Tools in Practice SPECIAL TOPIC:
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Contents
Introduction to Student
   Engagement
Student Engagement at
   the District Level
Tool for Analyzing Students'
   Learning Lives
Students as Researchers
Engaging Technology
Resources on Student
   Engagement
Tips on Student Engagement

Note:

The Diary Day methodology was first developed to investigate the way in which in-school arts experiences often lead students to use their free time in constructive and imaginative ways.

The methodology was designed by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform with funding from the Ford Foundation, the Packard Foundation School Arts Program, and a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to Dallas Arts Partners.

A Tool for Analyzing Students' Learning Lives

This section of the Student Engagement Web pages describes a tool developed by the Annenberg Institute – the Diary Day and Student Interview Process – to examine how students experience their learning opportunities both in and outside of school.

Young people need and deserve learning opportunities both in and outside school to learn well, grow as active and thoughtful citizens, and gain the skills they need to succeed in a rapidly changing, knowledge-driven economy.

Learning outside of the school day provides vital opportunities to:

practice fundamental skills such as literacy and mathematics
apply those skills to the motivating and complex situations presented by real-world settings
discover how to present oneself to new peers and adults
learn how to pursue an interest or talent

Diary Day & Student Interview Tool

   > Intro & About

   The Tool in Practice

   Diary Samples

   Instructions

   Printable Diary Day and
    Student Interview Tool

   Supporting Article

About the Diary Day and Student Interview Process

Recent research (Gordon, Bridglall & Meroe 2004; HFRP 2005) suggests that the achievement gap is rooted equally in learning opportunities available to students in and out of school. Yet we know surprisingly little about the distribution of these opportunities – especially those that occur outside the school day.

To help communities address this issue, Dennie Palmer Wolf, director of Opportunity and Accountability at the Annenberg Institute, has developed the Diary Day and Student Interview Process. In this process, interested adults (researchers, teachers, youth workers, etc.) interview students about a day in their lives, beginning when they wake up and ending when they go to sleep. Students narrate both their formal and informal activities, including thoughts and conversations that were important to them during the day. They also evaluate each activity for its worth to them as a learner.

A trained interviewer listens and asks questions as students talk, drawing out how they made choices, what they are hoping to gain, and what opportunities they are still seeking. If the interviews are collected from a wide range of students, this process is a powerful tool for examining patterns of student learning and the distribution of learning opportunities across schools, neighborhoods, and groups of students. The entire process depends upon the engagement and deep reflection of the students themselves.

REFERENCES
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Harvard Family Research Project. (2005). "Complementary Learning." Evaluation Exchange XI, no. 1 (Spring).
Available online

Gordon, Edmund W., Beatrice L. Bridglall, and Aundra Saa Meroe, (eds). (2004). Supplementary Education: The Hidden Curriculum of High Achievement. Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield.
Description, ordering information