Incorporating Interactive Note Taking to Increase Writing Performance in the Elementary Grades

1. Incorporating Interactive Note Taking to Increase Writing Performance in the Elementary Grades Jamie Benson, Amanda McDaniel, Jordan Raper, Lizzie Vaughn EDUC 4800 Action Research Project Georgia Gwinnett College School of Education Spring 2013

2. Introduction • Need:Our study provides successful research based learning strategies that will improve all students’ achievement in writing . • Causes: • R. D Head Elementary School will increase academic performance in language arts including reading, writing and the application of these skills for all subgroups to meet and/or exceed annual targets through professional development, instructional strategies including student interventions and extensions and parent involvement. • Fort Daniel Elementary School will increase student proficiency in writing as measured by district and teacher created rubrics, professional scoring services, and the 3rd and 5th grade annual writing assessment. • Rock Springs Elementary School will become motivated and competent readers and writers who read, interpret and can communicate successfully in oral and written forms, and understand and use appropriate conventions of writing in written and oral expression so they can transition to middle school writing on/above grade level. • Dyer Elementary School will increase the percentage of Dyer students performing at the exceeding level will increase in writing scores. • Solution: • Implementation of interactive note taking in the classroom to develop: • Accountability • Organization skills • Memorization/study skills • Connections • Writing Skills

3. School Improvement Plans: R.D. Head, Fort Daniel, Rock Springs and Dyer Elementary Schools • Analysis of School Improvement Plan: • Each school’s goal mentioned improving the Language Arts aspect of the test scores through instructional strategies. Interactive notebooks are present in our classrooms daily to help the learner encode the new information they are being presented. • Topic Selection: • Being in classrooms where this is implemented has introduced us to different strategies for interactive note taking across all grade levels and content areas. • Benefit: • Interactive Note Taking will benefit each learner’s writing capabilities, as well as help the teacher execute best practices (authentic assessments, hands-on activities, etc.)

4. Description of Action Plan • Develop a procedural method that all teachers will follow county-wide (uniformity). • Coordinate a professional development workshop to demonstrate interactive note taking in the classroom. • Have a rubric for the teachers to follow (differentiated by grade level) • Pilot action plan over a 9-week period. • Administer pre-writing assessment. • Incorporate interactive note taking methods in lessons. • Add teacher commentary to writing samples throughout the duration of the trial period. • Administer post-writing assessment. • Evaluate – compare pre- and post- data

5. Presentation of Findings/Artifacts • Over 50% of students’ scores increased after the trial period at Dyer Elementary School. • We chose to display hanging organizers that are used in current classrooms across Gwinnett County. • The exhibition of sample work from students at R.D. Head Elementary School from Social Studies and Science classes. This will help all readers visualize the work that students are expected to complete and how the students can show the connections.

6. Feedback and Conclusions • Nursing Administrator of GGC wants to try incorporating Interactive Notebooks into her courses. • Many people have never heard of Interactive Notebooks. • Easier to incorporate in younger grades. • Great to be used in ALL content areas. • Every spectator wants to try to incorporate Interactive Notebooks into their future classrooms.

7. We Learned THESE Lessons • Lessons Learned:We found that students are more engaged with their learning and are very excited to come in and take part in interactive note taking lessons. As a result, teachers become excited to present lessons that they know their students will be engaged in and learn from. • Meaning to Us as Educators:We were able to identify strategies as well as interactive foldables to incorporate in each lesson for our future classrooms. We have read and studied the given GLISI module and feel very comfortable integrating our knowledge of teacher commentary into schools and to the Professional Development Team. • Things We Would Do Differently Next Time: We would gather data from a variety of schools. All of our schools are non-title 1, which could skew the results.

8. Executive Summary • Need Identified:Increase Writing performance of all students. • Artifacts Developed:Artifacts reflecting student progress in their writing. For example, “End-of-Unit” writing pieces and End-of-year writings. • Feedback: • End Result / Impact:Students will improve their writing potential while learning tips in organization, accountability, and making connections.

9. Relevant Literature • Interactive notebooks. (2004, 10 4). Retrieved from http://www.members.tripod.com/cynthiasparks/interactive_notebook.htm • Gelinas, G. Georgia Department of Education, (2012). Recorders. Retrieved from website: http://www.gpat.org/Georgia-Project-for-Assistive-Technology/Pages • Wikispace. (2013). Retrieved from https://interactive-notebooks.wikispaces.com/ • Huffenglish. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.huffenglish.com/?p=933 • Silverhorn, D. U. 24 August 2006. Teaching and Learning in the Interactive Classroom. AdvPhysiolEduc30: 135–140. doi:10.1152/advan.00087.2006. • Waldman, C., Crippen, K. J., (2009). Integrating Interactive Notebooks: A Daily Learning Cycle to Empower Students for Science. Science Scope, January, 51-55.

10. Credit; Appreciation; Thanks • GGC • Dr. Hefner • All elementary schools presented here