Notebooks: BCE and CE

BCE (Before COVID-Era): 

In previous years I have given my students guided notes handouts which are hole punched for them to keep in a German binder.

I love my guided notes, but about 25% of my students refuse to organize their notes in a binder and just stuff them into a folder or their backpacks.  It drives me crazy!

I also worry that giving them this much structure may be doing them a disservice in the long run as it doesn't help them develop the ability to take and organize notes on their own.

Handouts don't work well under the current circumstances anyway, whether we're remote or in person, so this is giving me the opportunity to try something new that's actually pretty old school.  

CE (COVID-Era): 

I'm going low-tech and keeping it simple this year.  Students need a standard spiral or composition notebook.

Since so much is going to be digital this year, I think having a paper notebook will be a nice change of pace.  

I have all German 1 classes this year, which means I have a lot of 9th graders, so I'll need to be intentional in teaching how to organize and take good notes.

On the second day of class, students will set up their notebooks

and then they'll make a graphic organizer to record their first German phrases.

Stay tuned to hear how things go with notebooks this year!