Learning journals are a great tool for reviewing new material, setting and tracking academic goals and progress, and can act as study guides come test time. As a tutor, I use learning journals to have students review the material we've covered in the day's lesson. As a student, learning journals can be used to create an encyclopedia of information that is easy to find and that is precise and all in one place.
How does it work?
For younger students (ages 5-10) it works very much like a journal entry. For these students, who are less likely to review material on their own, learning journal assignments force them to look at the material we've covered and go through it again in their own words. I tell students to write me an entry telling me about three (out of the many things) we've covered in the day's lesson. They must explain rules of new concepts in as much detail as they can (for things like grammar and spelling) and patterns they've learned or picked up on (in things like reading comprehension - for example, that the moral of fables is often the last sentence in the story). All of the topics they choose to write about must use examples and if they choose, they can also write about how they feel about the material - if they thought it was hard or if they like it or not.
Keep in mind that with this age group, it may take a few tries to get the learning journal process right. Children this age aren't used to writing as much (or in as much detail) as learning journals demand.
For example:
In this first entry, the student needs to do more work. While they did name things that they learned in the lesson, they did not explain or show examples of the material we covered.
This second entry shows what was covered in the lesson and gives enough information that the student is reviewing the material and shows some knowledge as to how to apply the information.
Though I don't often see teachers using learning journal entries in homework, as a tutor who sometimes sees students only twice (if not once) a week, learning journal makes sure that kids are looking at the material again sometime between when I taught the material and when I see them next. Parents can use learning journal assignments with their kids to see what their children are learning and how well children understand the material they are covering in class. Learning journal entries shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes and are a really great review for things like spelling tests (what spelling rules are you learning in this week's spelling words), grammar (what rules did we learn about sentence structure and plurals), etc. After assigning learning journal entries, I've found that students that complete the assignment not only retain more, but can apply they information they've written about better than students who don't complete their learning journal assignments.
For older students (in middle school and beyond), learning journal becomes less like a journal entry and more like a bullet journal for school material. Students can dedicate an entire notebook to their learning journal. With a table of contents and a color coding system for different subjects, learning journals become incredibly useful encyclopedias of school material.
A learning journal for higher level students will look somewhat like this:
If you are using a notebook specifically for learning journal entries, the bullet journal would be a good model for how to set up your learning journal notebook.
On the left, page, is a post-it note color coordinating classes so that difference in class subjects are easily distinguishable. Also, the sticky note shows an icon library to organize what kind of information is being written down. The categories are just a sample of what a student might use but can be adjusted to each individual student.
On the right page is an index of all the work/ material that you are putting in your learning journal. Using a table of contents makes it so that you will not longer have to flip through a notebook to find the material you are looking for. Instead, students will log page numbers on the bottom corners of their notebook pages so that they can find they information they are looking for quickly and easily.
This is what a full two page spread might look like. A header is written at the very top (and you can color coordinate the heading if you choose). On the sides of each page is a colored tab to show what subject the page is on. In this case, green is English. For this notebook, the margin of the first two lines of the notebook were colored green for English, the next two after that were blue for Music, the next to after that, pink for Math, and the last two were colored orange for French - in the same order that they were written on the Icon Library post-it note.
This creates a great effect on the outward sides of the pages so that you can see where each color is without opening the notebook. Because this is a mock learning journal (used to show these techniques), there aren't enough pages to show the full effect of the color coding system. But, you can begin to see from this picture that certain pages are obviously distinguishable in color and subject.
As you can see, learning journal would be a great tool for reviewing before exams as all of the information is easily accessible and the material should be precise. Learning journals really are a great tool for review. They SHOULD NOT be used as a notebook for taking notes in at school but more as a review book for material you covered in school.
Please let me know if you use learning journals or if you would like a more detailed post about what learning journals are and how they should be used. Or let me know if you would like me to post more pictures of what learning journals should be like for either age group.
Hope you guys have a great Halloween.
Happy Studying!
How does it work?
For younger students (ages 5-10) it works very much like a journal entry. For these students, who are less likely to review material on their own, learning journal assignments force them to look at the material we've covered and go through it again in their own words. I tell students to write me an entry telling me about three (out of the many things) we've covered in the day's lesson. They must explain rules of new concepts in as much detail as they can (for things like grammar and spelling) and patterns they've learned or picked up on (in things like reading comprehension - for example, that the moral of fables is often the last sentence in the story). All of the topics they choose to write about must use examples and if they choose, they can also write about how they feel about the material - if they thought it was hard or if they like it or not.
Keep in mind that with this age group, it may take a few tries to get the learning journal process right. Children this age aren't used to writing as much (or in as much detail) as learning journals demand.
For example:
In this first entry, the student needs to do more work. While they did name things that they learned in the lesson, they did not explain or show examples of the material we covered.
This second entry shows what was covered in the lesson and gives enough information that the student is reviewing the material and shows some knowledge as to how to apply the information.
Though I don't often see teachers using learning journal entries in homework, as a tutor who sometimes sees students only twice (if not once) a week, learning journal makes sure that kids are looking at the material again sometime between when I taught the material and when I see them next. Parents can use learning journal assignments with their kids to see what their children are learning and how well children understand the material they are covering in class. Learning journal entries shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes and are a really great review for things like spelling tests (what spelling rules are you learning in this week's spelling words), grammar (what rules did we learn about sentence structure and plurals), etc. After assigning learning journal entries, I've found that students that complete the assignment not only retain more, but can apply they information they've written about better than students who don't complete their learning journal assignments.
For older students (in middle school and beyond), learning journal becomes less like a journal entry and more like a bullet journal for school material. Students can dedicate an entire notebook to their learning journal. With a table of contents and a color coding system for different subjects, learning journals become incredibly useful encyclopedias of school material.
A learning journal for higher level students will look somewhat like this:
On the left, page, is a post-it note color coordinating classes so that difference in class subjects are easily distinguishable. Also, the sticky note shows an icon library to organize what kind of information is being written down. The categories are just a sample of what a student might use but can be adjusted to each individual student.
On the right page is an index of all the work/ material that you are putting in your learning journal. Using a table of contents makes it so that you will not longer have to flip through a notebook to find the material you are looking for. Instead, students will log page numbers on the bottom corners of their notebook pages so that they can find they information they are looking for quickly and easily.
This is what a full two page spread might look like. A header is written at the very top (and you can color coordinate the heading if you choose). On the sides of each page is a colored tab to show what subject the page is on. In this case, green is English. For this notebook, the margin of the first two lines of the notebook were colored green for English, the next two after that were blue for Music, the next to after that, pink for Math, and the last two were colored orange for French - in the same order that they were written on the Icon Library post-it note.
This creates a great effect on the outward sides of the pages so that you can see where each color is without opening the notebook. Because this is a mock learning journal (used to show these techniques), there aren't enough pages to show the full effect of the color coding system. But, you can begin to see from this picture that certain pages are obviously distinguishable in color and subject.
As you can see, learning journal would be a great tool for reviewing before exams as all of the information is easily accessible and the material should be precise. Learning journals really are a great tool for review. They SHOULD NOT be used as a notebook for taking notes in at school but more as a review book for material you covered in school.
Please let me know if you use learning journals or if you would like a more detailed post about what learning journals are and how they should be used. Or let me know if you would like me to post more pictures of what learning journals should be like for either age group.
Hope you guys have a great Halloween.
Happy Studying!
