Notability is my favorite app in the entire world! And I'm not even being hyperbolic. I used Notability with my kids last year in place of all paper notebooks. We had a social studies notebook, a writer's notebook and a reader's notebook. I love it!
One feature that I really love about Notability is that you can type and use your finger or a stylus to write and add pictures from your camera roll or the Internet all in one note. It allows kids a lot of freedom for how they get their ideas down. Kids who preferred to use words could easily do that; others who preferred to use pictures and label with few words could do that as well. It's so easy to modify to your own specific needs and learning preferences.
I especially loved using Notability to create note templates for the kids to use. It was easy to type the basic template, and then I'd write in with a stylus to make modifications for the kids who needed it. I could then upload all of this to Schoology, and the kids could get it from there to put into their own Notability notebooks. The thing I loved about this feature was that the modified version just looked like the kid had already added some notes in his/her own handwriting. It really lessened the "I'm different" stigma that can come with the modified work.
The kids loved to use it for notes in social studies. We did a lesson on how to organize notes. They loved the colors that they could use. They also got into the shapes and used those to help them organize as they researched.
The best feature in Notability is the cut and paste feature. You can easily move any of your stylus written work with a simple circle and drag! That was another lifesaver for my sixth graders. They could easily move notes into more organized spots to help them see patterns and volume for each subtopic.
Finally, I loved using it to take class notes as we worked together. I'd project it on the Apple TV and write or add pictures as we would go. I could then share those class notes with the kids through Drive or Schoology. The modeling was really helpful in that way.
I really cannot say enough about Notability and how easy it is to use. If you'd like to learn more about it, please let me know! I'd be happy to share what we've figured out so far (I'm sure we're only scratching the surface). If I can do it, anyone can do it!
Meghan - can we PLEASE talk in person about the writer's and reader's notebooks that you used with Notability?? This is part of my dream for next year. I love that you have already done this because I've been kind of reluctant to actually try it since I love the paper notebooks so much, but this might be the push I need to do it!
ReplyDeleteThis app sounds pretty cool! In advisory, we've been trying to use notebooks in advisory here and there. It always starts off with the advisors buying notebooks and having the kids try to decorate them to buy in, but always fizzles out and takes up space. Using this app sounds like it could be something much easier!
ReplyDeleteI could really use an "in person Mrs. Warner course" myself!
ReplyDeleteWow! If this is an app that is going to be used across teachers at Skokie, I wonder if it is something we could start to introduce in fourth grade. We end our fourth grade year with a research project. Perhaps, we could dabble in using this a bit, so they have a bit of experience before entering Skokie.
ReplyDeleteI get so many questions during fourth grade transition meetings about what goes on at Skokie. I feel like I am learning a lot about what resources are being used there (at least what you are using). In a perfect world we would all be able to get into each others rooms and observe, but I think this course is giving me a little glimpse into what other people use in their classrooms.
I would definitely sign up for a mini WU course for Notability. The science department is struggling to figure out how "paperless" we can go. We are going to try out Microsoft OneNote, and I know most of the "executive functioning" for the two is the same. It would be great to hear different ideas about how to organize and use a digital notebook.
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