Latest / Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies / 289. How to Boost Engagement and Keep Students Thinking with Guided Notes

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289. How to Boost Engagement and Keep Students Thinking with Guided Notes · Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

• 0:00
  Heidi: This is episode 289 of Teacher Approved.
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  You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
• 0:09
  educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
• 0:12
  Heidi.
• 0:13
  Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
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  Window, where we give research-based and
• 0:19
  teacher-approved strategies that make teaching less stressful and
• 0:22
  more effective. You can check out the show notes and resources
• 0:25
  from each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
• 0:28
  Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
• 0:31
  the show.
• 0:36
  Emily: Hey there! Thanks for joining us today. In today's
• 0:39
  episode, we're talking about how to keep students thinking while
• 0:43
  you're teaching, and we've got a tip to keep the end of October
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  from sneaking up on you.
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  Heidi: But first, let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we
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  share a quick win that you can try in your classroom right
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  away. Emily, what is our suggestion for this week?
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  Emily: Okay, this week put a sticky note on your desk or
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  somewhere else private with the name of the student that you
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  feel like you've connected with the least so far this school
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  year, and then make time to have a quick conversation with that
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  kid. Because it can be so easy to overlook the kids who don't
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  ask you for anything, but the quiet kids need some attention
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  too.
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  Heidi: And then next week you can write down a different name,
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  and before long, you will have gotten to most of your class
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  without ever having to schedule anything big.
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  Emily: Yes, it's so easy to do. If you like this idea or
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  anything else we share here on the podcast, would you do us a
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  favor and share this episode with a teacher friend?
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  Heidi: Well, here is a not quite hypothetical situation for you.
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  You have carefully planned your lesson. All of those materials
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  are prepped. You are giving the lesson your all, and then you
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  look around the room, and some students are listening. Some
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  have completely zoned out. There's the one kid that is
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  asking to go to the bathroom for the third time since lunch, and
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  you're standing there rethinking your whole life and wondering,
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  are they learning, or am I just talking?
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  Emily: Oh, so relatable, and I'm willing to put money on the fact
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  that you have been there too. Maybe it's even something you
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  encounter daily. So, what is a busy teacher to do? Well, that's
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  what we're going to talk about today.
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  Heidi: But before we get into that, let's focus on the why.
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  Why does any of this matter? And to do that, we need to think
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  about engagement. And our teacher-approved definition of
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  engagement is the degree to which students are positively
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  involved and willingly participating in what is
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  happening in class. And to get that definition, I had to pull
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  our book off of my shelf and look at the definition. That was
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  kind of a fun little moment. I never thought I would have that
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  experience. But going back to the example, I think we would
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  all agree that the level of engagement in that example
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  lesson was pretty low.
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  Emily: Yeah, and that really matters not just because low
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  engagement means decreased learning, which obviously that's
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  important, but also because of what it increases. When students
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  are disengaged, they will come up with something to do. They're
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  not going to just sit there quietly.
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  Heidi: And you know the odds are that the activity they invent is
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  probably going to look something like pestering a neighbor or
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  stabbing an eraser with a pencil or something even more
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  distracting. So, keeping students engaged really just
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  makes everyone's life easier. Now that might mean adding more
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  cooperative learning, or it could be adding more games. I
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  love to teach with games, but what do you do mid instruction?
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  Emily: This is where active student response comes in.
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  Heidi: Yeah, and if you go back to episode 161, we shared five
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  techniques for giving students opportunities to respond mid
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  lesson. So you can check that out if you want more details.
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  But today we have got a sixth technique, which is very hard to
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  say. Sixth technique, and that is guided notes.
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  Emily: Yes, and this is a new one for us. This is something we
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  came across when we were writing our book, and the research on it
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  looks really promising. So we're bringing it here to you to talk
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  about, even though this is not something we are experts on.
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  Heidi: No, but it seems so important we just couldn't let
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  it slide.
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  Emily: Right.
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  Heidi: So when you hear guided notes, you might picture a high
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  school lecture and a worksheet full of blanks to fill in, which
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  is fair because that's probably where most of us have seen this.
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  But that is just one version of guided notes.
