebooks. Here are their suggestions on how these composition-style notebooks might be used for a project, unit, or course:

• The notebook’s content is teacher directed but created by each student;
• It’s a place for students to put ideas and information they gather each day;
• It’s a tool for both teacher and student to track learning.

“Slowly, over the course of the project,” say Rheingold, LeClair, and Seaman, “notebooks become filled with handwritten notes; academic vocabulary; graphic organizers; glued-in, teacher-created rubrics; and formative and summative assessments related to specific learning targets and the overall goals of the unit.” 

LeClair used academic notebooks for the first time for a unit on the Civil Rights Movement. Afterward, she, Rheingold, and Seaman adduced the following implications:

• It takes time to teach students how to use a notebook. However, say the authors, this is time well spent – when students know the routines, there’s a payoff throughout the year.

• Notebooks establish norms for gathering, organizing, and using information. LeClair found that she heard fewer comments like, “I can’t find my work”, “I don’t remember what we did in the last class”, or “I left it on the bus.” (Students were asked to leave their notebooks in the classroom.)

• Notebooks support academic and social goals. LeClair found they helped build community and supported hesitant students in participating more fully in class. 

• Academic notebooks don’t work in all situations. For some units, an adjustable, portfolio-type collection might be more appropriate.

• A final assessment of the notebook may not be necessary. LeClair found that by working with students on each step of their notebooks, an overall “notebook check” was superfluous. This encouraged students to focus on the learning targets and completing project goals.

• Notebooks can be used for multiple purposes. During and after her Civil Rights unit, LeClair used the notebooks to support bulletin board displays and student-led portfolio conferences with parents, and to display student growth over time.

“Using Academic Notebooks to Support Achievement and Promote Positive Classroom Environments” by Alison Rheingold, Caitlin LeClair, and Jayson Seaman in Middle School Journal, September 2013 (Vol. 45, #1, p. 24-32), http://bit.ly/18K1d2o; Rheingold can be reached at arheingold@mcaulifferegional.org. 

From the Marshall Memo #505