I love the added bonus that I then have a bank of questions on the topic to pull from later. I wonder how long it took for the people to begin to feel like their own country.įor this strategy, students create their own quiz, complete with answer key. Response – While the fighting was officially over after the Battle of San Jacinto, there were still a lot of things to figure out about the new Republic of Texas.Question – How many people were involved in the Battle of San Jacinto?.Fact – The Treaty of Velasco ended the Texas Revolution.For an FQR students write down a fact, a question, and response they have to a topic.įor example, if the topic were the Texas Revolution: This is a great strategy and does not take a lot of time. This strategy is a great way to show student thinking as well.

Then, students jot down everything they can think of and form a web connecting their thoughts. To start, the topic is written in the middle of the page. I often refer to this interactive notebook output activity as a brain dump, because I want students to get down on paper everything they know about a topic. Word WebĪ word web is a great strategy for helping students to make connections between their new learning and previous learning or their own lives. This strategy allows students to whittle down their summaries into a perfect one sentence about a topic.Ĭheck out this post for more information. This is one of my favorite strategies to use to show cause and effect relationships in history or instead of a timeline. Many of our students love to draw, so this interactive notebook output idea is sure to excite them. Plus, they are amazingly fun to share! I am always impressed with what different students latch onto as the most important parts of a unit and this interactive notebook output activity really lets them shine. Think back to the days of David Letterman, and maybe even show an appropriate clip to the class.Ī Top 10 List can be factual or satirical and can really get students thinking about their content. Whether students write an acrostic poem on a subject they are studying, create a piggyback song based on a pop tune, or write their own song, the imagination and critical thinking skills they use will really allow us to know they understand the material. Poetry or Song LyricsĬreative expression across content areas is vital, and we have amazing lyricists among us. A good rule of thumb is that someone who knows nothing about the topic should be able to understand based on the labels. Provide students with examples that include content vocabulary and descriptions that really explain their drawing. The trick to getting students to think deeply is in the labeling. Draw and Labelīefore you tell me students don’t have time to spend drawing in your class, let me tell you some of the best synthesis I have seen from students comes from labeled drawings. Students are given a prompt to respond to in their notebooks.Ī few tips for this strategy include giving students a choice between two or three prompts to respond to or including a photograph or image to help spark their thinking. This interactive notebook output activity is just what it sounds like. Not every output activity works for every unit, but by varying the ways in which students respond it ups engagement and keeps them thinking critically.

Below is a list of my all time favorite interactive notebook output activities. There are MANY ways for students to show their thinking and connect to the information, but I certainly have my favorites. This is where students think about, contextualize, and perform critical analysis on what they have learned. On the left hand side you can find your interactive notebook output. This is often recorded on the right hand side of the notebook and includes notes, fold-ups, and tables or graphs you have supplied them with. Output is the thinking part! I like to think the input is what students are learning, or information they are given.

Interactive notebook