“Disengagement is the root of many students’ learning problems.” Edmunds & Bauserman

An engagement strategy/tool I used in the classroom and continue to use with adults today is utilizing interactive notebooks.  Wist (n.d.) explains, “The reasoning behind interactive notebooks originated with instructional strategies such as note taking, concept mapping, and organization of information as well as brain research about how students learn best” (p. 5).   Kane (2011) also discusses the need to engage and motivate our students.  He talks about the necessity to use our text in better ways.  The text in our classrooms should be a resource and not something to memorize (p. 28).  I often told my students, our goal is for learning to occur not information to be memorized!  I would explain that we must have seven to fifteen encounters with the content before we can store it and have learning occurring.  To help with these multiple encounters, I utilized reader’s/writer’s interactive notebooks.  Instead of merely taking notes, the students interact with the information.  Not only did these notebooks help with engagement, but also they increased student retention!

Kane, S. (2011). Literacy and learning in the content areas (3rd ed.). Scottsdale, AZ:

Holcomb Hathaway.

Wist, C.  (n.d.).  Putting it all together; understanding the research behind interactive

notebooks.  Retrieved

from http://tccl.rit.albany.edu/knilt/images/d/d0/Interactive_Notebooks_Research.pdf