Student Learning Diary.

  • A learning diary is a collection of notes, observations, and thoughts compiled by studentsover a period of time. Its purpose is to enhance student learning through the very process of thinking and writing about their learning experiences.
  • Why introduce this into the lesson? It provides an on-going picture of their understanding of maths. It illustrates to the teacher how student learning is developing, providing the teacher with a record of their thoughts and concerns as they learn. It supports the development of self-assessment, and as theymature, they begin to bemore reflective, thinking through issues, asking questions, seeking out the relevant information to assist understanding.
  • This student feedback proved to be invaluable in my lesson planning. For example students wrote that while able to complete a piece of work competently, they did not feel totally confident in their understanding and the reasons why.Although encouraged to express these concerns in class, some students were more comfortable recording these concerns in their diaries. The learning diarywould over time help them become more reflective and judgemental as they take on more responsibility for their learning.
  • I introduced thediary with a Year 7 mathematics class. The students were issued with a small notebook and during the final lesson of each weektime was given over to diary writing.Reminders were given concerning content and attention was given to literacy. They were asked to write about topics or activities of maths they had made progress in and why; where they felt they needed more practice; activities they enjoyed and why; what maths they had used in other subjects; any maths websites visited at home/school and inthe home works in other subjects.
  • Once the plenary had finished, approximately ten minutes was taken up by diarywriting. By the end of the spring term, some of the students completed the task in less time. Some students began to write about how their revision was going or questioning the relevance of a topic we had done. The diaries were kept in class, student comments were noted and grammatical errors corrected. I felt it was well worthwhile devoting this amount of time towards an activity which together with other strategies would support their development in literacy and as independent learners in key stages 3 & 4.
  • I believe a learning diary can over time become a more sophisticated tool during key stages 4/5 and post 16 studies. Students can use it as an aide memoire during self-reviewssupportingthem in developing a personal learning plan for GCSE and post 16 studies. It is an ideal starting point for discussion between student and teacher in identifying future student support.