In this episode, we uncover Writer's Notebooks: 7 Powerful Decisions for Success. These considerations are meant to create a useful writer’s notebook that will be used to improve student writing and engage them in the writing process. 

1. Choosing a Notebook - from composition to digital options, the first decision encompasses selecting a suitable notebook that aligns with both teacher preferences and student individuality. 

2. Notebook Replacement - addressing the likelihood of notebooks being filled up during the school year, we discuss the possible need for replacement options.

3. To Decorate or Not - this might seem like a trivial decision, but we weigh the benefits of personalization against potential distractions.

4. Structuring the Notebook - acknowledging the struggle with structuring notebooks, we explore options from comprehensive single notebooks to structured sections for different purposes. 

5. Notebook Management - examining how the chosen notebook's structure aligns with students' organizational abilities, we consider factors such as if the notebook needs to be taken home, how it will be stored, and accessibility, ensuring the notebook is easy to use.

6. Adding or Removing Pages - the decision to allow flexibility in adding or removing pages from notebooks is discussed, weighing the benefits of adaptability against the potential for disorganization, depending on students' writing practices and needs.

7. Collecting and Reviewing Notebooks - finally, we discuss the process of collecting and reviewing notebooks and some tips for efficient and meaningful review processes, ensuring regular checks while maintaining students' autonomy within their notebooks.

Remember that the decisions for writer's notebooks should align with student needs.

Join me in transforming your classroom's writing landscape by signing up for the free 5-Day Writer's Notebook Challenge at annotatedela.com/notebook.

Links and resources mentioned in this episode

Show notes: annotatedela.com/episode36

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Writer’s Notebook Challenge

Melissa Burch 0:00

Hey friends welcome back to another episode of annotated ELA. Whether you are going to try writer's notebooks with your students for the first time or the 137 time, these key decisions for writers notebooks are something even the most seasoned teacher should consider when planning. Writers notebooks are definitely a must for engaging our students in writing and thinking through the decisions has really had a positive impact on how me and my students use notebooks in the classroom. There are some decisions that I involve students in because it promotes engagement and motivation and gives them a sense of ownership and control over their notebook. But a lot of the decisions are just made without them knowing. When thinking through the seven key decisions for writers notebooks, consider how the expectations will be communicated to students and their guardians. Having support will make a big difference in the success of the notebook and the writing. Don't worry, if you're already using notebooks in your classroom or notebooks have been purchased, go with it. Use these questions to clarify what you are doing, and guide decisions for future notebook use. If you are wanting to use writer's notebooks with intention and meet your student's writing needs, then join me for the five day writer's notebook challenge and you can help your students become proficient writers and we all levels of students where they are as you get tips and tricks delivered straight to your inbox to transform how you're using notebooks. You can grab this free challenge at annotatedela.com/notebook. The link will be in the show notes. So let's dive into those seven key decisions.

Melissa Burch 1:43

Decision one is choosing a notebook. Simple enough, right? So choosing a notebook is important because it really is the result of considering the other six decisions. The writer's notebook should fit with the decisions that you the teacher make, but you can consider your students needs and what you know from past experiences. Will it be a composition notebook, a spiral notebook, a binder, a digital book or a smaller notebook? Are you giving the students a choice and letting them pick what notebook to use? Will it be wide or college ruled? Does it matter? Consider accessibility what is available for students to purchase? And will extras be made available for students who are unable to get a notebook on their own. If you prefer digital notebooks as the notebook of choice, the other key decisions can still apply. Digital notebooks are so versatile, and can be easily managed and accessed from most locations. Keep in mind the student population and accessibility for students who are not in school if they are expected to write in their notebooks outside of school.

