Using Student Learning Logs

In middle school it can be a challenge to help students learn to keep papers organized. As with everything else, students come to our classes with varying levels of readiness and organizational skills. I have learned that sometimes keeping things simple in the classroom helps to keep students organized and helps them learn to take responsibility for their make-up work and reduces the amount of missing work. Learning logs, interactive student notebooks, whatever you choose to call them, helped keep my students organized and helped me to feel in control of the dreaded paper-pile-monster that most language arts teachers know well.

Here is the way that I use learning logs in the classroom:

1. Students use logs daily, it is a part of a routine
2. Useful information goes into the learning log
3. The learning log is assessed regularly with a clear rubric, however the task is less onerous for the teacher, because assignments are spot checked. 
4. Students know where to get the learning log for the day if they are absent. This helps them to keep organized and builds responsibility. 

By following these four simple criteria, you can make learning logs work efficiently and effectively in your classroom. 

My student's learning logs consists of a sturdy spiral notebook. Students are required to come to class with this notebook daily and they understand that it is the primary tool that they will use to record their learning. Each day, as a start-up, students are required to copy the following into their learning log:

• Learning Goal
• Essential Question
• Word of the Day
• Reading Minute
• Agenda

If the learning goal and essential question are the same for a few days, I do let students write "continued" in these fields. I don't want the task to be overly taxing. I have found that this approach helps students take ownership of their learning logs--they see this piece as a useful tool. The word of the day is a "big-time bonus word" that I select. Big-time bonus words are a part of our word wall and are reviewed daily as a summary activity. This is a very powerful vocabulary strategy that helps students own the words. Students are required to write a short, in their own words definition of the word of the day after we review and discuss its meaning. I will usually show students a picture that relates to the word's meaning and then share the definition via Vocabulary.com and go over a few example sentences. Students only write a definition, which keeps things simple. 

Next, students write a one sentence summary of the day's reading minute. If you are not familiar with the reading minute strategy, I highly recommend you follow the link to read more about it. I have found it to be a very powerful tool in the classroom. After the first month of school, I have given students control of the reading minute. Each student is assigned a day, and on their assigned day, read a carefully selected, short excerpt. Students then write a one sentence summary in their learning logs. Hint- I still keep Mondays to deliver the reading minute myself, this way I have some room in the schedule if kids are absent and I am still modeling the process. I provide students with a rubric and model daily within the first month, to help ensure that student selections are valuable. Our goal is to look at powerful language and I have been very impressed by the passages that students have selected. 

The next item that students write in their leaning logs is the agenda in brief. I have this posted daily, and I feel that it is helpful for students to have a record of this. It helps them to remember important assignments as well as empowers them to be good citizens in the classroom, helping peers who may have missed a day. 

This start-up is something that I do in a simple PowerPoint template and the whole process of logging and then reviewing takes 10 minutes. I teach for a 90 minute daily block, so I find this routine to be very efficient and valuable for students. I upload the daily PowerPoint to our class Edmodo page in a folder called "Learning Logs" so that students can easily make up work if they are absent. Since the agenda is on the log, they can easily see what they missed--no more "Miss, did we do anything in class yesterday" when kiddos return from an absence. 

After the daily start-up, students use the learning log to take notes on mini-lessons, tape foldables, record work done in literacy centers, and respond to questions at the end of a text. By keeping all of these materials in one place, students are able to keep themselves organized. 

I will be sure to upload some sample rubrics in my next post and discuss ways to work smarter not harder when it comes to formative assessment.

Have you used learning logs or interactive notebooks in the classroom? What are some of the efficiencies that you have created? How have these systems helped your students?