So I played at using ISNs (Interactive Student Notebooks) last year, but was rather unsuccessful and had all but decided not to bother doing them this year. Then I found two ah-mazing resources that I just can't get enough of! Erin over at I'm Lovin Lit created this awesome common-core-aligned ISN resource that is beyond perfect! I can't even put into words how pleased I am with it! There are two separate resources - one for literature and one for non-fiction. (I have both!)
It is truly interactive and my eighth graders are LOVING it!! She even includes YouTube links to short (1-3 minute) videos that pair perfectly with the lessons!
We've been using it for a week, and every day my kids have come in and asked, "Do we get to cut and color our notes again today?" And because everything is associated with a picture I really feel like they are retaining the information better. We started reading "Raymond's Run" and were using our Story Vocabulary to talk about it. Some of the kids couldn't recall a definition, and before I could say anything, another student said, "Remember, that's the vocab word behind the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood." Fabulous! It instantly jump-started their memories and they immediately made the connection and could tell me who the antagonist in RR was!
I'll try to remember to take some pictures of our ISNs in action next week!