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In order to stay organized, each student MUST have two composition notebooks, now called an Interactive Notebook. One side is a Classwork Notebook, the other side, a Writing Notebook. Other benefits include using it later on as a portfolio when you need proof to send to a college; it's a great resource for you to use later; and it highlights your creativity! Create your own IN using the guidelines below for my class!

Writer's Notebook

"What Kind of Fruit Are You" Pocket Pages (I'll show you how.) License plate, notes from me, index cards, etc. Outside: Decorate the outside with drawings, stickers, crafts and flair. Make sure it's a creative reflection of you, but also make sure it's easy to identify as the Writing side! (Pimp your cover!!) Only one requirement though, make sure your LAST name and CLASS HOUR is highly visible on the cover.
Inside Panel:
QR Code to Syllabus. Page 1: Bio Page. Tell me about yourself: full name, birth month/day, favorite things, besties, parents, aspirations, social media tags, etc. Then, decorate with drawings, stickers, crafts and flair to show this notebook is for Writing.
Page 2:
Page 3-4: Survey
(Quotes, Quote Reflections & Answer a Question)

Page 5: Label it "Resources" at the top Page 25: Start writing here:

Decorate the outside with drawings, stickers, crafts and flair. Make sure it's a creative reflection of you, but also make sure you can identify it as the Assignment Log (glue/tape it in and write the heading at the top) Pocket Pages (one for short stories; one for everything else) Reading side! (Pimp your cover!!) Only one requirement though, make sure your LAST name and CLASS HOUR is highly visible on the cover.
Inside Panel:
Page 1-5:
Page 6: Annotation Guide Worksheet
Page 7: Literary Umbrella Sheet
Page 8: Literary Terms Sheet
Page 9: Iceberg Analysis Sheet
Page 10: Start your work here:

Organization Tip: Make sure that you date each page daily, and record graded assignments onto your Assignment Record Sheet.

(Unless otherwise notes, these notebooks are to be kept in class in the designated area in case of a Notebook Check. You will be graded on these specifics. See examples below.)

Routinely, I will conduct a notebook check to ensure that you are engaging in our book studies and grasping a full understanding of what we are reading and how we are analyzing literature. I will check for all of the assignments, with fidelity, that have been assigned and the following:

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In order to stay organized, each student MUST have two composition notebooks, now called an Interactive Notebook. One side is a Classwork Notebook, the other side, a Writing Notebook. Other benefits include using it later on as a portfolio when you need proof to send to a college; it's a great resource for you to use later; and it highlights your creativity!

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Interactive notebooks are useful in any subject area. In my science classroom, students used them for all of their Do Nows, all of their notes, and many daily assignments. Every day, the students knew they had to get their interactive notebook, fill in the Table of Contents, copy the Do Now questions, and answer the Do Now in sentences. When we went over the Do Now answers, the students would sometimes add to or change their answers so they had accurate information. Then, if we took notes that class period, the students knew exactly where to write them. They would add any vocabulary words to their glossaries. When it came time to study for a test, the students had potential test questions and answers from all the Do Nows and they had all of their notes organized neatly so they could find information quickly.

During the school year, I kept an interactive notebook as well. When a student was absent, I could show them my interactive notebook or make a copy of certain pages to distribute. Interactive notebooks have proven invaluable to me as a teacher. They show everything we learned, when we learned it, and how we learned it. That makes lesson planning so much faster and easier the next year. I love interactive notebooks and would never go back to not using them in my classroom.

Interactive notebooks are adaptable and can suit the needs of each classroom and subject area. There are different ways to set up interactive notebooks. Below you will find directions, pictures, and advice on how to set up a basic interactive notebook for your classroom.

First, instruct your students to purchase a composition notebook. Composition notebooks were the only required supply for my classroom and should cost less than two dollars. I strongly recommend composition notebooks over any other kind of notebook. Composition notebooks are durable and, in my experience, can even hold up to a year of abuse from middle school students. All other notebooks tend to fall apart quickly. Plus, students are tempted to tear out notebook pages to use for other purposes.

I always set up interactive notebooks on the first day of the second week of school. That way students have plenty of time, including a weekend, to go out and buy one. I encourage students to bring in their composition books early and keep them in my classroom so they are less likely to be forgotten on the day we need them. Inevitably, you will have some students who will not bring a composition book on time. For those students you have two options. One, have a stockpile of composition books for students to purchase from you. (Office Depot usually has a back to school sale where you can buy loads of composition books for only a quarter each.) Two, have students write detailed notes on how to set up their composition books so they can do it at home on their own.

