Journaling allows students to express their reasoning and identify and correct their mistakes, leading to deeper conceptual understanding. Journaling can be helpful for students to annotate their work, share problem-solving strategies, and reflect on what they've learned. By reading the journals, teachers identify incomplete learning and see where they can best assist the students. Journaling templates are available in English and Spanish for students in Grade 3 and up.
Journaling is important because it provides a measure of accountability and a place for students to express mathematical reasoning. It also allows students to practice using the language of math.
Journaling is the number-one way to reduce passive clicking by students and help increase their pass rates on Imagine Math lessons.
When students fill out the Guided Learning organizer, they should always include the lesson name and item number in the heading. This way, you can look up the item in the program in order to further assist your students. You can also preview the entire lesson.
Make sure your students know that you will review their journals on a regular basis. How often you review journals is up to you, but Imagine Learning recommends reviewing them more frequently in the beginning while students are still getting familiar with the process and what is expected of them. A rubric for evaluating journal entries is at the end of the Math Journaling Teacher Lesson Plan.
To access the journaling resources:
- Log in to Imagine Math.
- In the Content section of the left navigation pane, click Teacher Resources.
- In the Category filter, select Math Journaling.
- Click on the title of a resource to open it; then download it or print it, as applicable.
Recommendation
For students, different journaling templates are available for the Guided Learning and the End of Lesson organizers. Select Math Journaling (All Student Masters) to get both templates in a single file.