I.N.S.E.R.T. INTERACTIVE NOTING SYSTEM FOR EFFECTIVE READING AND THINKING

Instructions for individual work with INSERT:
Read the given article and as you read through the FIRST TIME, make the following marks as appropriate.
The marks are:
“ ✓■”
Put a check in the margin of the text if something you read confirms what you knew or thought you knew
“ – ”
Put a minus in the margin of the text if some information you are reading contradicts
or is different from what you already knew or thought you knew
“ + ”
Put a plus in the margin of the text if a piece of information you encounter is new information for you.
“ ? ”
Put a question mark in the margin of the text if there is information that is confusing
to you or there is something you would like to know more about.
Thus as you read you will be placing four different marks in the margin based on your own knowledge and
understanding. You will be marking in the margins using a ✓, – , + , ? as appropriate to your own knowledge base.
It is not necessary to mark each line or each idea presented but to make your mark reflective of your relation to
the information in general. You may end up with one or two markings per paragraph or slightly more or less.
After students read and mark individually, ask them to share their choices and decisions about the
marks in pairs. They should start at the beginning of the text comparing the information they marked
individually. They should explain to each other their reason for the choice of mark. Please, as a teacher
– don’t forget to emphasize that every choice is good and that it is natural if the students have marked
the same information in different ways or if they have marked different information entirely.
After sharing in pairs it is usually helpful to share some examples of each mark with the whole
class. Ask students to give examples (lets say 3 examples for each mark). You can also ask if somebody
has chosen a different mark for the same information that was given in the example.
You can work with the ideas and especially the questions of the students according to the situation.
Specific information:
“Climate change is caused by different factors which can be natural as well as human factors”
Non-specific information:
“Climate change is caused by many factors”
Examples of students’ work can be read – e.g. three students can give examples for each
column. In this way they compare different ideas and different solutions.