New INB Set-Up So Far

I'm still brainstorming, but I've made so much progress on the plan for this year's interactive notebooks that I wanted to write it out now.  (I'm worried that the school year will begin and I'll forget the things I planned.  I need to get my new master INB pronto!)

Inside Cover - I'm going to keep the notebook and important info that I used this past year, but I'm going to make it into a folded page.  Inside the fold, I'll have the important class info that I send home to parents and that students forget throughout the year.  (Students don't understand/forget the percentages attached to each grade category.  They will seriously make up one missing homework assignment and be flabbergasted that it hasn't counteracted the test they failed.)

I'm going to keep the page for Geometry symbols.  Students write the symbols in, so there is no printable for this component.  (But there could be...)

I'm adding a page(s) for postulates/theorems.  I'm still making decisions about whether I want to put just the very imperative and basic ones or all of them.  This means the difference between having everything in one place, or having things spread out through the notebook.  This is still under construction, and I will share it when I finish working on it.

During this past year, I added a few pages after notebooks were set up, so they went to the back pages.  One page just lists their NWEA and Regents goals.  This page helped to focus students before their end of the year assessments.  I also added in "How to Study Mathematics" and "Ensure Success on Your Next Test" pages.  These pages will be added to the beginning of the notebooks this year.

 

I found a great resource that explains "Problem Solving in Math" and "Writing about Math" from Rock Star Math Teacher.  I just rearranged the handout into INB form.

I plan to use the Growth Mindset questionnaire foldable made by Sarah Hagan to introduce growth mindset.  You can find the foldable here.  After teaching more about growth mindset, I am going to give my students a worksheet to fill out taking fixed mindset statements and turning them into growth mindset thoughts.  (This is not my original idea.  You can find a regular worksheet on Pinterest.  I changed it fit in the INBs, and used some sayings that I often hear from my own students.) 

The last thing I have (so far) is a grade tracker.  The tracker is broken down by marking period.  I listed all of the tests that I plan to administer in the marking period.  I added two blanks for retests on all unit tests and on the mini-Regents exams where I allow retests (and test corrections on the latter).  I also listed all of the quizzes that I know I will give during the marking periods.  I left some extra space in each marking period for any unplanned quizzes.

There is so much more than there has been before, I may have to also create a table of contents page for this section of the notebook!  This is the most progress I've made all summer besides reading.  I'm so excited and hope to somehow keep the momentum going.

Let me know if this has helped in you anyway.  Happy planning!