I love my learning journals. Yes … that is plural. I do have more than one. I have one for my everyday learning experiences. I contains notes from whatever I am reading and thoughts to boot.
I have another for my gospel studies. How I love that journal. I use it for thoughts and impressions which come to me while I am reading my scriptures. I’ve shared this one before. When I take notes from meetings, I always include a margin to write down impressions and tasks. I also record in the margin things I need to improve upon.
I also have a journal I used in my PhD studies. All things related to my PhD topic were included in this notebook. This provided me one place to go back and search for what I needed. I know there are many professionals who use a digital notebook to record their thoughts so they can search easily for it later. For me, it works the opposite. As I am quite visual, I have an easier time locating information because I can visualize if I had written it sideways, across or the color of the ink. (Although in this picture it is all written in black ink.)
From my learning journal.
I have my personal journal. I record daily events. I love this one as well. I call it my dump all place as I will write down my greatest victories and greatest challenges alike. (This one is the hardest to get a picture of because who really wants their most inner thoughts posted on the Internet!) I also fill it with pictures, drawing, sketches, writing, thoughts … you name it. I do the same thing in my gospel journal where I record inspirations and spiritual insights which come to me.
I even have one for all my website information -finances, calendars, notes, brainstorming, etc. I had it originally in a three ring binder, but it was simply too bulky to carry around all of the time. That’s when I moved it to a composition notebook which I decorated. I also record what I have learned from my website. Which posts generate the greatest traffic? Which ones are the least amount of traffic? Is there a day
Click on Image for “The Art of Learning Journals”
of the week which does better than the others? What earns the greatest money?
The greatest point in using a learning journal is finding out what works best for you. The best part of a learning journal? Having a record to fall back on.
What have been your greatest journals? What do you use them for?
By Tracy Harrington-Atkinson
Tracy Harrington-Atkinson, mother of six, lives in the Midwest with her husband. She is a teacher, having taught elementary school to higher education, holding degrees in elementary education, a master’s in higher education and continued on to a PhD in curriculum design. She has published several titles, including Calais: The Annals of the Hidden, Rachel’s 8 and Securing Your Tent. She is currently working on a non-fiction text exploring the attributes of self-directed learners: The Five Characteristics of Self-directed Learners.
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