Learning Journals

In the K-8 ClassroomBy: Marcia Popp

Why Use Learning Journals?

• The purpose of a learning Journal is to support academic inquiry and to create a history of learning that informs both the student journalist and the classroom teacher.

Learning Journals: 1. Provide opportunities for students to explore ideas, ask

questions, and respond personally to their experience.2. The student is the primary audience for their journal.3. Are workbooks that are created to be visited again and again,

as students grow in their understanding of a topic, use their notes and responses to share ideas with other students.

4. They are a way for students to communicate with teachers and parents.

What does a Learning Journal look like?

Learning Journals• Learning journal entries can be: Spontanious, Informal, Formal, Carefully

Organized, Expressive, Exploratory

• Types of Journals:1. Writing Journal2. Science Journal3. Social Studies Journal4. Math Journal5. Reading Journal6. What I Want to Know Journal

Making Thinking Visible

• Entries usually involve developmental spelling and grammar.

• Include any type of writing or drawing that is helpful to understand a concept or topic.

• Enables students to use their own ways of speaking and thinking about complex ideas.

• Helps make students thinking visible to teachers because it provides increased opportunities to obtain a more accurate view of student’s understanding and skill levels.

Writing Formats For Journal Writing

• Most teachers allow students to choose their own form of response but it is important to encourage experimentation with new forms.

• Essays- Longer Entries, may involve comparison and contrast, cause and effect, or persuasion.

• Outlines• Quick Writes• Inquiry writing • Diary Entries/ Dialogues• Practice or Fictional letters• Quotes or Excerpts• Magazine Articles• Drawings • Diagrams• Charts/Graphs• Poetry

Guidelines for Right-Hand Page Entries

• What did you observe (see, hear, taste, smell, touch) related to the study?

• What did you read? (Title, Author, Pages)

• What Ideas did you discover?• Who did you interview, and what did

you learn?• What problems are you working on?• What experiment or demonstration

did you set up?• What did you learn from your

discussions with your partner or group?

Guidelines for Left Handed Page Entries• What questions do you still have?• What difficulties did you

experiences?• How will you change what you do

as a result of this experience?• What comments or reactions do

you have?• What did you enjoy?• What did you dislike?• Can you translate what you

learned into a drawing, graph, map ect. ?

Electronic Learning Journals

• Students are apple to communicate with other students on cooperative research projects.

• Students can create cooperative journals.

• Answer each others questions

• Share opinions• Respond to information

related to content areas.

Using Journals to Support Other Classroom Activities

• Writing in journals and sharing what they discover encourages students to explore their own strengths as learners and to gain skills in using mathematics, literature, writing, science, and social studies.

• Activities prominent in classrooms that integrate language across the curriculum are both supported and enhanced by using learning journals.

Supporting Other Classroom Activities

• Reading Aloud• Book Previews• Independent Reading• Mini-lessons• Cooperative study groups• Workshops• Individual conferences• Journal buddies