A list of suggested media and their associated pros and cons is provided below.

Index Card
Composition Book
Loose Leaf Paper
Teacher Comments
 

Index Cards	Pros	Cons
3 x 5 or 4 x 6 lined or unlined                             Top of Page	All work is of uniform size Students are not intimidated by the amount of blank space they need to fill Very portable, easy for teacher to handle for reading, scoring, and lesson use May be filed in a standard card file for future reference	Card purchases may be limited by budget constraints Cards are more difficult for individual students to keep up with  Keeping a collective record of the student's work will most likely fall to the teacher Verbose students and/or students who write large may find this format confining Difficult to maintain student confidentiality when collecting or returning work
Composition Books	Pros	Cons
Single-subject spiral notebooks may also be used but do not seem to be as effective as bound composition books                         Top of Page	Length of student writing is not limited Students responses are in one bound format from which pages may not be removed Individual pieces of student work are unlikely to be lost or misplaced Easy to maintain student confidentiality when collecting or returning student work Writing growth is easy to demonstrate through collected work Composition books are readily available in most stores for $1.00 or less	Composition book integrity is compromised if any pages are removed pages Students may not be comfortable with leaving evidence of their errors behind for others to see and tear out pages in spite of teacher warnings Are bulky when collected for reading, scoring, and lesson use
Loose Leaf Paper	Pros	Cons
Paper may be any size you prefer.  Full sheets have the advantage of being pre holed and easy for students to keep up with in a binder, but may waste paper. Half sheets may be less intimidating for students.  You might have students fold a sheet of paper in half (creating a 5.5 x 8.5 inch writing surface) and write on only one surface.  The page can be reused 3 more times, thus addressing ecological issues. Precut sheets of various sizes are available Top of Page	Students may provide their own paper, making it easy to start over if they feel the need Full sheets are easy for students to maintain in a three ring binder or folder for reference use and to see collective growth Student confidentiality is easily maintained when collecting or returning student work if student folds entry in half and writes their name on the outside Work is portable and easy for teacher to work with Format is less confining for students	Students using a spiral notebooks for their primary paper source may turn in very tattered pages Easy for students to loose or misplace pages to be filed, if a cumulative collection is desired Work tends to be sloppier and less care taken than with cards or comp books Student awareness of and adverse reaction to the environmental or economical ethics of using an entire sheet of paper for a one paragraph assignment

Teacher Comments:

I have used each of the media types listed above for one or more school years when working with math students in grades 8-12.  In my personal experience, full size sheets of loose leaf paper are probably the simplest media for initial implementation.  Composition books were my personal favorite, but I found that most of my younger students (8th and 9th graders) were unable to resist removing pages from their books, which resulted in messy piles of loose pages between cardboard covers that became a nightmare to keep up with, collect, and return.  Index cards were the media most preferred by my students.  Responses were necessarily concise, but they were seldom left blank and students developed the ability to write tight, well-written responses.  Fluency of written and oral mathematical communications always increased.