perspectives in Education and Deafness

Journals and Logs

Science, Conversation, and Writing

Journals and Logs

Students write logs or journals to record, explore, and reflect on personal response to science, math, social studies, deaf culture, or other academic area. The adult reads and responds to the journals regularly. Both the student and adult monitor individual development and progress.

In the nest were six finch eggs, along with the adult birds, Alexis and Joe. One morning Trisha, a nine-year-old student at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, in Washington, DC, noticed a big change in the cage. Trisha wrote in her class's "finches' journal:"

I excited because Alexis get baby but I am not happy because Alexis or Joe kick one egg fall then in egg is dead.

Later that morning, Trisha shared her entry with the other children and adults in her class. They could see what happened, too. Four eggs remained, one was smashed on the floor of the cage, and one had hatched into a baby bird. Trisha was able to share her discovery with her classmates via writing—exactly as her teacher had hoped.

Journals and logs provide a forum for students to record what they read, write, observe, discuss, do, and think (Parsons, 1994). Just like dialogue journals (Bailes, Searls, Slobodzian, and Staton, 1986), journals and logs are usually notebooks that students and adults use to write back and forth.

	ABOVE: Recorde Observations#151;A student writes down what she observes.

Journals provide an effective way to integrate learning across the curriculum. Deaf and hard of hearing children have used journals in math (Hartman, 1994; Schleper and Paradis, 1990), Deaf culture classes (Weinstock & Schleper, 1993), and literature (Welsh-Charrier, 1991). Journals and logs can be used in every class and in all subject areas. Here is a look at the use of logs in several effective science classes.

Journals are an effective way to integrate learning across the curriculum.

Science Logs

In one class, there is a guinea pig, a bunny, and finches. A basket of related books is near each animal, and a log and a pen in easy reach. Children, teachers, classroom assistants, and visitors write in the logs daily, and the logs are shared during class meetings. In each log there are pictures of the animal drawn by the children. There are observations and letters. There are photographs and written descriptions. Each book has its share of lists, too, like the list that recorded several possible names for the bunny. There are also graphs, like the graph that showed the projected number of finch eggs and the sex of the offspring.

"Want to Know" Journals

Every time a new unit begins, the students begin by listing what they know and what they want to learn about it. In one primary classroom, the questions concerned caterpillars:

• When will the caterpillars become butterflies?
• How do we get a caterpillar?
• Are some caterpillars deaf?
• How do we know if a caterpillar is happy or not?
• Can we take some caterpillars home?

Each of the questions was written out and placed in a bucket. Time was set aside for students to pick a question from the bucket and begin to research its answer. They recorded their findings in the journals. When the class got together as a group, we discussed what we learned from the journals.

Homework Journals

	ABOVE: High school science students explore levers.

Journals may be used to encourage students to write independently at home. In one science class, the children each received a chrysalis, a woven habitat created by a specific kind of caterpillar from which it will emerge as a butterfly. The children were instructed to take the chrysalis home with a journal. They were to write about what they saw and experienced. Predictably, writing flows individually from each child—sometimes in ways quite unanticipated—as the writing below shows.

	ABOVE: High school science students explore levers.

For Older Students

Older students can use journals and logs as well. In a physical science class, each student was expected to write a log of "End of Class Reflection." Darryl applied his knowledge of the states of matter to write:

My pencil is solid.

My favorite drink is punch. It is liquid.

I saw a car with black fumes, the fumes are gas.

His teacher looks at the logs daily, and when she thinks it is appropriate she adjusts her teaching to incorporate additional discussion, experimentation, or explanation the next day.

The same teacher also uses journals for students to interpret diagrams. One student cut out and pasted pictures in his journal to show what he had just learned through experience. Again the teacher monitored the logs to see how students understood the science behind the experiments, and occasionally adjusted her teaching accordingly.

Whether one calls the interactive notebook a journal or a log is unimportant. These exchanges, growing and remaining in a single location and representing thoughts and insights of teachers and students, set children on the path to life-long learning—exactly the appropriate direction.

BELOW: A bit of humor—one student offers a comment in the form of a cartoon.

Thanks to teachers Trish Ross and Janice Smith Warshaw who allowed me to observe and participate in their classrooms.