Math Journals

Here's some ideas I've saved:

For the beginning of each unit, do KWL (Know, Want to learn, and Learned) Students are very used to being able to verbalize and write about how they came up with a solution to a problem. Similar to the "Jeopardy" idea posted earlier, We often times to "Awesome Equations"... I give them a number and they brainstorm possible equations with that answer. Most of the time, I use the date. This is a quick 5-10 minute "warm-up"... We do these together in the beginning, but students also write them in their notebooks. As a change, we do "Super Story Problems". I have students come up with word problems with the answer.

Some other questions:

What was the easiest part about this assignment?

What was the most difficult part? Write questions similar to the problems we just did. What did you like best about this activity? Why? What did you like least about this activity? Why? What did you learn? What strategy did you use to solve the problem? How did you and your group go about solving the problem? (You can list steps, if that is helpful.)

Sometimes, kids aren't likely to "admit" when they found something

difficult, so I ask, "What do you think other kids would find confusing or difficult about this concept?"

Asking specific questions helps, such as: "How did you figure that out?" "What method/strategy did you use and why?" "How does this compare to the problem we solved . . . ?"

Topics:

1.I understand everything until I get to the part... 2.Another way I found to do this problem is... 3.Today, something new I learned... 4.I am still confused by... 5.I would like to know how... 6.Next time I _________, I plan to... 7.I learned/understand... 8.I think __________ is... 9.This problem is similar/different to______ because... 10.The (number) most important things I learned... 11.I feel confident/nervous about ___________ because... 12.I figured out this problem by... 13.A way I tried to solve this problem that didn't work out was...I think it didn't work because.. 14.The mathematical rule for this problem is... 15.I would explain this problem to a (different age group) by... 16.The thing I'm proud of myself for learning is... 17.The way I remember (how to) ___________ in my head is... 18.I'm wondering... 19.I know I'm right because... 20.It is easy/difficult for me... 21.I find it harder/easier to... 22.I was surprised... 23.The possible patterns/perimeters/solutions to this problem are... 24.The dimensions are... 25.My partner/group and I... 26.If I were to describe _________ to you... 27.The mathematical concept involved in this project... 28.I'm convinced that... 29.The information missing in this problem is... 30.The tricky part of this problem is... 31.The clue to look for... 32.For me, writing clues and solving them was... 33.The criterion I used... 34.The possibilities are... 35.It is more likely/least likely... 36.Chances are increased by... 37.The probability that... 38.A different way to solve this problem is... 39. Write 2 different ways to solve a problem (12 X 4 or 3 + 4)... 40..Write the steps 41.Define a word

Possible directions:

Date your journal. Number each section and skip lines between them. 1. Tell what your task was (include all parts). 2. Do your task, then tell how you got your answer-- use words and pictures, graphs, charts, etc. Describe the steps it took to get your answers. Show all work. 3. Tell what you learned. 4. How do you feel about this problem? Why? Did you enjoy doing this task? Was it difficult or easy? Is there something else you d like to learn, something you wonder about or want explained again?

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