Journals can be used to assess students' learning process and progress. They allow students to record observations, reflections, questions, and connections between new information and past experiences. Different types of journals include personal journals, dialogue journals, mathematics journals, reading response journals, and science journals. When evaluating journals, teachers can assess students' development in the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains using a scoring rubric.

2. What is Journal?
 A Journal is a tool that captures the
original idea of a student about topics of
interest and their feelings to wards them.
It provides students the opportunity to
make reflection on heir own world and
what is happening in their lives. It
documents their observations and
connects them with prior knowledge.

3. Purpose of Journal
 Journals provide students the opportunity
to actively engage in their own learning.
They help clarify and reflect on anything
that interest them. Students are free to
record interest thing or write about
interesting people. in doing so, journals can
assess individual development and
progress in the learning process. In other
words, they can assess process, product or
even both. Academic achievement is a
product of learning while metacognitive
strategies are included in the term process.

4. TYPES OF JOURNALS
 Journals can be classified into several
types depending on the purpose of the
students. They are as follows.
 1. Personal Journals
2. Dialogue Journals
3. Mathematics Journals
4. Reading Response Journal
5. Science Journals

5. PERSONAL JOURNAL
 Personal journals contain the feelings,
opinions, expressions, and ideas about
certain topic that catch student’s fancies

6. EXAMPLES OF EACH
JOURNALS A PERSONAL JOURNAL
 March 1
As I looked at the clouds. I saw different shapes of animals. People
faces and objects. Clouds are so fluffy. They’re so light as they move. I wish
I could ride on those clouds. I could travel around the world for free! Then I
would be very happy.
 March 2
Again I looked at the sky in the early morning. Clouds were like
feathers scattered across the blue sky. Who made these clouds? How did
they come about? I wonder.
 March 3
As I looked at the clouds again. I was amazed how they turned darker
and darker. Then suddenly rains fell. What happened to those dark clouds?
Probably. They became rain.
 March 4
We studied clouds in our science class. I learned that clouds are water
vapor that condensed in the sky. When clouds become heavy and dark they
fall as rain. This is what teacher ELLEN called precipitation.
the Different Shapes I see in the clouds are actually types of clouds.
The feathery – like clouds are cirrus clouds. Those like cotton balls are
cumulus clouds. Dark clouds that later fall as rain are called nimbus clouds.
Now I know a lot about clouds! I am thrilled to study more about clouds and
other wonders in the sky in the future.

7. A PERSONAL JOURNAL
 Did the writer of the journal included personal observation
about clouds? Remember that in an observation a student has
to use the senses: sight, hearing, touching, tasting and
smelling. What sense/s did the writer use in his/her
observation?
 Did the journal writer ask questions? What questions did
he/she ask about clouds? Did he/she make some speculation
about clouds? What are they?
 Did the write connect new information he/she learned in class to
his/her past experiences? what are these connections?
Journals are different from diaries. They include reflections,
observations, speculations, and connections between
experience and new information which are usually NOT found in
diaries. Diaries normally include what takes place in day-to-day
encounter with reality.

8. Dialogue Journals
 A dialogue journal is an ongoing
written interaction between two people
to exchange experiences, ideas, or
reflections. It is used most often in
education as a means of sustained
written interaction[ between students
and teachers at all education levels. It
can be used to promote second
language learning (English and other
languages) and learning in all areas.

9. Example of Dialogue
Journal July 6
Student A: Our teacher in English is an amazing teacher.
She could crack jokes that are clean and yet make us
laugh.
Student B: I agree with you. As she tells us clean funny
jokes her eyes seem to sparkle.
Student A: oh. I haven’t noticed that ! You’re so fascinating
with details.
Student B: You should read the body movements, too. It’s
interesting to study a person’s behavior.
Student A: So you’re interested in human behavior. Is that
what they call psychology?
Student B: Yes. It is.
Student A: Can you tell me more what you know about human
behavior?
Student B; Yes, But may be next time. Our English teacher

10. Dialogue Journal
 How is dialogue journal different from a
personal journal? In a dialogue journal, there
are at least two individuals interacting with one
another. In a personal journal only one person
is concerned. The dialogue journal is like an
oral conversation done in writing. So a
dialogue may be similar to a script in a play
(radio or stage). We learn a lot about what
things interest students, what they think about,
and how they feel about certain things. You will
notice that journals like these reveal a lot of
things about our students which paper-and-
pencil test cannot adequately assess.

