I have had the pleasure of introducing notebooking to several schools in my district this year and at the South Carolina Science Council Convention (picture of me above).Most of the presentations I made were at the requests of other teachers, not administration. To me those are the better presentations. I find teachers tend to be more receptive to ideas if they are suggested by another teacher as opposed to administration (to which the general reaction is...."Great something else we are being asked to do/try!" :)
If you are thinking about trying notebooking next year, or if you have started this year and would like to share your experiences with other teachers in your school, NOW is the time to speak at a facility meeting or a team meeting (feel free to download the PowerPoint I put together and can be found under the "video" label). This would give other teachers time to start thinking about it and possibly plan over the summer. If it is something that is introduced at the beginning of the school year, or mid school year, the chances of it actually being implemented goes down.
Don't be discouraged if nobody else in your school or team looks enthusiastic. Notebooking will not work if the teacher is not enjoying it (which is the last thing I say when I present). My suggestion is to keep notebooking and enjoy it (and share it)! Hopefully other teachers and administrators will notice your enthusiasm, student engagement/work, and increased test scores and will jump on the notebooking train :)
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