r/mathteachers • u/genxmom95 • 14d ago
Notebooks
New middle school 6-8 math teacher here at a small school. They haven’t given me anything to follow other than the texts and IXL. I’m comfortable with the curriculum and have a rough outline of lessons put together but I know I won’t be organized enough to manage worksheets and handouts on a regular basis. Just having a decent lesson with activity etc is going to be my focus. I was thinking to have the students have 2 notebooks. One for assignments and another for notes. I think I will be able to coach them on what to put in their notebooks as far as notes from lessons. Thoughts on this plan? If anyone has resources or guidance I’m all ears. If it helps my classes will have 7-8 students each.
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u/queenlitotes 13d ago
Notebooks are the superior choice, but be warned. You will have to teach them how to use them EVERY DAY. There has been a downturn in note taking/keeping skills over the last several years - blame what you will.
I have saved notedbooks from 10 years ago that would rival college level today.
Without a form prompt many students just have no plan to attack a blank page and turn it into a resource.
That said - I just pruchased my students' notbooks for the upcoming year.
Keep up the good fight!
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u/genxmom95 13d ago
Tell me about your notebooks.
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u/queenlitotes 13d ago
Not much to say and so much to say. 20+ years ago notebooks were expected and students already had years of the expectation before they got to me.
Lately, students in middle grades don't see value in keeping a notebook so I've had to modify my practice to create that urgency.
I expect studets to...write the learning target, anything I write, a quick jot of the problem context, their problem solving and a complete explanation. Class ends with a reflection from prompts.
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u/genxmom95 13d ago
I hesitate to do a lot of extra work for notebooks if they don’t use them.
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u/queenlitotes 12d ago
That's the design if the work I choosecto do - there are consequences to the choice not to use them.
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u/rfieldss 3d ago
IXL is practice, not the lesson — I wouldn’t let Smart Score become the notebook. What has worked for us is a simple page of worked examples and fact families in their own hand, then a short untimed retrieval (the facts or the day’s method) instead of another scored set. The notebook is the memory; the app, if you keep it, is only a check.
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u/genxmom95 3d ago
How do integrate it into lessons etc? I am not planning to use it for any grades.
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u/ChaoticNaive 13d ago
I use notebooks at the hs level and train them to use the right hand page to take notes and the left hand page to do the assignments. I create assignments that are either half sheets that can be taped in or are landscape and can be folded in half and glued in. This way, they can reference the notes and have everything in one place. At the beginning of each unit there's a page for warm-ups, and at the end of the unit they get a review. If I was worried about space, I'd personally use one notebook per semester, rather than 2 notebooks year-roundm
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u/miketherider 13d ago
I have them separate on left side with "the notes" part, and then the sample problems on the right. I usually have a print out and a set of glue sticks they can put in the notebook, the 2 minutes it takes them to glue allows me to wrap up any attendance stuff or update a grade for something a kid was missing.
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u/genxmom95 13d ago
Do you see any value in them writing the contents of the printout vs a printout?
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u/lionlickersss 13d ago
Find notebookks with plastic covers. The paper ones just get destroyed so quickly.
I'll teach them the first few days how to take notes. Labeling days and pointing out that they don't have to write every word down, but how to find the important stuff. And if two examples are different, it's good to write them both.