Mr. McWeeny talks about the notebooks he has students keep throughout the course: "To me, that's what I want the kids to do. That's what I want their notebooks to be, a richly descriptive notebook; not just a bunch of scientific concepts and facts and pictures. I actually want them to think about it. Sometimes I say treat it like a diary. Just get it all out in there. I encourage them to do that. Many of my comments after the first evaluation are to challenge the kids to write more about their opinions and their feelings. For example, I may tell them: 'I want to know how you feel about these things ... You're doing a great job describing these things, what do you think about them? ...'

"The way we arrange our notebooks is they have a permanent bound notebook. I tell them to go 4 to 5 pages. They start tab #1 and they take a little stickie and they put a tab there. So, we get a whole bunch of tabs all the way down the notebook ..."

As the work proceeds, the class develops a table of contents that Mr. McWeeny eventually publishes. Once available, the students paste the table of contents into the first few pages of the notebook. The completed notebook is then a good record of students' learning and they can refer to it well after they graduate from Mr. McWeeny's class. As well, the notebook provides Mr. McWeeny and parents with an easy way to collect student work throughout the year so that they can assess how a student is progressing.

Once Mr. McWeeny has explained the notebook and how it is to be organized to students, he gets right to work : "Okay, here's your first homework assignment. This is tab #1 ... I want you to go out into a place that you would say is fairly natural... "

The notebooks are graded with a rubric that stresses organization, complete sentences, and accurate answers. The performance level ranges from 1 to 4. If a student scores a in the 1 or 2 range, this is considered unacceptable whereas the 3 to 4 range is acceptable. The rubric shown here may not be easily read in your browswer, so a detailed description is provided below.

Criteria\Performance Level	1 (Maximum score is a 1)	2 (Maximum score is a 3)	3 (Maximum score is a 5)	4 (Maximum score is a 7)
Organization	No tabs/Order No Written Directions Not bounded or contained	One of the following: "Bound" Written Directions Tabs visible	Two of the following: "Bound" Written Directions	A bound notebook with written directions Neat TABS visible Name on front and/or Table of Contents
Complete Sentences	No Sentences Many answers not attempted	A few complete sentences (most not sentences)	Mostly complete sentences (Just a few not sentences)	All answers in complete sentences
Accurate Answers	0-30% Correct or Researched	31-60% Correct or Researched	61-90% Correct or Researched	Above 90% Correct with only a couple researched

One student's response to the culturing unit journal work:
"The most important part of science class I would say would be the journals because it is almost like (what) a professional (would make) ... And the way we kept our notes... All organized ... It records what we did and how we did it ... It is like a documentary of our mini-environments ..."

Pictures of Practice Contents Introduction The Colonial Biography Unit (7th Grade History) A Year of Seventh Grade English A Year of Eighth Grade Science The Jazz Unit Snapshot Using the CCDT to Develop Generative Topics