Learning Targets and Daily Work Logs

I have been working with the concept of our daily work log for a while now, but I was not implementing it in a way that was truly beneficial. My first iteration asked students to list what they planned to accomplish in a given class period (based on my mini-lesson and assignments). Too often, there wasn’t enough to warrant a list, or teaching how to break down a task into smaller parts was more time-consuming than I had planned (such as breaking down the parts of planning and drafting an analysis paragraph). Also, I was more concerned with working one-on-one during workshop rather than critiquing the work log.

Now, I have fine-tuned that process a bit more.

I create a Google Doc that I share with all students, and on it, I include the chart above (with as many dates as I estimate a unit of study will take.

Then, I create a column for daily reading reflection, another for our daily learning targets, another for a quick check on if students are “on-target,” and a final for students to leave notes on deadlines (even when I do accept late work).

READING JOURNAL

The first 15 minutes of class is devoted to self-selected independent reading. At the close of that, I have been providing students about five minutes to reflect on their reading. However, I’ve noticed many of my students (if they don’t shirk this request completely) relied on summarizing, even when encouraged to review our literary elements we’d studied. So, I now have a view-only Google Doc linked at the top of the column with prompts to inspire reflection:

We will add to these prompts as we progress through the course. Some days, I’ll request students respond to a specific prompt, but most days I will ask students to self-select a prompt. Reading journals are not graded but will be used as evidence in grading conferences for our independent reading standards.

DAILY LEARNING TARGET

While using flexible deadlines, I found that too many of my sophomore students were not accustomed to budgeting their own time. I have since decided to set deadlines but still accept “late” work. This fits my philosophy while also providing structure. To assist students, I now post a daily learning target in a Google Doc where students visit each day to copy-and-paste the target in their own Daily Work Log. This target usually notes where most students should be at the end of the workshop period—it may be a finished product, a specific part of planning, or a percentage of something completed. This allows us to focus on process and also then informs what may need to be completed during our daily tutorial period or at home before the next class period starts.

At the end of a class period, I now ask students to type Y (for “Yes”) or N (for “No”) if they are “on-target” with workflow. If they are, their only outside-of-class work is to continue reading their self-selected novels. If the answer is “No,” then they know what needs to be completed prior to our next class meeting. As we begin to focus more on work habits, this on-going chart will serve as a point of reflection. The student may not be on-target because they just need more time, but they may also be off-target due to voluntary behaviors (talking rather than working) that can be adjusted.

DUE DATES

The final column is utilized for students to keep track of due dates of assignments (which are guided by the learning targets and worked on during workshop time). Since I have access to edit the Daily Learning Targets document, I can add deadlines as necessary for students to transfer their document (so it could change from my initial plans or class-to-class if necessary).

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

Our work here in the Daily Work Log with reading journals, learning targets, and due dates are attempts to provide students with a scaffold to help them budget their own time and control their own learning. I will be implementing grading conferences for a few of my learning standards this semester (while maintaining a standards-based-like grading structure for everything else), and this Work Log will help us gather information. Ideally, I will be adding hyperlinks for each student to keep track of their learning in specific standards here… but I’m not there yet!