Writing, Journals

& Exit Slips

There are few activities that can trump journal writing for understanding and supporting the development of student thinking. Journaling turbo-charges curiosity. The legendary Toby Fulwiler, author of The Journal Book, writes, "Without an understanding of who we are, we are not likely to understand fully why we study biology rather than forestry, literature rather than philosophy. In the end, all knowledge is related; the journal helps clarify the relationship."

Thinking Strategies - Consolidate - Writing, Journals & Exit Slips.pdf

Journals, Learning Logs & Interactive Notebooks

ESL: Journal Writing: The Incredible ESL Tool You'll Wish You Started Using Earlier

Blog post: Middle School Music Writing Prompts

Current Events Journal: Posing the question, “What do you think about this?” on the cover, students can be given a current event for the week and write responses to the article. This is a great way for students to express opinion and learn how to back up the opinion with supportive facts from the article. How would they respond? What should be done? Concepts such as planning and organizing steps are taught and practiced in this journal.

Dialogue Journal: This is a journal that goes back and forth between student and teacher or between peers a number of times. It creates an ongoing conversation that is richer and allows for divergent perspectives, rather than a one-sided reflection.

Math Journal: A math journal is great tool for defining math terms, listing steps to solving specific problems, writing out word problems and how to solve the problems (again organizing thoughts and listing steps is practiced). Illustrations and charts are added to help the problem solving process. At the end of each math unit, students can respond to prompts such as 'The hardest concept to learn in this unit was _____ because _____.'

Science Journal: Transform an every day composition notebook into a scientific method journal where students can keep science notes, lab activities, reflective thoughts on lessons, and answer those challenging “what if” questions. The journal can also serve as a data tracker for those experiments where you monitor progress over a period of time, such as watching a seed grow.

Sources: http://www.teachhub.com/student-journal-activities-all-subjects

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr144.shtml

More Journal Ideas: 20 Types Of Learning Journals That Help Students Think

An Efficient Journal Response Strategy

Premised on the notion that students should assess their own writing, Terri Van Sickle teaches her classes to use a rich and organic process of open-ended reflection that works well as a culminating journal activity.

Whether your students write in daybooks, two entry notebooks, or academic journals, you can use the following instruction sheet to help students self-reflect.

Journal Coding

Assignment Introduction: The following questions will help you to deeply examine the thinking, interactions, exercises, and writing you have experienced over the course of the semester.

1. Reading and Marking: Read through your entire journal. Identify and star (*) 10 passages that seem most significant to you as a learner of the subject matter in this course. You might choose an entry that was written when you were thinking on all cylinders, discovering something revelatory, engaging in higher order thinking, struggling with an idea that was only partially formed, or experiencing confusion. Maybe you were able to transcend the classroom conversations and texts to come up with an original idea. These ten passages should be as varied as possible and make generalizations that provide a full portrait of you as a learner of this course's content. Next, double star (**) five of the passages most significant to you. Why did you choose these five sections? What generalizations can you make about you as a writer and learner?

2. Letter to Reader: Write a letter to your reader, describing the items you starred and explaining how and why you chose them. Also, reflect on the following:

a. What was the most persuasive or convincing argument introduced in this class?
b. What could you relate to the most in class or in the readings? Why?
c. Was there an argument or position taken in class or in the readings with which you strongly disagreed? Explain your reaction.
d. What do you think was the most important point or central concept communicated this semester?
e. If you could do this semester over again more successfully, what would you do differently? Why?

3. Final Check: Is your name, class, and date written on the cover? Make sure your journal has a complete table of contents, page numbers on every page, and that each entry is dated. If you were absent on a day when we used journals in class, enter "absent" next to the date.

I allow a full class period or more for students to follow these instructions. Many adolescents wrestle with critical reflection and therefore may need more individual help or modeling.

By primarily focusing my commentary on students' starred passages and reflective letters, I acquire a snapshot of the students' understanding of course content and save 3-4 hours on every set of 30 semester-length journals. Even though I only collect journals one time per semester, I can meet students' eyes, knowing that I haven't neglected journal segments that they wanted me to read.

Source: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-journals-efficient-teacher-responses

Writing Assignments & Journals Within the Curriculum

Exit Slips

Write down two things you learned today.
Pretend your friend was absent from class today and s/he asks you to explain the lesson. What would you tell him/her?
Write down one question you have about today’s lesson.
Write down one thing I can do to help you.
What concept has been most difficult/confusing this chapter?
What do you need to do to prepare for the upcoming test?
What would you like me to review tomorrow?
What is the most important thing we learned today?
How did today’s quiz go? What can you do to improve next time?
If you were writing a quiz over today’s material, what are 2 questions that you would put on it?

Source: https://teach4theheart.com/10-exit-slip-prompts-that-will-work-for-any-class/