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  Emily: And that is not the version that you would use if
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  you're teaching kindergarten or first grade. Guided notes are
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  teacher-prepared materials that give students some of the
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  structure and some of the important information, and then
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  leaves intentional spaces for students to record, predict, and
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  explain.
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  Heidi: So you know you could give students one of those
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  fill-in-the-blank pages, but there really are so many more
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  possibilities. Guided notes can involve writing headings,
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  diagrams, definitions, sentence starters, and way more. So you
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  are providing the framework. Students are contributing the
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  thinking.
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  Emily: And that last part is what makes guided notes so
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  useful. It's not that they give children something to do during
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  a lesson; it's that they get the kids thinking.
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  Heidi: And I'm sure that most of us have handed out something
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  like this: the three branches of government are the blank, blank,
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  and blank branches. You know, and that's fine, but a kid can
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  fill it in without having to think about anything at all,
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  really.
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  Emily: Especially if you're pausing the lesson and telling
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  them exactly what to write. Now compare that to a page that
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  opens with a question like this: Your town is deciding whether to
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  build a new park. Who should get a say in that decision, and why?
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  Students can then write down their opinion first before you
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  teach anything.
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  Heidi: And then you go through your lesson and you teach about
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  the three branches, and they can fill in those details as they
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  go. And at the end, they go back to their original opinion. What
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  would you change now, and what would you keep?
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  Emily: Either way, kids are writing, but the second version
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  pushes them to think about what they know about government. How
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  is the mayor like the president? Who has the power to do what?
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  What role do citizens play in the decision?
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  Heidi: There is a real difference between students
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  doing something and students thinking about something. A kid
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  can be very busy and learn very little.
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  Emily: And if we swing back to the management side of this, a
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  student who has nothing to do right this second is a student
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  looking for something to do. So let's give them a job. When
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  everyone has something in front of them that frequently needs
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  their attention, they're more likely to learn and less likely
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  to tip back in their chairs.
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  Heidi: I hate that. Ah, it drives me nuts.
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  Emily: All four on the floor.
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  Heidi: Oh wait, should it be six on the floor? Doesn't rhyme
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  though.
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  Emily: It's true. All four on the floor sounds better, but
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  yeah, technically, I guess it would be six unless your
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  students are so little their feet don't reach the floor. But
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  then they probably couldn't bring back, right?
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  Heidi: Oh yeah.
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  Emily: Sorry for that little rabbit trail.
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  Heidi: Detour. Well, as we mentioned, fill-in-the-blank
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  notes are one form of guided notes. But if you want to move
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  past that, where do you even start?
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  Emily: Well, you're in luck because we've boiled it down to
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  five steps: plan, give, pause, respond, and apply. And don't
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  worry, we're going to explain them all in detail.
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  Heidi: So first up is plan. Start by asking yourself what
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  students could do to demonstrate understanding. Maybe you want
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  them to predict or explain something, or maybe you you
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  really do want them to fill in some blanks.
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  Emily: And that's fine as long as the action is demonstrating
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  real understanding. If students can predict what goes in the
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  blank, they get so busy scanning for the next word that they tune
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  out everything in between.
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  Heidi: And when that happens, you've basically just turned
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  your lesson into a scavenger hunt. So avoid that, and then
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  consider the second step in creating guided notes, and that
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  is to give. Tell us about this one, Emily.
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  Emily: This is where you give students a framework so they
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  aren't staring down a blank piece of paper. That might mean
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  providing relevant headings, a diagram with the labels missing,
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  or a blank table to fill in. But whatever you give students needs
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  to be tailored to their abilities.
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  Heidi: So for lower grades, we are barely going to call these
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  notes. Students can draw what they noticed or add simple
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  labels to a diagram. The guided part of guided notes means
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  providing the right scaffolding. So for the young ones, try to
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  limit writing to just one-word responses.
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  Emily: That's not because we're anti-writing, but it's because a
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  seven-year-old who is listening, deciding what matters, spelling
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  it, and forming the letters is doing four hard things at the
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  same time, and that is just too much to manage.
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  Heidi: No, something's got to give there. So maybe for a
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  lesson on seeds, the page asks, What do seeds need to grow? And
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  then there are pictures of possible answers like sun,
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  water, a taco, a T-shirt, etc. And students circle the correct
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  answers as you talk about them during the lesson.
