Thread: An organizational question

You crack me up

I hate spiral note books. The spirals squish, the kids always run out of paper because they use it for notes to friends drawings or rolling papers. They get smashed in back packs bent and ratty. There is also no way to remove papers and put them back at a different point. For example. After doing notes on a math concept I move on and find out there is a misconception or bug that needs fixed. in a spiral notebook I cannot go back and have the kids add to the notes right after the ones they took previously. In a spiral notebook the paper stays in and cannot be moved.

I have found three ring binders to be completely manageable. But, then again, I am kind of an ass about my binders. I do random checks and if there is something besides math notes in the math binder I take it out and toss it after giving them two warnings. They can have anything they want in their personal binders but their math binder is sacred. I did this when I taught Science too. When I taught them both, they had one binder for both. Yes, parents had a cow when little precious went home and told them I threw away their pictures of the latest teen hottie. So, what. I point to the letter I send home at the beginning of the year that they sign.

Boy, I am opinionated tonight.

Originally Posted by billybob

How many use spiral or bound notebooks (I use 70 page) in lieu of three ring binders for their math and science classes?

We do not have three-ring binders at all (I mean there aren't any at the school supply stands in the supermarkets).

I guess the binders would be too bulky to carry around (we have the junior-high-school model with 6-8 class periods each day). The way we do it now, students mostly carry their textbook and their notebook for each class. It is still 6-8 textbooks and 6-8 notebooks each day (and sometimes more as not all subjects are one-textbook+one-notebook).

Our most common type of notebook is stapled down the middle like a magazine

I prefer the three-ring binder for all of the reasons that Mark listed. Spiral notebooks get mashed, then the metal binding comes undone and either slices a finger or clothing (either is dreadful).

I like the binder mainly because you can remove a paper to be turned in and then put it back when it has been graded. Then, you can add a page behind it with the corrections for the questions missed.

Any time I find that I was able to teach faster than planned and there are a few minutes to spare at the end of class, I can have the kids spend it organizing their binders.

I have been rather lax on forcing the kids to use them in the past. I'm going to fine tune it this year and find a way to incorporate it into the grade. I'm thinking perhaps a "binder test" or quiz at least once per six weeks where they have limited time to locate and record particular items from their binders. This will also encourage them to have correct answers for everything in their binders (hw, tests, and quizzes) as well as making sure they put a proper title on each paper so they will be able to find the question I am asking. All around, I think it will be a good thing for them.

BB, the most important thing for the kids to do in math is revisit problems that they missed and make sure they don't repeat the mistakes. No matter how you decide to make them stay organized, please work in a way for them to learn from their mistakes.

I use 200 page 8.5 x 11 Spirals - we write our own book and heaven help the kid that uses pages out of it for any thing else.

I tell them up front that they will use every page in it and it better be in pristine condition at the end of the year because they will need it for exams.

Student bring them back to me years later.

For me it works.

We use binders team-wide . . . one binder for all subjects. The students have a folder for each class. We even made all our kiddos get white binders, and we printed matching covers and spine label with the school mascot and their names on them. If they deface the cover, they have to purchase a new one. We make the folder labels, too. We're a bit anal about the binders.

I used to buy the 10 cent spirals at Wal-Mart every year, but the quality has gone downhill so much that they didn't last through the first semester last year. The school bought sewn composition books for me to use this year. I like them to keep all their writings in one place.

For three years, I used three ring binders, but I found that kids lost papers and I HATED grading the things.

I came across a new method that I used last year, and I like it. The kids LOVED it and said that they never want to go back to binders.

I had every kid buy a composition book, and we used that as our repository of things that I wanted them to keep. All of their labs went in, as well as notes and drawings, etc. If I had a photocopy that I wanted them to keep, I reduced it to 70% and had them glue it in. They kept a table of contents in the front, and each new section was was labeled with a tape tab. (piece of folded over masking tape with the tab number on it) I could collect logs and tell kids that I was grading tabs 5 and 6. I tended to make one tab per unit.

I have the same kids next year as 8th graders in a loop. I am teaching a brand new topic to me(physical science) so I brought it up in class that having binders might be easier for me (less planning). The kids really wanted to keep the logs - they said it helped them not to lose papers (it was bound or glued in) and they had everything they needed to study from in one place.

Of 90 kids, only 2 said that they did not like the logs, so I think I will be putting the time to plan out how to make this happen for next year.

Originally Posted by dover7science

For three years, I used three ring binders, but I found that kids lost papers and I HATED grading the things.

I came across a new method that I used last year, and I like it. The kids LOVED it and said that they never want to go back to binders.

This was my experience, too, this past year, Dover. It was easier to keep up with everything. Sure, pasting and/or taping the reduced papers into the notebook could be a struggle, but it most certainly beat having those binders with papers from every imagineable source stuffed everywhere and things falling out, left and right. Unless you reinforce the holes in those papers, many would tear and kids would lose them.

The kids seemed happier too. One of the things they said at the end of the year was that they liked doing the science notebooks the way we did them.

Gee...I guess I really had decided already and just wanted some validation, LOL! I'm so convinced, in fact, that I just went down to Target and bought up about 120 of those 70 page spiral notebooks. I would go with the bound composition books, but they are so expensive. I usually give the kids their first one. Color coding makes a difference too. I plan to do that.

Anytime I'm on a rant about messy notebooks & binders, or kids having the "wrong" colors for folders & notebooks I can hear Joan Crawford's "no wire hangers" ringing in my head. :lol: