What goes at the top of the journal page?
Add the date and title
Every journal entry needs to begin with the date and a title.
Add a learning intention
Often in maths, we begin the lesson by letting children know what mathematical concept they are going to learn that day. We give them the learning intention or the ‘We Are Learning to’ (WALT) to record at the top of their page.
A journal title is similar to a WALT but instead of telling learners the mathematical concept, the journal title comes from the learner and will reflect what they think they have been learning during the lesson.
Set expectations
However, we can’t expect learners to just know how to write a journal title. We do need to model and make them aware of what we expect. A good journal title should reflect the mathematical idea the lesson has focused on. Journal titles offer insight into a learners level of understanding of the concept.
Maths journal title examples
Take the following maths journal title examples from Maths — No Problem! NZ Textbook 2A, Chapter 7, Lesson 6 (the Explore task).
If a child’s journal title for this question is:
- “Subtract from 10”: This might suggest the child has understood the mathematical concept and they are able to use formal mathematical language.
- “Taking away logs”: This might suggest the child has understood the mathematical concept but they are using informal mathematical language.
- “Amira and her logs”: This might suggest the child is not making the link between the mathematical idea and the context of the problem.