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  Emily: And at the end, you could even circle back and have a
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  discussion about why plants don't need tacos.
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  Heidi: Oh, poor plants! I just had tacos for dinner. The little
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  plants don't know what they're missing out on.
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  Emily: I know it's so sad for them, but plants often do make
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  good tacos themselves. So maybe that's a consolation.
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  Heidi: No, I bet it's not. Circling pictures is a low
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  enough entry point that even kindergarteners can manage it.
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  But as kids get more capable, they need a different kind of
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  framework.
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  Emily: Right. If you're teaching character change to fourth
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  graders, you might give three sentence starters. At the
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  beginning of the story, Maya blank. An important event was
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  blank. After that event, Maya blank. The structure does the
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  organizing so students can put their energy into learning the
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  content.
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  Heidi: And then after you've made your note-taking page, the
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  third step is to pause. Build stopping places into your lesson
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  where you quit talking and you prompt the students to do
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  something.
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  Emily: This step is easy to plan and hard to do. If you're on a
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  roll and it's going well, stopping mid-lesson feels like
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  losing momentum. But if you teach for 12 minutes straight
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  and then hand out a page, that page isn't part of the lesson
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  anymore. It's an assignment.
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  Heidi: So if this feels awkward or frustrating, remind yourself
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  that the pause doesn't have to be long. A minute, or really
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  even like 30 seconds is plenty because with guided notes,
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  students are responsible for just one answer at a time and
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  not the full page.
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  Emily: And if you're not sure where the pauses go, look at
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  your lesson plan for the places where you'd normally check for
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  understanding, and then you can stick them in there.
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  Heidi: Now you are giving your class a quick way to demonstrate
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  their understanding, which helps you know if they are ready to
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  move on or if they need more explanation.
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  Emily: Okay, once you've paused the lesson, the fourth step is
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  respond. This is where the students do all their writing,
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  drawing, labeling, circling, choosing, or solving.
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  Heidi: And don't worry that the drawing might be undercutting
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  the learning. Research shows that drawing a response, like
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  drawing a picture to define a vocabulary word actually creates
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  deeper understanding, so you're really winning in multiple ways
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  with that one.
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  Emily: And finally, the fifth step is apply. Before the lesson
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  ends, give students one chance to use what they learned. Maybe
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  they need to solve a problem, defend an opinion, list some
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  examples, or write a summary sentence. You're looking for
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  something to close the loop on the learning.
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  Heidi: One of my favorite apply activities with my second
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  graders was having students write how they would explain the
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  concept to a first grader. Because to a second grader,
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  first graders are, they're just little babies, tiny beings. Yes,
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  on a totally different planet. So that prompt gave them the
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  chance to feel like an expert, but my goal with it was to
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  really force them to think about the topic and break it down to
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  the simplest pieces.
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  Emily: Yeah, and bonus, this doubles as your exit ticket, so
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  you've got an assessment built right into the lesson.
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  Heidi: And that is the whole recipe for guided notes: plan,
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  give, pause, respond, and apply.
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  Emily: And then do one more thing: keep these notes in
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  circulation. You know how it usually goes: students finish
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  the page, it goes in a folder, and nobody ever looks at it
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  again.
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  Heidi: But there really is so much more you can get out of
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  this page. It can be a study guide. Use it for retrieval
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  practice. You know we love that, so you can let partners quiz
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  each other with their notes pages, or turn it into another
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  exit ticket, or even tomorrow's warm up.
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  Emily: You already did the work of building it. You may as well
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  get more than one day out of it. So the next time you're standing
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  at the front of the room wondering whether anybody is
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  with you, you won't have to guess. You can look down at 24
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  pages and see the learning right there.
• 12:40
  Heidi: And if our content is resonating with you, would you
• 12:42
  take a second and give us a five-star rating in your podcast
• 12:45
  player? Ratings and reviews are one way that new listeners find
• 12:48
  us, so really every rating and review is a huge help to us.
• 12:53
  Emily: Now for our teacher-approved tip of the
• 12:54
  week, where we share an actionable tip to help you
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  elevate what matters and simplify the rest. This week's
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  teacher-approved tip is get your Halloween plan settled now. Help
• 13:06
  us out with it, Heidi.