Setting up interactive notebooks takes longer than you might expect. I always dedicated at least a full hour of class time to getting them done. Even then, I sometimes had a few students not quite finished in the allotted time. On the day you plan to set up interactive notebooks, make sure you have a completed example (or use the pictures from this blog post) for students to reference. Start by having students number the pages in their interactive notebook. Have them number the outer, upper corner of every page, so if you were to flip through the pages quickly with your thumb you would see every page number. Refer to the picture below.

Numbering the pages takes between ten and fifteen minutes, so while the students are numbering, pass around a few permanent markers. With the markers, students need to write their first and last names, class name, class period, year, and grade on the cover.

Also, with the permanent markers, students should write their first and last names along each side of the composition book. This will help students find their interactive notebooks much faster at the start of class. (The students in my classes were not allowed to take their interactive notebooks out of the classroom. Without this rule, you can expect many interactive notebooks to never make it back to class. I did make the occasional exception to this rule for responsible students who requested to take their interactive notebooks home to study.)

I haven't tried this with a class before, but consider adding a color-coded system to quickly separate interactive notebooks by class period. You might try a certain color of sticker for each class period. Students can add a sticker of their class's color to the upper right hand corner of their interactive notebooks.

Once students have finished numbering the pages and labeling the outside of their interactive notebooks, they are ready to create the table of contents. Use the front and back of the first five sheets (pages 1-10). Students should make three columns: a column for the date, title, and page number of each entry. If students use rulers to do this, expect it to take 10-15 minutes. See the pictures below for how the table of contents should look.

Below you'll find a picture of a completed table of contents.

Now the students are ready to make their glossaries. Some teachers require students to write the vocabulary words and their definitions. If this is something you want to do, have no more than two letters per page. I only required students to write the vocabulary words and page numbers in their glossaries. To label the glossary like I did in my classes, have students use the last three sheets of paper in their lab books. Label the top of each page "Glossary." Then divide the page into four even boxes. Write one letter in the corner of each box. See the pictures below.

When you get to the last page of the glossary, put U, V, and W in their own boxes. X, Y, and Z, since they have so few vocabulary words, will share a box. See the image below.

If during the year the students run out of room in their glossaries, simply put a sticky note over the top of the box. My students never had enough room in the C box, as you can see in the picture below.

Once the students are finished making their glossaries, they are done! The interactive notebooks are now set up and ready to use. Like I mentioned earlier, I did not let the interactive notebooks leave my classroom. If you implement this rule too, you'll need to have some sort of storage system in place. I liked using plastic milk crates because they were inexpensive, sized perfectly, and kept the interactive notebooks neatly organized. I bought six crates and then labeled them alphabetically, with several letters for each crate. The students placed their interactive notebooks in the crates by last name.

The first year I used interactive notebooks, I had the crates divided by class period rather than alphabetically. I do not recommend this. I had close to forty students in each of my classes and it took FOREVER for all of the students to locate their interactive notebooks when they were all crowded around the same crate.

As far as grading the interactive notebooks, I graded them once each quarter. I have tried many grading methods over the years, and I finally have one that works for me. You can get it for free here.

I think you will like using interactive notebooks in your classroom! Please leave a comment or send me a message here if you have any questions.

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How to Set Up an Interactive Notebook in Any Classroom

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Interactive notebooks are useful in any subject area. In my science classroom, students used them for all of their Do Nows, all of their notes, and many daily assignments. Every day, the students knew they had to get their interactive notebook, fill in the Table of Contents, copy the Do Now questions, and answer the Do Now in sentences.

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Considering diving into reader's notebooks with middle and high school students? You'll have some decisions to make! Reader's notebooks are not a new concept, but recently, I've had several discussions with teachers who are curious. I want to begin using reader's notebooks, but I don't know where to start.

I first started using notebooks with high school students when I taught sophomores. At that time, I just used them for responses to reading. Then, I dabbled with writing notebooks after reading Mechanically Inclined. Most recently, I've experimented with interactive notebooks with freshmen, but the time spent cutting and pasting didn't seem efficient. All of these trials have helped to shape my understanding of using a notebook in the secondary classroom.

One of the most important lessons I've learned about using reader's notebooks is that they really can be whatever you want to make them. As with classroom libraries, people sometimes think there is one "right way" to do them...but there isn't. The "right way" to do reader's notebooks is to make them fit your students' needs. With every approach, there are pros and cons.

