Examining the Teacher Experience

1. In the past I had my students incorporate a journaling section into their science notebooks. At that time, their notebooks were three ring binders and pretty much a collection of handouts, quizzes, tests, labs, bell ringers, etc. Students would answer a daily bell ringer question in the journal section of their notebooks. This question usually either reviewed the previous day's lesson and checked for student understanding or it introduced the topic for the day and assessed their prior knowledge. I am looking forward to trying many of the ideas suggested in this class for science journals when I'm back in the classroom next year.

2. Some characteristics of good journal entries include:

• legibility
• organization
• show understanding and insight into the concept
• continually reflecting upon previous entries and adding to them/revising them
• include title, question, hypothesis, some form of data or information collected, and a summary
• include vocabulary
• have drawings/diagrams/use color

3. Some characteristics of not so good journal entries include:

• lack organization
• lack framework under which each investigation should be set up (title, question, hypothesis, data or information, summary, etc.)
• show no reflection
• show no understanding or insight into the concept

4. Students could be assisted in creating good journal entries by the teacher first explaining the expectations for journal entries and then modeling them. As students begin to journal, the teacher should share anonymous examples of journal entries for students to critique. The teacher could also provide immediate feedback in the form of a stamp on a particular page and on occasion take a bit more time to guide students' thinking by writing questions in their journals.