Melissa Burch 2:54

Question number two to ask yourself is can the writer's notebook be replaced if it needs to be? It is likely that some students will fill the notebooks and will need to replace it with a new one before the year is over. Accessibility to a similar notebook or any notebook is crucial for continuity. And for being able to continue on without a lot of disruption. Some writers may find that they love the current notebook and will want to replace it with the exact notebook while others may want to try something new. Encourage students to stick with the current notebook style and structure. If it's working, don't fix it, it might be helpful to have notebooks on hand for a quick replacement. And with digital notebooks, of course, this is not even an issue there's no replacement necessary. And with the if it's not broke, don't fix it if a student is replacing a notebook in February, and suddenly they want to try something new. Make that decision on an individual basis. There are some students who are just that well organized and their minds work in that way that the way they were doing the writers notebook before wasn't working. And they want to change how they track with their writing. Maybe instead of using a table of contents, they want to use sticky notes to tab everything. However, if what they were doing was successful, really encouraged him to stick with it. Because there are so many different ways to set up a writer's notebook and a pro tip. I kind of just make them all do the same thing for continuity sake. And I don't know about you, but my middle schoolers lack some organizational structuring and how to put it all together. So this is a really great lesson for them to practice that.

Melissa Burch 4:37

Question number three is to decorate or not to decorate. This might seem like a silly decision for writers notebooks, but for some classrooms it may be very important to decorate or not decorating the notebook makes it feel special. It promotes creativity and it encourages a sense of ownership because the notebook is a sacred space for thoughts and ideas and decorating the Aside provides a sense of the special contents inside. So consider supplies that may be needed. And what if anything, students will need to bring from home if you choose to decorate, the choice to not decorate makes sense to. For some students, it can become a distraction from the contents of the notebook. It may even become a source of contention if the notebooks are kept in the classroom and it covers ruined, not decorating the notebooks is a valid decision, and one that the teacher and the students maybe need to make together. But all notebooks should have some identifying characteristics and a place for students to put their names so that notebooks can be easily identified. That's the basics. And this year, we didn't decorate notebooks and the students who want some sort of decoration have been adding it each time their notebook is in their hot little hands. And the students who could care less about decorating it don't and that has worked really well for this group this year. But let it be known that in the past, we have gone full out decoration mode and the students have loved it. Please read your classroom and make the decision that is best for you and your students.

Melissa Burch 6:06

Question number four is how will the notebook be structured? In full transparency this has been a tough decision for writers notebooks for me for many years. The structures that I have used have served the students well and notebooks have been a success. But I tried to fit too much into one notebook. I didn't want to burden parents with having to buy two notebooks for my class. So I made all the tabs for all the sections and put it in one notebook, I had the vocabulary section and the reading section and the bellringer section, and the writing section and the writers craft section. I even had spelling section for students to put any words they didn't know how to spell. We had it in our notebooks. This was not a bad strategy. As a matter of fact, I'm considering going back to it next year it worked. But it didn't always feel right. And this year, it didn't feel right. So I didn't do it this way this year. But if this is how it's going to work for you and structure, your notebooks, it is great. Keep doing it. I applaud you it worked for us too. And I think it's a really great way to structure notebooks and keep everything in one place it becomes a student's reference book more than a writer's notebook. And I would title it as such. But I have since tried some new ways to structure notebooks. Those ways have worked to it gave me and my students an internal locus of control over the notebook, we do all of our writing from the front of the notebook, and any mini lessons or craft lessons start in the back. It eventually all meets in the middle and that's when we know it's time for a new notebook. Students are able to skip the first few pages if they want to make a table of contents, but they must make the commitment to keep the Table of Contents up to date as we add entries. However, some students do not have to have a table of contents in their writers notebook. They can use flags or sticky notes to mark entries. Working from the front and back of the notebook puts the student in charge of how to track entries and lessons. This truly engages the student making decisions for writers notebooks. It does not matter how you decide to structure the writers notebook. Consider your students ability is an organizational capabilities work through the decision with your colleagues, your students, whoever is going to help you best make the decision to structure the notebook in the best way possible for your students. There have been years where more guidance was needed in my classroom to maintain order of the writers notebooks, and decisions for writers notebooks should always be based on student need, or just what you know has worked really well in the past.