11. Mathematics Journal
 These journals provide student with
opportunities to articulate their
mathematical ideas and re-examine
them by reviewing their output. They
record what students learn in solving
mathematical problems.

12. Example of Mathematics
Journal
 January 5
I cannot understand fractions. It seemed our teacher was
too fast in explaining things about dissimilar fractions. I cannot
subtract dissimilar fractions. Proof: I flunked our quiz!
 January 6
Today. Our teacher was so slow in explaining how to
subtract dissimilar fractions. She told us to find the least
common denominator (LCD) first. Then change fractions to
similar ones. When fractions become similar. It’s easy to
subtract the numerators. Then we merely copy the common
denominator to express our answer.
 January 7
Today. I passed the test! Thanks to the lesson well –
taught by the teacher. I think our teacher knew we did not
understand the lesson on the first day. The result of our short
test was a disappointment. On the second day, she explained
the lesson about subtraction of dissimilar fractions step – by –
step. To me that is good teaching. When every body

13. Mathematics Journal
 In our example, we learned that the
student knew how to subtract dissimilar
fraction. He/she could even write down
the steps involve in the process.
Journals like these can probe into the
process of learning which a multiple-
choice item fails to unfold. Remember
that authentic assessment does not
assess the product of learning only but
also the process of learning.

14. Response Journal
 Reading response journal record
student’s reactions to the books they
have read. They may contain entries like
comparisons and contrasts among
characters in the book comments on the
author's style, and questions that are not
answered in the book.

15. Reading Response Journal
 March 10
I have been reading harry potter and his
adventure in the chamber of secrets. I became
engrossed at the style of J.K Rowling's. No
wonder this book became a best – seller. The
characters seemed so real. As if the scenes
described in each chapter were like the ones
shown on the silver screen.
 march 11
I empathize with harry. His uncle, aunt, and
cousin were so mean to him, had they known harry
possess magical powers they would have been
extra kind to him.
 March 12
I liked Hermione a lot. She seems to be far
advance beyond her age. She knows many things
about magic. Is she a genius? I think she is!

16. Response Journal
 How did the writer react with the book
he/she is reading? did he/she react
positively or negatively? Did he/she
describe some of the characters in the
book? Did he/she commend on the
author’s style of writing? Did he/she ask
questions that are not answered in the
book?

17. SCIENCE JOURNAL
 These journal can incorporate student’s
ideas and opinions based on personal
observation and experiments conducted.
They can be made interesting by using
drawings, diagrams, and graphs

18. Example of SCIENCE
JOURNAL
 July 10
this was an exciting day. We performed our experiment in
science. First, we boiled the leaves until they became soft. Then
we transferred the boiled leaves onto a petri disk. We were
asked to observe what happened to the leaves. We observed
that the green color in leaves were almost gone. The leaves
turned pale. We learned that the green color in leaves is called
chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is found in leaves of green plants. It is
needed in photosynthesis.
 July 11
We learned the steps involved in the conduct of science
experiments. They are as follows: stating the problem, forming
hypothesis, performing the experiment, gathering information
about the problem, accepting or rejecting the hypothesis, and
doing something with the result of the experiment.
indeed, science experiments taught me how to think
systematically and logically. I also learned how to appreciate the
wonders of nature.

19. SCIENCE JOURNAL
 Did the writer incorporate his/her ideas
about the topic based on personal
observation and experiment? What kind of
assessment did the journal show?
Undoubtedly, the science journal assessed
both process and product of learning. The
journal can give a better assurance on the
part of the teacher that the student
acquired knowledge, attitude, skills, and
habits related to science.

20. Evaluating a Journal
 In evaluating a journal, we can use scoring
rubric. Using the scoring rubric below, try to
evaluate the sample journal on the slides.
 In using journals as assessment tool we
can detect what the student has learned in
terms of knowledge and skills (cognitive
and psychomotor domain) and what the
students feels(affective domain)
 To guide a teacher, the table bellow is
given to determine the cognitive,
psychomotor and affective learning of
his/her students