When my students are not successful at something I have to look at what I did to teach and where I fell short. For years I gave my students spirals and just expected them to be able to take notes or journal effectively. I was always amazed how they just wasted paper and drew pictures all over the journal. So the large class science journal was born. (it is just a spiral tablet - with no lines - turned on it's side)
I use a science journal because so much of science is experiments and the journal helps remind me to bring the experiment into learning. As the class discusses why we did the experiment and what we learned, I journal. Over time I have also began to add worksheets or experiment note pages into the journal as well.
I realized that I needed to model note taking and journaling over and over before I ever expected my students to do it themselves. And since I use the gradual release of responsibility in the content I teach, I applied it to this as well. I continue to journal science experiments and learning throughout the year. But after weeks of modeling I then allow the students to get their own learning journals. The first few entries are guided and still modeled in the large science journal. After I feel like they have an understanding of the journal, I allow more freedom.
Sometimes I want a learning journal that is not just for science. I have a separate journal for any other topic I want to journal.
The spirals the students have are labeled as Learning Journals because I want them to be able to track any subject in there. They work well for foldables (my district seems to be in love with these), notes, and worksheets. Usually if you shrink a worksheet in half then you can get two per copy (you know principals love less copies) and they fit perfectly inside of the learning journal.
