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Learning Logs

What is it?

One of the most effective means of writing-to-learn is keeping a learning log. Learning logs foster reflection on either text content or on students' reading and learning processes. Learning logs differ from journals in that they focus on content covered in class, not students' personal and private feelings. Students may reflect on how they feel, but it is always in relation to what is being studied in class.

How to use it:

1. Select the concept or process you want students to explore.

2. A learning log entry can be assigned at any time during class, depending upon the topic and your purpose. For example, you would assign the following topic in the middle of a reading assignment in class: Based upon what you have read thus far, explain whether your initial predictions about the story / passage were correct.

3. Assign the topic, and give students three to five minutes "think time" to consider their response.

4. Have students write for five minutes on the learning log topic.

5. You might have students reread their learning log entries at a later date and reflect on how their ideas have changed.

Possible learning log topics:

· Explain which pre-reading strategy we learned has made the most difference in your reading comprehension, and why.

· Which "fix-up" strategies do you use most often when you read? Explain how they have helped your comprehension.

· Advise a younger brother, sister, or friend on ways to stay focused when reading at home.

· Which of the textbooks you are using this year is the most difficult for you to understand? Analyze what it is about that particular text that makes it hard to comprehend.

· Which story or text passage we read during this unit have you found the most interesting? Explain your answer.

· One topic we have studied during this unit is ___________. Why do you think this topic has been included as part of this course?

· Write about the importance of _____________(an idea or concept students have read about) to the world in general, and to you in particular.

· Write about an idea or concept in the text that confuses you. What is it that you find particularly hard to understand? What could you do to gain a better understanding of this idea or concept?

· Summarize the text material we read in class today. Explain how it relates to or reminds you of information or skills you have learned elsewhere.

· Write a letter to the editor of the school paper in which you argue for or against a controversial issue we are studying or have studied this year.

· Write about an upcoming test or quiz. List the questions that you think might be asked, and develop answers for each.

· Consider how your opinions have changed as a result of what we have studied during this unit. How have class discussion, reading, or class activities influenced the way you think about the topic of the unit?

· Discuss what we have been reading with a specific audience- a teenager from another time period, a young child, a new student.

· Write a 30-second ad for station --- (the radio station you listen to most) in which you "sell" the listeners on the benefits of learning about an idea we have studied during this unit.

How could it be used in mathematics instruction?

* Before learning -to activate and assess prior knowledge

   · Why do we use rulers (or scales or other measuring devices )?

   · What do these symbols mean?

   · Describe instances when you use addition at home.

   · How is multiplication similar to addition?

   · Make a web to describe some uses of fractions.

* During learning -to help students identify how well they' understand what is being covered in class

   · Explain how you know that 7 + 3 = 11 -1.

   · How do you know what A story problem is asking you to do?

   · Write a story problem in which you need to calculate 5 x 7.

   · Find examples in our classroom of the geometric shapes we are studying.

   · Draw three pictures that demonstrate the concept of multiplication.

* After the lesson to help students reflect on their learning

   · I have trouble understanding

   · Write a note to a student who was absent from class and explain what was learned in class today about right triangles.

   · Write a note to your parents explaining how you know when a shape has a line of symmetry.

   · My favorite kind of story problem is. .

   · Explain how you could do the calculation 65- 19 in your head.

How could it be used in social studies instruction?

Having students write learning log entries is a strategy that can be used in any of the disciplines of social studies. It can be used as a part of any lesson. Writing activities can spark students' thinking about a concept. Writing can be incorporated to help students organize their learning about a concept as they collect information. Summarizing through writing can help students know if they really understand a concept. Writing also can be a way to self-assess as students reflect on what they have learned.

* Learning Log Examples related to Social Studies

   · Which of the textbook chapters we have read so far this year has been the most difficult for you to understand? Analyze what it was about that particular chapter that made it hard to comprehend.

   · Which historical character from this unit did you find the most interesting? Explain your answer.

   · Art has been a major topic during this unit on Italy. Why do you think this topic has been the focus of so much of our text?

   · The idea of mental maps is often confusing to students when they first hear it. Do you find this concept difficult to understand? What could you do to gain a better understanding of this idea? How could you teach this concept to others?

   · Summarize the text material we read in class today. How does it connect and build on what we studied earlier in the week?

   · Write a letter to the editor of the school paper, or to another local paper, in which you argue for or against a controversial issue we have studied in class.

   · Write about an upcoming test. List the questions that you might be asked, and develop answers for each.

   · Consider how your perspective has changed as a result of what we have studied during this unit. How has learning about how others perceive things influenced the way you think about this topic?

   · Summarize what you have learned about how industrialization impacts cities.

   · Explain in your own words how a bill becomes a law.

How could it be used in science instruction?

Learning log entries can, and should, be incorporated across science lessons. Writing activities can engage students' thinking about a concept. Writing can be incorporated to help students explore a concept as they collect data. Formulating explanations through writing can help students know if they really understand a concept. Students can use writing to elaborate on a concept. Writing can be used as a way to self-evaluate as students reflect on what they have learned.

Learning Log Assignment Examples related to science content

* Engage

   · Why do you think flowers are important?

   · Think of an animal. Draw and/or describe its habitat and the specific resources (food, water, shelter, and space) that your animal might need.

   · List as many primary consumers as you can.

   · If you place an unpeeled orange in a container of water, do you think it will sink or float? On what do you base your prediction?

* Explore

   · Draw a diagram of your plant and describe how it looks today.

   · Draw a diagram of your plant and label these parts: roots, stem, leaves, and flower.

   · What attributes or characteristics did you use to classify your objects?

   · As you read about the solar system, use the PLAN strategy to organize your understandings.

* Explain

   · Explain how the experiment you did yesterday relates to what you just read.

   · Explain in your own words how energy is transferred from the sun to a green plant.

   · Explain in your own words why the bulb lights up in this arrangement of batteries, bulbs, and wires.

   · Diagram and explain the relative positions of the sun, moon, and Earth in order to see a full moon from Earth.

* Elaborate

   · Create a food chain consisting of the sun, a producer, a primary consumer, a secondary consumer, and either a scavenger or a decomposer.

   · Describe other examples of the water cycle that you have seen.

   · Where else have you seen examples of the topic you just read about?

   · Develop a graphic organizer that illustrates your understanding of germination based on what you have done and what you have read.

* Evaluate

   · Write about what you have learned during this unit. These terms may help you organize your thoughts: force, push, pull, gravity, magnetism, motion, friction, work, and energy.

   · Recall what you have learned during this unit. These terms may help you organize your thoughts: sun, moon, Earth, new,.full, gibbous, waning, waxing, solar eclipse, and lunar eclipse.

   · Summarize what you have learned from your reading about simple machines.

   · Summarize what you have learned about incomplete metamorphosis and complete metamorphosis.