Journal

Student teachers are required to keep a journal of significant events and experiences during student teaching. The journal is an ongoing narrative in which daily entries reflect the student teacher’s increased awareness of:

His or her students’ developmental levels, needs, characteristics, and interests

His or her students’ learning

His or her own personal and professional development

The effectiveness of particular teaching strategies

The impact of the classroom context, both the general context and daily occurrences

The impact of pedagogical principles on student learning.

Your journal is not just a place to record what happened, but an opportunity to reflect on why things in your classroom happen—why students learn or do not learn, why they behave in particular ways, and why learning or behavior differ from student to student or hour to hour. It is also a place to reflect on your own growth—what you are learning about yourself as a teacher, how your classroom practice reflects your beliefs, your understanding or beliefs continue to develop. Some days your journal entries will be brief; some days they will be more elaborated. They should document the development of your thinking as a beginning teacher. You may find it helpful to focus each day’s reflections on a single lesson, topic, student, or event.

No one expects your journal to reflect constant successes. Some of the most important learnings in student teaching occur when beginning teachers analyze why something did not go as planned. Your journal will be evaluated on your ability to reflect on and analyze your experiences. You should be able to reflect on the the learning and reactions of your students in terms of:

• content you teach,
• the pedagogical principles you have learned
• your beliefs and characteristics as a teacher
• the needs and characteristics of the students you teach
• and the context in which you are working.

In general, your journal will be assessed using the following criteria. You must attain at least an Analysis (2) level in order to pass this student teaching requirement.

Description (1)	Analysis (2)	Reflection
Journal is primarily description. The writer tells what occurred and how he or she reacts to it but does not make ties to pedagogical principles.	Journal includes descriptions of what occurred and reflections that explain events using pedagogical principles. Knowledge of teaching and learning is used to understand experiences, adapt, and improve.	Journal includes all aspects of an analytic (2) journal. In addition, the writer is able to make ties to specific aspects of the context or particular student characteristics for more complex, in-depth reflections.

Required Journal Activities

Your five required journal entries will require particularly careful analysis. These are designed to accompany your teaching unit and allow you to reflect carefully at each stage of the learning process. Required entries should be clearly marked in your journal so that they are easy for your supervisor to locate. Reflections need not be lengthy (1-2 pages each) but they should demonstrate your careful thinking about each key topic.

1. Analysis of the Teaching Context—Typically completed after 2 weeks of student teaching

This section of the journal should describe important information about your class. Describe the students and the community in which they reside. Discuss factors that may be relevant to your teaching. These include community factors (population, socio-economic profile, cultural make-up, etc), classroom factors (physical factors in the classroom, availability of technology, parent involvement, important routines), and student characteristics (age, gender, race, identified special needs). Identify at least two characteristics that will affect your unit planning.

2. Analysis of Teaching Outcomes—3 weeks before beginning unit

This section should help you think about how the content you will teach is important, as well as how you can help to make it important. Use specific examples from the content and outcomes you have selected to reflect on the following questions. You do not need to answer each question individually but should use them as guides to help you consider whether you have selected your unit content and goals wisely.

• Why are the key concepts and modes of inquiry to be taught important? You may relate the content to state or national standards and/or explain how the content and skills are central to the discipline or important for future studies.
• Are there common misconceptions or distortions your unit should clarify? Are there groups of people whose contributions to a time or discipline may be neglected?
• What affective or social outcomes will be addressed and why are they appropriate for this class?
• Why the unit content is important for these students--how does it relate to their lives? How can your unit content be used to address needs of particular groups, dispel racism, sexism, classism, or other forms of inequity?

3. Analysis of Preassessment—3-7 days before beginning unit

After completing your preassessment, use this section to reflect on what it means. Start with the grid (or other strategy you have developed) to display information about each student’s performance on the preassessment (this will be part of your teaching unit). Describe your class’ performance on the preassessment as a whole and how the results will influence your planning based on the results. Note students whose responses caused to you believe they may struggle with material and describe needed adaptations you anticipate (use first names only). If you had students who already knew much of your unit content, describe what you did to determine the extent of their knowledge of your topic and what kinds of adaptations you may need for them.

4. Reflection on Lesson Plans—3-7 days before beginning unit

Examine your draft lesson plans. Reflect on how your planned unit will help all students succeed. Consider questions such as the following. Again, you need not respond to individual questions but should reflect on how well your unit is designed to help all students learn.

• Have I planned lessons to teach key concepts and generalizations that will be appropriate for multiple learning styles and intelligences? The more important the concept, the more ways there should be to learn it.
• Have I planned lessons that require higher level thinking, creativity, and problem solving?
• How will the unit promote substantive conversation and collaboration among students?
• Have I planned lessons with ties to the world outside the classroom?
• Have I considered the needs of students with disabilities as well as students with exceptional strengths in the area being studied? Will everyone have the opportunity to learn?
• Have I planned lessons that will accommodate and challenge learners across gender, ethnicity, social class and family structure?
• How will the unit enhance cross-cultural relationships?

If you complete this reflection and determine that your unit needs refining, comment on how you will adapt your original plans.

5. Analysis of Student Learning—1 week after completing unit

Use this section to prepare for the learning analysis section of your unit.. Use these questions to guide your reflections.

Group Analysis

• What are two or three areas where satisfactory progress was made by the class as a whole? What did you do to help students make this progress?
• What are one or two areas of unsatisfactory progress by the class as a whole? What might have kept students from making progress in this area? What might you have done to help them make more progress? Why do you think that might help?

Individual Student Analysis

• How closely did the student’s progress match the learning goal? Why do you think he or she did or did not meet the goal?

Self Analysis

• What insights can you gain about your teaching (strengths and weaknesses) that can be used to help other students in the future?