Learning Journal Prompts

As you are documenting your progress in this class, you will be reflecting on different aspects of the assignments. Here are some prompts to lead you into that reflection. You certainly do not need to answer every question when reflecting on each assignment. However, I would expect that you would write about at least one question from each group below, using complete sentences and appropriate grammar. You do not have to number the questions. Some questions will not apply to every assignment. It is more beneficial for you to do this frequently throughout the trimester. Trying to do it all at the end is not going to be helpful. You should be supporting your thoughts as much as possible with appropriate imagery and visuals, whatever that means to you.




GROUP A - Backward Looking:
  1. How much did you know about the subject before we started?
  2. What process did you go through to produce this piece?
  3. Have you done a similar kind of work in the past (earlier in the year or in a previous grade; in school or out of school?)
  4. In what ways have you gotten better at this type of work?
  5. In what ways do you think you need to improve?
  6. What problems did you encounter while you were working on this piece? How did you solve them?
  7. What resources did you use while working on this piece? Which ones were especially helpful? Which ones would you use again?
  8. Does this work to tell a story?
  9. Now that it’s over, what are my first thoughts about this overall project? Are they mostly positive or negative?
  10. What were some of the most interesting discoveries I made while working on this project? About the problem? About myself? About others?
  11. How does your solution relates to real-world situations and problems?


GROUP B - Inward Looking:
  1. How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike?
  2. Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?
  3. What was especially satisfying to you about either the process or the finished product?
  4. What did/do you find frustrating about it?
  5. What does this piece reveal about you as a learner?
  6. What did you learn about yourself as you worked on this piece?
  7. Have you changed any ideas you used to have on this topic?
  8. Find another piece of work that you did at the beginning of the trimester or an earlier design class to compare and contrast with this. What changes can you see?


GROUP C - Looking:
  1. Did you do your work the way other people did theirs?
  2. In what ways did you do it differently?
  3. In what ways was your work or process similar?
  4. If you were evaluating this design as a teacher, what comments would you make?
  5. What grade would you assign to this?
  6. What the one thing you particularly want people to notice when they look at your work?
  7. What do your classmates particularly notice about your design when they look at it.


GROUP D - Forward Looking:
  1. One thing I would like to improve on is…
  2. What would you do differently if you were to approach the same problem again?
  3. What will you change in the next revision of this piece?
  4. What's the one thing that you have seen in your classmates' work or process that you would to incorporate into your designs?
  5. As you look at your design, what is one this you would like to improve on?
  6. What is a goal you would set for yourself for next time?
  7. What would you like to spend more time on in school?
  8. What things you might want more help with?
  9. How will I use what I’ve learned in the future?
  10. Could I teach this problem-solving process to someone else easily? Why or why not?