The most influential idea that the course has shown me has been the Travel Journals that students get to create and keep. I think this is a great way for students to develop their writing, reading, comprehension, and creativity skills all in one simple but fun activity. The best part of it all is that they are the ones who decide how it looks on the inside, the alignment of the text, and the amount of information inside. Through approval of the teacher over the rough draft principles of the student's written text, the student can scribe the information into the appropriate pages and then reinforce their understanding of the knowledge with drawn pictures, colors, and emotions. This is also a great way for us as teachers evaluate the amount of information that the students are taking in and retaining throughout the year. This is considered an informal assessment because we would not necessarily be recording the data we review, but would be keeping a mental note of the topics that need to be addressed more in the next module. Students have the opportunity to reflect on their own work and assign themselves a grade based on how well they believe they have captured the material on each page. I then would go back and record each grade according to how I believe they have understood the material based on guidelines and rubrics. My students would have a great amount of fun putting these together and taking them home to show their parents when they are done.