• 13:08
  Heidi: Well, we are officially into October, which means if
• 13:11
  your class celebrates Halloween, the party is closer than it
• 13:14
  feels. And party planning has a way of turning into an emergency
• 13:18
  around the 28th. So this week, if you have not heard from your
• 13:22
  room parent yet, reach out. Just casually ask if they need help
• 13:26
  with anything, and that will give you a good idea whether
• 13:29
  anything is being planned.
• 13:30
  Emily: Yeah, because the last thing that you want is to find
• 13:33
  out three days before that everybody assumed that somebody
• 13:35
  else had it handled, which is just the worst. And I have to
• 13:38
  say, if I was back in the classroom, I would just decide
• 13:42
  what the activities are going to be myself, and then I would just
• 13:45
  ask parents to man those stations. So, if that's
• 13:49
  something you could get away with, you might want to consider
• 13:51
  that option.
• 13:53
  Heidi: Yeah, that is how I did my class parties. Partly, it
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  started because I didn't have a lot of involved parents in the
• 13:58
  school population when I started, but then as it grew on,
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  I realized that parents don't have a ton of experience
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  planning group activities for kids, and it was just easier for
• 14:09
  me to plan something because I knew it would keep everybody
• 14:12
  engaged full time, and it wouldn't be 25 kids watching one
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  kid eat a donut off a string and all of the chaos that came with
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  that.
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  Emily: Oh yes, I've seen it all, and I see it way more now as the
• 14:23
  room parent than I actually saw as the teacher. I'm seeing way
• 14:26
  more like, oh no, what are you guys thinking, the teacher
• 14:30
  should have given better guidelines.
• 14:33
  Heidi: And if you want some help planning and running a low
• 14:36
  stress, low mess, low chaos class party, we can definitely
• 14:41
  help you out. We've put all of our best tips in episodes 33,
• 14:46
  34, and 96, and those are even specifically about Halloween. So
• 14:50
  you really are covered with those.
• 14:52
  Emily: And you can check out our shop for some Halloween helpers.
• 14:55
  We've got festive breaks, a differentiated Halloween review
• 14:59
  packet that's super fun. There's a my pet ghost activity, writing
• 15:03
  activity that's super popular, and some other fun book
• 15:06
  activities and more.
• 15:08
  Heidi: And if you want even more festive sparkle, we've got a fun
• 15:12
  resource for teacher approved club members. This month we're
• 15:15
  giving members four morning work pages: one for Halloween, one
• 15:19
  for fall, one for Christmas and one for winter.
• 15:22
  Emily: We've got pages for grades K through five, and the
• 15:24
  nice thing is the pages follow our familiar morning work
• 15:27
  layout. So if kids are already used to using morning work each
• 15:30
  day, these pages give you a way to have a little seasonal fun
• 15:34
  without derailing your structure.
• 15:37
  Heidi: If you are already a Teacher Approved Club member,
• 15:39
  you can find these pages in the tools section, and if you're not
• 15:42
  a member, what are you waiting for?
• 15:44
  Emily: Yeah, each month we give you a new resource not available
• 15:48
  anywhere else, a bonus podcast episode just for you, and
• 15:51
  credits to use in our store. You can find the link to sign up for
• 15:55
  the Teacher Approved Club in the show notes.
• 15:58
  Heidi: Okay, to wrap up the show, we are sharing what we're
• 16:00
  giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your
• 16:02
  extra credit?
• 16:03
  Emily: Well, I feel bad doing this because we have talked
• 16:07
  about this particular extra credit many, many times. But I'm
• 16:11
  doing it anyway because I love it so much. I'm giving extra
• 16:13
  credit to The Traitors. It is back for a new season.
• 16:18
  Heidi: It's so good, though.
• 16:19
  Emily: Alan is more fabulous than ever. And this season is
• 16:24
  quote unquote normies, but really a lot of them are like
• 16:28
  internet, I recognize several of them from Instagram. Yes, some
• 16:32
  of them are people I don't know, but I mean I don't think they're
• 16:35
  technically really normies. But so far it's been fun. I think
• 16:40
  there's pros and cons to a celebrity season versus a
• 16:43
  normal, but they also just announced the celebrity cast
• 16:47
  that's going to be coming out I think early 2027, so all The
• 16:51
  Traitors content, just put it in my veins.
