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Notebook Policy 2024-2025

Learn how to organise ur notebooks

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Ruben Pereira
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33 views2 pages

Notebook Policy 2024-2025

Learn how to organise ur notebooks

Uploaded by

Ruben Pereira
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Notebook Expectations

Rationale
Notebooks serve as a record of a student's academic journey. They are imperative for students to
consolidate their knowledge acquisition as they summarize key learnings from units of study. The
question and answers and tasks that are attempted in a notebook document the progress a
student makes through an academic discipline over a year. It helps teachers to understand the
extent of learning. Through the feedback received from teachers, students can identify and
engage with areas for improvement. It also gives students an opportunity to showcase
achievements over time. Beyond strengthening academic content, notebooks play a critical role
in developing skills in students. As students engage with tasks and assignments the following
skills are honed:

• Subject specific skills: skills that are specific to a particular academic discipline.
• Future focused skills: including skills of critical thinking, problem solving and creativity.
• Head and Heart 360o growth: including becoming a self-regulated and independent learner,
demonstrating habits of learning, holding oneself accountable, developing a flexible mindset
and perseverance and grit.

This above rationale filters into the following expectations from students, teachers, school
leaders and parents:

Expectations from students

Students are expected to:


• Make learning visible: Post classroom instruction, students are expected to demonstrate
their learning and key takeaways for a unit of study under the heading ‘Learning from the
Unit of Study’. Students have the choice of demonstrating their learning through any one of
the following:
o Bullet points
o Mind map
o Graphic Organizer
o Running notes
o Diagrams or other forms of drawings
• Make thinking visible: Students are expected to:
o Answer questions, engage in tasks and assignments that reflect their thinking along
the ‘ladder of thinking’. Where necessary, students are expected to refer to multiple
sources and present both their claim and counter claim.
o Make a shift in their thinking visible by not erasing their draft plan, unstructured or
semi structured steps or any errors that they feel that they have made. These need to
be crossed out with one stroke of the pen/pencil and students are expected to state
why they have made the change to their steps/ structures. This will help students to
learn from errors and become reflective and independent learners and critical
thinkers. It will also demonstrate their progress in learning.
• Make progress visible: Students are expected to make progress visible in notebooks by:
o Completing the self-reflection rubric at the start and end of each unit of study
(optional for grades 11 & 12).
o For grades 11 & 12: At the beginning of a unit of study, students will represent their
prior knowledge of the unit of study in any form that is given under make learning
visible. This will be compared to their learning from the unit of study to demonstrate
progress.
o Completing tasks set for assessment for learning.
o Taking the next steps for improvement based on the feedback received from teachers.
o Self-reviewing and peer-reviewing some samples of their learning in every unit of
study.
• Maintain the record of assessments: Students are expected to record end of chapter tests
in the notebooks with student reflections and logical next steps for improvement.
• Maintain academic integrity: For all tasks that require a search or research, students are
expected to quote the sources from which they have drawn the information.
• Digital notetaking: In grades 11 and 12, students have the choice of maintaining their notes
digitally. If this option is chosen, then they are expected to use MS Onenote only, using their
GEMS e-learning account and sharing the link with their subject teacher.

Expectations from teachers

Teachers are expected to:


• Recognize that students have varied preferences and needs, which requires flexibility in
their approach towards how to personalize learning and make it visible in notebooks.
• Provide guidelines on how students are expected to maintain their notebooks. This may
include instructions on organization, formatting, and the types of information to be included.
• Provide differentiated tasks that allow students to engage at levels of comfort and
challenge in every unit of study. Questions and tasks must engage students at different levels
on the ladder of thinking. It is expected that at least two critical thinking questions shall be
assigned for every chapter and the answers shall be recorded in the notebooks.
• Assess the prior learning so as to monitor consistently the progress in students’ learning
journey.
• Provide feedback on student learning for every unit of study with diagnostic comments and
feedback to plug in the gaps in learning.
• Record notebook as evidence to assess future focused skills, head and heart 360 and
subject specific skills of the learners.
• Follow up on feedback to check on whether students have worked on the feedback
received.
• Complete the self-reflection rubric to assess students’ self-reflection on the attainment of
success criteria at the end of a unit of study.
• Maintain a record of corrections by signing and writing the date on assessed learning
samples in the notebook. In addition, teachers must acknowledge learning samples that are
peer or self-reviewed or a student has engaged with feedback.
• Not mandate duplication of note making from information shared on PowerPoint
presentations or any other form of digital resources that are uploaded on Phoenix Classroom.

Expectations from School Leaders


School leaders are expected to quality assure notebook learning. This quality assurance will be
conducted at least once a term. Feedback will be shared with teachers.
Expectations from parents

Parents are expected to:


• Understand that notebooks across the same grade will be different but the minimum
expectation for learning will be visible.
• Guide their child on the choice of representing their learning and key takeaways.
• Monitor notebook learning periodically.
• Engage in a dialogue with their child to discuss the learning journey through a unit of study.

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