Let's explore a few common questions and possible answers when it comes to implementing reader's notebooks with older students.

NOTEBOOK FORMAT
What's the best way to format the notebooks?
Surprisingly, a reader's notebook doesn't have to be an actual notebook. Students can also use binders. Digital versions are an option as well.

Physical Notebooks

Physical notebooks are handy because students can personalize them, they feel like a notebook (so sometimes students have more ownership), and the pages are secure. Composition books are a popular choice. You've probably seen images of beautifully decorated reader's notebooks, but realistically, they don't all turn out that way. A benefit of composition books is that they still allow you the ability to incorporate some interactive elements.

Another option is a 5-Star, which already has tabs and mini folders built in. However, the spiral notebooks are more difficult to stack and often get stuck together.

One of the drawbacks of a physical notebook is that they have limited space. If you want students to be able to refer back to class notes from the beginning of the year, but they are on their second notebook, they might not always have the first notebook handy. Suggestion: Store full notebooks in the classroom so that students always have them if needed.

Binders

If you want students to have a physical notebook but want more flexibility, a binder might be a better way to go. With binders, it's easy to insert dividers and tabs. Plus, as long as students have a three-whole-punched paper, they can slip pretty much anything you want them to in their notebooks as they go along. Binders are more flexible, and you'll never run out of paper.

Also, the covers can still be personalized. A tip I learned from a friend? Grab some large blank mailing label stickers to put on the front, back, and inside covers if you'd like.

The downside? Because they are loose, some pages may go into hiding if they aren't handled with care.

Digital Notebooks

If you don't want the hassle of lugging around physical notebooks, or if you're afraid students will lose them, a digital version might be helpful. You can easily create a digital notebook for your students in Google Slides. With digital notebooks, it's always possible to add more slides or rearrange contents. However, some teachers feel without the physical notebook to keep on your person, students don't have as much of a connection with their notebooks.

NOTEBOOK ORGANIZATION
What different categories should the notebooks have?
It's really up to you! Some teachers choose to include reading, writing, and language all in one location so that students don't have to carry around multiple notebooks. In this case, your students might only have three tabs.

If you're only using your notebook for reading, you might consider including tabs for...

Anchor Charts

Why not? Photocopy anchor charts, or have students re-create class anchor charts in their notebooks. It will help them remember the concepts better.

Mini Lesson Notes

Do you like to use one-page notes or practice graphic organizers for reading mini lessons? Maybe your mini lesson includes Post-Its or color coding? Whatever your approach, mini lesson notes make a great category in a reader's notebook because students can easily find them to look back at them later.

Academic Vocabulary

Are there certain terms or visuals you want students to remember? Plot diagrams? Types of characterization? Text structures? Figurative language? Many reader's notebooks contain glossaries or vocabulary sections, which can be teacher-created or student-created.

Responses to Literature

Ask students to respond to reading in their notebooks. Students can write about whole-class texts, but often, reader's notebooks are used as a layer of accountability for independent reading. Give students journal prompts, ask them to identify sign posts, or just have them write a letter to you about what they are reading.

Reading Goals

If you are conferring with students about their independent reading, ask them to write down their goal and a strategy or tip related to it in their notebooks. Let's say a student's goal is to work on identifying theme. A strategy they might use is asking themselves How does this idea relate to people outside the book? What advice would I give others about this idea? As students read independently, they can add to their thinking about their reading in the notebook. This way, the next time you meet with students, they will have notes to discuss.

NOTEBOOK ROUTINES

Reader's notebooks are most effective when students know exactly how, when, and why they will be used. Make sure to take time to discuss expected classroom routines and uses with students at the beginning of school.

For instance, will you want students to get them out before the bell rings every day? Practice that. Will you want them to avoid drawing unrelated images or ripping out pages to complete other assignments? Discuss "Dos and Don'ts for Notebooks," and consider creating an anchor chart to leave up in the classroom. Do you want them to add color? Write in pen, pencil, or both? How will they know when to expect feedback? What should it look and sound like when students are working in their notebooks? Should they do it unprompted, or will they always be guided?

Think about all of the ways you imagine using these notebooks, and then picture what might go wrong. What might confuse students? Then, plan. What discussions will you need to have with students to maximize their success?

NOTEBOOK STORAGE
What's the best way to store the notebooks?
Before experimenting with notebooks, have a plan for how you want students to store them if you choose the physical route. Are your students responsible? Can they remember to take them home and bring them back to class in one piece? If not, you may consider housing them in your classroom. A couple options...

