Choosing a writer’s notebook for the new school year

Ever since I started teaching Language Arts, I have always had my students use a notebook. It’s looked different each year though. Some years it was a spiral, sometimes a specific spiral (Five-Star, 8.5 x 11), sometimes a composition notebook. One thing has remained the same though: I have always dictated a specific notebook that all students are required to use. In the spirit of change, I have decided that this year will be different: this year I will fully embrace students individually selecting their writer’s notebook.

I’m rereading parts of Randy Bomer’s Building Adolescent Literacy in Today’s English Classrooms.

“Other teachers bring in an array of notebooks -- composition notebooks, sketch books, hardcover journals, and whatever else they can find -- with small and large paper, colored and white, fat and narrow lines --and ask students to handle the different types of notebooks and talk with a partner about which would best suit them each as writers” (Bomer 170).

This year I will be one of the “other teachers!” Here’s what I have so far to show my students. P.S. These are actually the notebooks I’m considering using this school year personally.

1. Composition Notebook

Technically this is the type of notebook that students will see requested on our school supply list. It’s a nice basic. It’s comforting. It’s a nice size: not too big, not too small.

2. “Assignment Notebook”

I love the smaller size of this notebook as well as the “date box” in the top right-hand corner of each page , and the built in pocket. I can see this appealing to many of my students. The portability is also a plus.

3. Graph Notebook

I LOVE graph paper, and when I can get it in a spiral notebook, it’s even better. I like to create tables and charts, and the light blue lines help me out.

I also have my tabs which I find really helpful for subdividing notebooks that only have one section.

In the past, I have dictated the kind of notebook students have used for a variety of reasons.

1. I’m a control freak when it comes to my classroom - I’m trying to relax my grip.
2. The physical notebook had always been THE place where we do everything for ELA. Now that Google Classroom and Drive are also a part of my pedagogy, I feel less of a need to control the physical notebook.
3. I thought I had to dictate the type of notebook for accountability purposes. How could I assign an amount of writing to students who were all writing in different size notebooks?

Randy Bomer writes, “Some students need something small, that would fit into a pocket, and finding that will make the whole difference in whether or not they ever carry it around” (170). This single sentence has been the biggest reason historically that I have dictated the kind of notebook, but I’ve decided to embrace this. So what if a student chooses to use a memo pad? If they genuinely use it, then we’ve already won!

#NotebookInquiry #YearOfChange @rbomer @HeartofTXWP