Student Work

As I plan for my class this fall, I'm envisioning the types of things students will be doing and how they will be turning them in.  I'm not a fan of paperwork and homework - it's too much to grade and doesn't really do much anyway.  However, I've come up with a few ways to organize student work that I think will work very well.

First, I am a huge fan of interactive notebooks and plan for students to create their own.  I've mentioned this before, but now as I'm working through my curriculum, I have a much clearer idea of what I want their notebooks to look like.  This takes a huge amount of forethought and planning as there are a limited number of pages and they cannot simply be added or taken away, but should contain evidence of all the learning and activities students complete as a part of my class.  As I solidify my ideas about what I want students' notebooks to look like, I'm also creating my own version as a test-IN as well as a future example for students.  Thus far, my IN is laid out like this:

• Front cover: Name, Class, and Teacher (and any other decorations and designs as they please)
• Inside front cover: Glued/Taped-in Table of Contents
• Page 1: Taped-in Syllabus
• Pages 2-3: Grouping arrangements
• Pages 4-13: Grade Trackers
• Page 4: Objective 1: Listening (Semester 1)
• Page 5: Objective 1: Listening (Semester 2)
• Page 6: Objective 2: Reading (Semester 1)
• Page 7: Objective 2: Reading (Semester 2)
• Page 8: Objective 3: Writing (Semester 1)
• Page 9: Objective 3: Writing (Semester 2)
• Page 10: Objective 4: Speaking (Semester 1)
• Page 11: Objective 4: Speaking (Semester 2)
• Page 12: Objective 5: Citizenship (Semester 1)
• Various chunks of this grade have their own tracking sheets taped in
• Page 13: Objective 5: Citizenship (Semester 2)
• Various chunks of this grade have their own tracking sheets taped in
• Pages 14-69: Pruebitas (warm-ups)
• This is the only section that we will be using on a daily basis to check understanding and learning, so there needs to be plenty of room.
• Pages 70-89: Timed Writes
• Students will do timed writes in their notebook and on separate sheets of paper taped in to conserve notebook space.
• Pages 90-155: Stories
• The first two pages are reserved for hand-outs with an overview of all of the structures.
• The remaining pages are for notes about the stories on the right-hand pages (writing the structures and any info about them, events in the story, etc), while the left-hand pages are reserved for student interaction with the information, such as re-writing the story in various ways, illustrations, etc.
• Pages 156-200: Misc
• Everything else, including culture, songs, alphabet, numbers, anything extra we do with the novel, etc.  Oftentimes, these will be taped-in hand outs or notes.

Though most in-class work will be completed in the IN, which will be checked/stamped periodically and assigned a mid-term and final grade, there are a few other activities that won't be included in the IN other than where they're recorded in the grade-tracker.  Here's what I've got so far:

• Reading Journal: Assigned and submitted weekly via EdModo using a form or template.
• Re-Writes: Students can submit their re-writes of the stories the same night via EdModo (see my Classroom Storybook post).
• Pen Pals: I can check of that students have turned in Pen Pal letters before distributing them