Storage Cabinets

If you have open file cabinet drawers or double-door storage units, they can be a great place to keep notebooks. Make sure to label the drawers or shelves so that each class remembers which stack is theirs. (It can be frustrating when a notebook goes missing and a student has to use class time to dig through all the piles!) I like this approach because if the stacks aren't perfect, you can just shut the door and close off the mess.

Baskets

Do you have a little room for color-coded baskets? If so, get a basket or two for each class, and assign each class a color. If you decide to use baskets, it might be helpful to have students stack their notebooks back to back, vertically. This makes them easier to find and also protects the tabs if you have them on the top of the notebook.

GRADING READER'S NOTEBOOKS
How do you grade them?
Notebooks can be one of the best forms of accountability for independent reading. They allow teachers to see the depth of students' thinking about a text. Yet, grading an entire stack of notebooks can be overwhelming. Trust me. I used to sit down with notebooks and grade every entry. It was exhausting and time consuming. But! As I've learned, that's not necessary. Here are some suggestions to consider...

Pick One

As you skim through student's entries, choose one compliment to give each student about just one of their responses. Also, give them just one piece of specific feedback or a thought-provoking question to challenge their thinking.

If you're not sure students will complete the required entries if they know you will only be grading one of them, do a spot check. Give students a completion point for each part of their notebook they should have added, but that doesn't mean you have to read every word of the entry.

Use a Rubric

How does the feedback translate into a grade? Use a simple rubric. Determine which standard or target skill you want to assess. (It helps to think about what whole-class mini lessons you conducted that week.) Then, determine what students would need to show you in their response in order to be meeting, approaching, developing, or needing support in that area.

Do some double dipping. If you are using binders or asking students to insert assignments into their reader's notebooks, some of the work will already be assessed beforehand. Let's say you assign a reading response prompt or a reading comprehension task for students to complete with their independent reading. Maybe they submit it to you for feedback and then add it to their notebooks or binders afterward.

As you confer with students, ask them to self assess regarding one of their reader's notebook entries. As they reflect on their work, offer your feedback. Grading student work this way increases ownership, although it also lengthens the amount of time you spend in conferences.

I recommend trying to grade the notebooks once a week so that students are getting frequent enough feedback (and you are able to see their learning needs on a regular basis).

Some teachers choose to cart the notebooks home every weekend. Others decide to grade them at school. I have found it helpful to dedicate each day of the week to a different class. At the secondary level, the last thing I want to do is sit down with 150 notebooks to grade at once, even if I'm only grading one entry. Monday, try getting through 1st hour. Tuesday, do 2nd, and so on.

Final Thoughts...

No matter what approach I've tried, reader's notebooks have always been both powerful and frustrating for me at the same time. I love their flexibility, the ownership students take over them, the way they help develop students' thinking about reading, and the opportunities for discussion when conferring with students. Yet, management and grading are persistently tricky with older students.

My advice? Start small. What is the one way you want to begin using notebooks that you feel you can manage? Avoid the overwhelm of needing to do it how someone else is doing it. Choose a method that works for you, and once you feel confident about that initial step, build on it.

Of course, don't forget to share your learning! What tips or experiences can you share about using reader's notebooks in middle or high school?

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Reader's Notebooks in Secondary ELA | Reading and Writing Haven

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Considering diving into reader's notebooks with middle and high school students? You'll have some decisions to make! Reader's notebooks are not a new concept, but recently, I've had several discussions with teachers who are curious. I want to begin using reader's notebooks, but I don't know where to start.

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This year in Senior English, students will be creating Interactive Notebooks. These notebooks will be housed primarily in the classroom unless a student is needing to remove their notebook to get caught up or study for an assessment. Below you will find a link to a website that explains "10 Reasons to Use Interactive Notebooks," but here are MY reasons for using them in the English classroom:

Students actually interact with the content being taught.

Students can customize their notebooks to make the information more appealing.

Students going to college will have a reference guide created by themselves to use for college classes and college writing!

Students will be able to see their own growth over the course of the year by doing their own data assessment.

All of our class materials/notes will be in ONE place. No one should lose anything!!

EACH STUDENT WILL NEED TO SUPPLY THEIR OWN 3 to 5-SUBJECT SPIRAL BY FRIDAY, AUGUST 16!!!