• 16:55
  Heidi: It's such a fun show. I normally prefer the celebrity
• 17:00
  seasons because I feel so bad when someone who's like, oh
• 17:03
  yeah, we're we would use this money for an adoption because we
• 17:07
  have infertility, and then they're like immediately voted
• 17:10
  out, and you're like, no. But knowing that these people are
• 17:13
  like influencers on Instagram, it takes some of the sting out.
• 17:17
  Where you're like, okay, they'll be fine.
• 17:19
  Emily: Yes, this is so good. So if you haven't watched it, start
• 17:23
  with the current season because you really don't need the past
• 17:26
  seasons. You don't need to watch them in order. And I feel like
• 17:29
  if you watch it live, it's so much more fun because other
• 17:32
  people are talking about it. So go ahead and keep up with it
• 17:36
  with the new season. So I think to start, they're doing like two
• 17:38
  episodes a week for a few weeks, and then going to one per week,
• 17:42
  so you can definitely still get caught up and join us on our
• 17:46
  Traitors journey. What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?
• 17:49
  Heidi: I know I say this every week, but my extra credit is
• 17:52
  such a pivot, and it really is. So my extra credit goes to
• 17:58
  Victoria Magazine. Their website says it's a women's lifestyle
• 18:03
  magazine created for all those who love heritage linens,
• 18:07
  charming homes, gracious gardens, traveling the world,
• 18:09
  and all that is beautiful in life. Pretty far from The
• 18:13
  Traitors.
• 18:14
  Emily: Hey, that they have heritage linens in that castle.
• 18:16
  Heidi: That castle would fit right in here. I bet this castle
• 18:19
  Emily: I bet so.
• 18:21
  Heidi: It's been around forever. Well, the magazine and the
• 18:21
  has been featured in the Victoria Magazine.
• 18:27
  castle. But, so basically, it's if you have ever wanted to walk
• 18:31
  around in the world of Anne of Green Gables or Outlander or
• 18:34
  anything with beautiful sets and costumes, you might enjoy
• 18:37
  Victoria. So this was my favorite magazine when I was a
• 18:42
  teenager.
• 18:43
  Emily: This is just giving such a picture of who you are.
• 18:47
  Heidi: Like I just would go to my friends' rooms, and they
• 18:50
  would have like Kirk Cameron on the walls, torn out of Tiger
• 18:53
  Beat or whatever. And I was at home drooling over the bathroom
• 18:59
  fixtures in this fancy house that I would never visit, but
• 19:03
  beautiful sink and it explains too much, I think,
• 19:08
  Emily: Yeah, all of your lore is uncovered.
• 19:12
  Heidi: Yeah. So, as a grown up, I have not subscribed. I just
• 19:16
  followed their Instagram account because the pictures are just so
• 19:19
  dreamy and elegant. But a targeted ad got me with a good
• 19:23
  deal. I think it was less than $30 for a year, so I subscribed,
• 19:28
  and it really is lovely. It's got interesting articles, and it
• 19:32
  also just looks really nice laying out on a table.
• 19:36
  Emily: That's so funny. I'm glad you can enjoy the magazine from
• 19:40
  your youth. I do remember looking at many of Victoria
• 19:44
  Magazine because you had it laying around.
• 19:46
  Heidi: I saved them, I saved them.
• 19:48
  Emily: I know.
• 19:49
  Heidi: I'm really sad I don't have them now because there's
• 19:52
  things I want to reference.
• 19:53
  Emily: Yeah. Well, I hope you're keeping these ones.
• 19:56
  Heidi: No, I think I gave them to mom so she could junk
• 19:58
  journal.
• 19:58
  Emily: Oh no.
• 20:02
  Heidi: Oh well.
• 20:04
  Well, that is it for today's episode. This week, try
• 20:07
  preparing guided notes for just one lesson, and see how it
• 20:10
  boosts your students' engagement and learning.
• 20:14
  We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.
• 20:18
  Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
• 20:21
  or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
• 20:24
  episode. You can connect with us and other teachers in the
• 20:27
  Teacher Approved Facebook group.
• 20:29
  Heidi: We'll see you here next week. Bye for now.
• 20:31
  Emily: Bye.