This journal teaches your students to persevere through word problems. I use it when my students are working independently and they come to me because they have given up. I would insist that they worked through the problem solving journal first and they would almost always figure the problem out without needing my help. I leave several printouts available for my students in a special area of the room. They eventually will automatically go to this sheet first. This has given me time to work with my small groups and them confidence to be able to solve problems on their own using several strategies.