Melissa Burch 8:47

Question number five is the writers notebook easily managed by students. This is kind of an extension of how the writer's notebook is structured. And also the type of notebook that is chosen knowing the expectations of the notebook will guide and help this decision for your writers notebooks. Because knowing what is expected helps the student and teacher decide how to structure and manage the notebook. When considering student's ability to manage the writer's notebook. Think about these following expectations. Will students take the notebook home? If so, is it easily transported? And if not, if it's going to be kept in the classroom? Is it easy to store and easily accessible in the classroom? Can students find their entries easily? How are students going to keep entries when they are just free writing or answering a prompt? Are they starting new pages? Are they numbering pages? Consider every piece of the notebook and what the expectation will be for the students. Question number six is to remove or add pages in the notebook. There's really no explanation needed for this decision. Do students need to be able to add and or remove pages from the notebook. If so a binder or a digital notebook might be your best option. However, composition books and spirals can lend themselves to adding pages, the pages would need to be stapled or glued. But again, that's a consideration to make. Here's some reasons for wanting to add or remove pages it might be that a student is adding to a previously started entry and wants to connect them. Another reason may be that replacing a failed writer's notebook is not an option. So being able to add pages is necessary. Removing pages might happen because a student started a rough draft in their notebook and needs to take it out, or notes needs to be moved and stored in a new way. Whatever the reason may be, it's important to think about what notebook will benefit the students to use. I rarely ever add or take out pages. So this is not a consideration for our notebooks that becomes too complicated. If they want to transfer an idea from their notebook. They can either take to writing in our Google accounts I have folders for each of the students, or they can handwrite it on a piece of paper that can be turned in and passed back and forth.

And the last question is how will writers notebooks be collected and reviewed is the writers notebook easily managed and collected by the teacher? It is important to review entries not only to provide ongoing feedback to students. For writers notebooks are a place where students may share information that needs to be reported. So frequent and consistent checks are necessary undertaking when implementing writer's notebooks. The writer's notebooks are a safe space to explore hard topics, happy topics, and all the topics in between, but it's also not private. I feel that this creates a level of respect and trust. And then thinking about what how and when will you collect and review the notebooks. These are the key to questions for making decisions for writers notebooks when collecting and reviewing. So here's some suggestions for collecting and reviewing writers notebooks have a procedure for what will be reviewed, students might use a sticky note with an arrow or the statement check me and this points the teacher to the entry they want to be graded or checked. A simple rubric might be used to review the entry and to check the other entries because consistently writing is on the rubric for my students. This saves time and students know what is expected and how there'll be graded. Notebooks are checked once a week. Sometimes I move it to every other week, depending on how busy we are or how much writing we have or haven't done conferring with students throughout the week. So some notebooks might be checked during that time. And this saves time and allows the teacher to not have to collect them all. Really It depends. My students are not necessarily writing in their notebooks every single day. We have seasons of more writing and less writing. That's all right. Maybe all of their writing isn't always in the notebook and it's for another assignment in another way.

Do what works for you and your students. These are just some guiding questions to help you make that happen. Decisions for writers notebook might seem trivial but it is important to have a plan for your notebooks are those notebooks are going to have a plan for you. Writers notebooks, benefits student writing and our writers toolkit for many lessons and strategies. Notebooks are a key piece in writers workshops and writing conferences. And it's even more important to determine what is best for your students. What a digital notebook serve your students or some of your students guide your final decision with student needs.

Friends I hope this was helpful. If you want more help or more information on all things writers notebooks, sign up for my free five day writer's notebook challenge where you will have tips and tricks delivered straight to your inbox for five days. You can grab the challenge at annotated ela.com backslash notebook and the link will be in the show notes. Until next time, friends remember the magic is in the process.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai