SETTING UP A PERSONAL CURRICULUM/JOURNAL & COMMONPLACE BOOK //

I thought about keeping things digital. it’d be easier… more convenient. a device some where within my reach at all times. copy and pasting feels user friendly. It’d be so much better, right? I’m sure.

but, somehow i feel like i need this. my brain needs this. to feel like i have thoughts and ideas of my own. to feel that i haven’t been programmed by constant rotating commercials and messaging designed to rewire my brain as if it weren’t my own.

id have to work for it. I’d have to wait for the ink to cross the page much more slowly than the thoughts make their way through my mind. I’d have to rip out outdated pages and cross through disproven ideas. To write and rewrite, adding margins & extra layers of sticky notes with numbers & references to pages… I’d have to work for it.

a space for quotes, definitions, cross-reference using color coded page flags and tabs. a corner for new ideas and a corner for questions I can stamp the date when I discover the answer.

These are some of the things I’m making room for.

Calendar // reading blocks, writing block, synthesis & monthly wrap ups

  • Index // the ability to find things is key. Numbering pgs as they collect

  • Threads // noted with color coded tabs/flags, cross conversations “schooling and social control”, “who defines education“, “formal vs informal learning”

  • Program Map //

  • Question Bank // leading to independent inquiry dated to watch as they evolve

  • Field Note/Memo Entries // noted with simple ID // unit-source-001- date, source(author/title) & page, unit and type, cross references and tags maybe as lined sticky notes held in front of book and moveable (quote/response/question) pass 2 notes when connected note earlier entry page (photos count when added to “field notes” folder)

  • Concept Register // recurring concepts with definitions I.e pedagogic codes, discipline, situated learning

  • Tags // method, home education, theorist,

  • Counter-Reading Pairs // Givens/Kaestle, Tyack/Woodson

  • Privacy // scholars names as homeschool

  • Hour Log // calendar w/key tues wed thurs 90 min fri 120min 6.5 hrs/wk read/write/accepted

  • Strands // methods studio, independent inquiry, field encounters, open elective

  • Unit 1-14 Tracker // Insert/Ipad/Substack

  • Public Synthesis // weekly [dissertation diary/cc] (writing+vlogs+videos+podcast)

  • Advisor/Mentor Search + Record Tracker // summary log time + notes

  • Reflection // weekly note/recap “slow daily practices for cognitive friction/growth (easy/difficult scale) and why.

  • Open/Parked List //

This is how I’m setting up my planner/commonplace journal for independent research. I wrote everything out and hardly set everything up. I understand that some things will stick and some will work thier way out.

I love starting with a tn as it’s such a forgiving and flexible system while keeping it cute.

what about you?




with all the love,

syreena

leather journal traveler’s notebook // burnt out but optimistic patch // mini fountain pen // coffee cup patch // caffeine first patch // notebook inserts // gold bronze journal clips // travel notebook elastic bands

memory keepingSyreena BComment