Señora Jota Jota

Teaching content and culture through proficiency-driven instruction

Digital Interactive Notebooks How-To Series

How I’m Using Digital Interactive (Post 2 of 3)

By Señora Jota Jota

This is post 2 of 3 on Digital Interactive Notebooks. You can read post 1 of 3 “Last Minute Resources for Digital Interactive Notebooks” here.

In my last post I shared a list of helpful digital interactive notebook resource links. In this post, I’m sharing how I plan to use the notebook I created.

First, the template I chose to edit was this one created by Blended Learning in Texas (on TPT). I’m so glad I did! The included video tutorial was exactly what I needed to get started! This purchase includes a variety of notebook covers, all the links already created, and more.

I think one of the reasons I haven’t created a digital interactive notebook before this is because I couldn’t wrap my head around the myriad uses. So, today I decided to create one based on how I formerly used composition notebooks in class – with just a few tweeks.

Section 1: Syllabus

Here are pictures of the contents of my syllabus tab:
  
I included my Classroom Rules poster and Can-do statements that I created on Canva. I will also include these in my materials section of Google Classroom, just to be doubly sure students have them.

Section 2: Vocabulario

After we finish a story, I always have students record the targeted structures as a vocab list. They can refer back to them at any time and this practice further cements the context. Being tied to context is key because it allows me to say, “Remember when Marcus did X, Y, Z?” and it jogs their memories.
I have several of these pages in this section.

Section 3: Gramática

I truthfully have very little in this section. Pleasure reading does way more for students in terms of acquiring grammar and for that matter, vocabulary. However, I include the section because occasionally students have an interest in a particular point that we quickly cover.
I have zero clue if we will even open this tab this year. It is nice to know it’s there just in case.

Section 4: Timed Writes

I believe very strongly in students rewriting stories they recently learned. In the lower levels, it provides the practice of writing fluidly. In the upper levels, students begin to use their own words to tell the story. I love it when that happens because it proves true acquisition has occurred.
This fall I’m going to give it a go with having students type. I’m sure it will affect the words per minute, but hopefully by the end of the year they will have mastered two skills: typing and writing.

Section 5: Write and Discuss

This section has the most Included pages because we use Write and Discuss frequently.
And there you have it! The remaining tabs might or might not be used this semester. Inspiration may strike when I least expect it and I will want to add to my digital interactive notebook. I will be able to do this because I have linked my master copy to my student copy – if I add or change something in the master it will update in the student version. (Just don’t change an existing page in the notebook or students will lose what they have added.)
This notebook took me several hours to complete – but that is because I made some major mistakes (like accidentally deleting master slides that had links in them!) and started over.
Here is a tutorial on linking the two versions:

Happy notebooking!

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4 Comments

  1. How will they type while you type? ("Follow along…. type what Señora types")… I love the idea, but I don't get how you will show your whiteboard… and they will be able to open another window with their digital notebook to type in it…?! no sé, mucha novedad de tecnología, perdone si la pregunta es boba… es que a veces no entiendo.

  2. I am envisioning they will have their chromebooks open to a split screen. They will be able to see what I'm typing because I will be sharing my screen. They would then select the side of the screen that has the notebook and be able to type as I type. I will test this theory out this morning. Thanks for the question!

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