The entries are getting sloppy. How do I continually raise the bar?
I use fake journal entries that are reflective of the types of entries I am beginning to see in their own notebooks but they are written by “Sandy Scientist”. I type them on the computer in a handwriting font and make a transparency of them. The students tell me how I should score the entry and what the student could do to improve the quality of the entry using the rubric we have agreed upon. Model, model, model! You can use peer editing just as you would do in a Language Arts class. Before putting the notebooks away, kids can edit each other’s. Powerful way to improve their own writing.
