Journal prompts may ask student to reflect by asking,
· "What you already know about ......",
· “What was the clearest point we made today? What was the foggiest point? "
· “If you had to restate the concept in your own terms, how would you do that?”
· “How was what we did today related to what we did yesterday?”
Students can recap a text, identify main ideas & key details, write lab notes, and questions. Journal writing may also be used to record a student’s thinking/problem solving process. Finally a journal may also be used to record other writing to learn strategies such as a T-Chart, Venn diagram, or Frayer Model.
When students are writing in their journals it is a perfect time for teachers to formatively assess. Reading over students shoulders to determine - How many students get it? What content are the students still struggling with? Who can I help right now? Such questions give a snapshot of class progress, strengths and needs.
Extension – Alternatives for Evaluating WTL Assignments
http://wac.colostate.edu/intro/pop4d.cfm
· Use different colored pens or highlighters to note points in selected entries. One color means "good idea," one means "consider pursuing this idea as a paper topic," another means "come back to this idea again and explore it in more detail," and so on.
· While students are writing at the beginning and end of class, walk around the room and read over shoulders. This technique is especially easy if you have students writing on computers. Stop to talk to or jot a note on the writing of 3-4 students. If students don't like having you read over shoulders, ask them to select a few recent WTL activities and put those to one side for you to collect and read quickly.
· Ask students to select their best or most provocative WTL writing for you to review.