Below on this page, you will find MOST activities as well as copies of SOME of the files so that each student can stay caught up despite absences. I cannot post copies of all inserts because I do not own the rights to post those files on a public website. Therefore, I have a hanging file in my classroom where students can get any paper copies of the work they missed in their notebook. I will have both the week we are in and the PREVIOUS week available at all times, giving students TWO WEEKS to ensure they are caught up! Finally, once I am out of copies, I am out of copies! Students will then be expected to recreate by hand what they are missing.

Click on the Table of Contents tab to the left to get a complete rundown of what should be in each student's notebook.

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This year in Senior English, students will be creating Interactive Notebooks. These notebooks will be housed primarily in the classroom unless a student is needing to remove their notebook to get caught up or study for an assessment.

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Leah Cleary: Secondary Resources for Social Studies and English

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Most high school teachers have strong opinions about Interactive Student Notebooks (ISNs). They either love them or hate them. They see the benefit of using them or they see them as too juvenile and a time drain.

Students are the same. When first trying to implement them a few years ago, I heard the common complaint from students, "Why can't we just get a three-ring binder and a three-way hole punch? It would be so much faster."

I'm going to answer that question for you, as well as a series of other frequently asked questions that I get about ISNs in high school. But if you have no idea what ISNs are, you might want to start with this video, and then come back to this post. I promise, ISNs are worth at least considering.

Q: Why are you still doing paper ISNs when your school is 1:1? Isn't that a waste of paper and time?

A: I implement Blended ISNs mindfully. This means that I take the best of both formats and merge them. Research has shown the benefits of interacting with physical materials and the positive effects of writing, coloring, and doodling on memory. In digital format, many of these benefits are lost--especially in note-taking. My friend and colleague, Math Giraffe, has written an excellent blog post about these benefits and the problems with going completely paperless.

Q: How do students stay organized going back and forth between digital and paper? That sounds confusing.

A: It's not confusing if we plan upfront and implement it mindfully. I use a table of contents for each unit to keep everyone on the same digital and traditional page. I divide it into three columns, "Paper, Concepts, and Digital." I organize my digital platform (i.e. Google Classroom, Blackboard, etc.) by unit, so all students have to do is click on the appropriate unit to find the digital resources they need. Here is an example of one of my blended table of contents (always the first page of every unit in my ISNs):

Be sure to download my free Blended Interactive Notebook Handbook here.

Q: Why do you waste time cutting and gluing when it's so much faster to use a three-ring binder and a three-way hole punch?

A: I've tried it both ways, and the cutting and gluing works best, especially for students who struggle with organization. Here are reasons why:

1. They can't take the papers out, so they don't lose them.

2. It's nice to be able to say, "Turn to unit 3, page 5," and everybody has the same thing there. Papers have a tendency to move around or become lost in a three-ring binder.

3. Students take ownership of these--they become their creation. They have built it. In building it, they are more likely to be aware of contents and more familiar with the material.

Read on to find out how I avoid making the cutting and gluing a waste of time.

Q: When do you give the handouts to the students?

A: I give students most of the handouts on the day we begin the unit. I have a table in my classroom where I place handouts, and students pick them up when they enter. My desks are set up in groups of four, and each group has a box containing scissors and glue. Here is how I set up my classroom and free desk labels.

Q: Do students have an empty notebook where they glue all the handouts?

A: I tell students to purchase a large 100 to 200 page spiral notebook. By large, I mean 8.5 x 10 or 11. They can go smaller, but then they have to trim pages. I keep all of this from wasting time by teaching them how to put it all together at the beginning of the semester. Then, any day we begin a unit, I set a timer for 15 minutes because I have found they will take all the time I give them and if I don't give them a time-limit, they will drag it out. So all of the class time I give them to set up each unit is 15 minutes. Here is a great timer to use.

At the start of a unit, the first thing I have students do is to look at the table of contents (always on page 1) of each unit. They go ahead and number each page in their notebooks right away to "hold" pages for handouts they may be getting another day (such as more complicated foldables we will put together as a class--I use these sparingly and, again, mindfully).

Q: Aren't ISNs more for elementary and middle school?

A: The ones that are made for elementary and middle-schoolers are. A high school ISN will have coloring and foldables, too (though mine aren't heavy on foldables--I use ISNs more as an organizational tool), but the content is geared for high school.

We are trying to help our students' learn, and the research says that visual note-taking, doodling, and coloring help them to process the information better. Here is a video (again, from my friend Math Giraffe) that explains this phenomenon.

