Learning Logs and Writing to Learn: Kids’ Brains Benefit!

Not everyone is a writer, and many of my advanced students say they hate writing. But the brain is activated in a different way and learning is enhanced when a student writes, sketches, or even doodles by hand rather than texting or typing.

Three things encouraged me to have my students create learning logs : (1) what I learned from the book shown here,(2) the desire to give students meaningful open-ended tasks that allowed for choice (in the same way that Genius Hour or Passion Projects do), and (3) the realization that as I prepared lessons, I was often spending more time researching and learning than my students were!

At the time of this writing, schools are closing due to a global pandemic, and many teachers are scrambling to create digital experiences for students. Here’s an assignment that is ongoing, requires very little preparation, is easily adaptable to suit your needs, and opens up the world to your students! Depending on what you usually do with students, this could be just one assignment among several that you send. If you’d like to try it, here’s a slide show you can use to introduce learning logs to your students.

A learning log can be many things, but essentially it is a journal in which students record what they are learning through notes, sketches, doodles, etc. St. John’s Primary School in London has used learning logs with all students, and on their website, they explain why:

Children take the lead role in sharing and developing their knowledge and understanding and displaying this in a range of styles.  They are not constrained by a worksheet or limited to what they can show of their understanding of a topic. The children can learn in their preferred style.  They can write words, phrases or sentences, draw pictures, add labels and captions, stick in photographs, type on the computer and stick the results in, add speech bubbles, post-it notes etc.  The possibilities are endless! Children are able to reflect on and illustrate their learning and their ability to learn in a variety of different styles. 

Learning log entries can be responses to many different kinds of prompts and tasks! They can be as open-ended as you’d like, capitalizing on students’ personal interests, or they can require certain kinds of entries daily. A quick Pinterest search will spark many ideas! For advanced students, we want to encourage the use of higher-level thinking tools in any task we assign, but sometimes it’s nice to allow for greater student choice and exploration.

You can create a PADLET or other shared page to deliver prompt ideas. Here is a LIST OF SAMPLE LEARNING LOG ENTRY IDEAS to get you started. If you log in to PADLET, you can copy and revise it to suit your needs. Create another PADLET as a collaborative learning log and students could share about their learning with one another. You might even set it up to allow commenting and reacting so that students could give one another feedback, ask questions, and have limited conversations about their discoveries.

If your students are familiar with them, you might incorporate the tools of depth and complexity in your prompts. By adding links, you can guide students into the specific types of research or online activity you’d like them to do, then have them record entries reflecting how their learning time was spent. A learning log can also be a fantastic accompaniment to any project (e.g. Genius Hour, science fair, STEM activities).

Learning logs promote lifelong learning. Writing has helped me process ideas when I’ve had a special project or was trying something for the first time. During the months that my students and I worked on a mini-museum for our school, this blog was my learning log!

Your thoughts. suggestions and ideas would be truly appreciated by subscribers, so please comment below if you can share about your experiences implementing Learning Logs in your classroom.