Normal Park Museum Magnet School GRADES K-8 | CHATTANOOGA, TN Travel journals are student-created “textbooks.” Normal Park calls them travel journals because they chart the journey of students’ learning. They are a great way for students to take ownership of their learning. Every student creates one, and every travel journal is unique to the student.

Travel journals are a collection of the work students do for their science or social studies module. Teachers use travel journals on a daily basis; students create work and then add it to their journal throughout the quarter. Journals include writing and reflection pieces, graphic organizers, timelines, charts, drawings, diagrams, vocabulary, maps, pictures, and anything else that reflects students’ learning and understanding of the module topic. Teachers also photocopy relevant articles and have students place those in their journals.

During the course of one year, a student will create four journals for four different modules. Students take the journals home at the end of each quarter. Students love to show them off to their parents and keep them as a record of what they learned.