These are a couple of examples I implement instead of traditional worksheets or digital content to help students visualize and better understand concepts:

Q: Do students glue the bellringers in their notebooks? How do you check their bellringers and other work?

A: I think routine and consistency are important, so I have students glue bellringers into page 4 of each unit in their ISN. I walk around the room during the bellringer and initial pages (homework or classwork) for on-time completion. At the end of every unit, on test day, I take up their ISNs and grade the unit using a rubric (students glue it onto p. 2 of each unit). This is tedious at first, but it becomes very fast once you get used to it. I haven't taken a box of these notebooks home in years. The grading and feedback of the ISN are important because it ensures students keep up with them.

Q: Do students turn-in any work at all to you or does everything go in the notebooks?

A: Most things go in the ISN, but projects, exit tickets, and digital assignments are turned in directly to me. As I said, I initial assignments for completion when they are due to keep students on track, but I grade everything on test day using the rubric, which is glued into their notebooks. Here is a sample rubric:

Do you use interactive notebooks in high school? If so, how do you implement them? If not, what are your reasons? Leave a comment and let me know!

And if you're looking to dig deeper into blending and ISNs, check out my course here.

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Why Use Interactive Notebooks in High School?

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Most high school teachers have strong opinions about Interactive Student Notebooks (ISNs). They either love them or hate them. They see the benefit of using them or they see them as too juvenile and a time drain. Students are the same.

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Are you looking for ways to use Interactive Notebooks for high school English? When I was first faced with this possibility, I was super excited!, but had no idea where to start. I wasn't sure if these would be the right tool for my 9th graders. I decided to start off the year with my normal Short Stories Unit, and slowly found ways to transform those lessons to ISN spreads.

Over the course of the unit, I discovered that Interactive Notebooks gave me a great structure for planning lessons, a lot of scaffolding for my students, and very rigorous, focused practice of a new skill before they left me each day.

Check out this 2 minute video to see how I set up Interactive Notebooks for high school:

Interactive Notebooks in ELA

To make Interactive Notebooks for high school more rigorous than a bunch of cut-and-paste foldables on every page, I try to set up every lesson using the In-Through-Out model. For me, this means the following breakdown: "IN" is a bellringer; "THROUGH" is notes, in-class group work, and graphic organizers; and "OUT" is independent practice or homework. This has really helped focus the work I give students - I have to choose the most important part, because it's got to fit on the bottom half of the left page. That means that Interactive Notebooks actually decrease busy work in my classroom - hooray!

I have also facilitated the notebooks in my classroom by taking pictures of my model interactive notebook for our class website. I use sticky notes to put the various task descriptions on the page, and I go ahead and paste in all blank organizers for students.

I also got to teach my favorite Disney song as part of an Irony lesson this year. "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan is the perfect bellringer to get kids thinking and talking about dramatic and situational irony. Also, it's got a really clear plot structure, so you can go ahead and review that with students, too.

I actually flipped my Irony lesson for the first time this year, and linked Christopher Warner's irony videos on our class website. I gave students guided notes to complete on the right side of that page for homework, and then they came to class ready to discuss (and read "The Lottery", of course!).

I also tried my hand at creating a foldable, popping my list of Lit Terms into an Interactive Notebook-ready list. Even my 9th graders loved these, and it helped them study for a Literary Devices Quiz. I went ahead and updated all of the ELA Vocabulary products in my TpT store to include this option. So, yeah - we do use some foldables in my class, but it isn't every day on every page!

Lastly, I converted one of my favorite lessons into an Interactive Notebook spread. After reading "The Lottery", we practice embedding direct quotes and paraphrases smoothly into paragraphs using the Introduce-Cite-Explain method. We do scaffolded practice, and then students work on their own to integrate two quotes. I even created Ready Rubrics to go in the margins of the notebook so that we can do peer and teacher feedback.

UPDATE: You can now find all of my Short Stories lessons in an Interactive Notebook format over at my TeachersPayTeachers store. This unit is ready-to-go with ideas, plans, resources, handouts, student samples, projects, quizzes, and rubrics. I also put together all of the materials I use throughout the year (short stories, novels, poems, and drama) in this Yearlong Bundle!

What are you up to in your Interactive Notebooks for high school? I'd love to hear from you!

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Are you looking for ways to use Interactive Notebooks for high school English? When I was first faced with this possibility, I was super excited!, but had no idea where to start. I wasn't sure if these would be the right tool for my 9th graders.

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