Inside Out: Strategies for Teaching Writing Ch. 5

The J

Why the Journal Works?

1. It's an invitation to let anything in your mind out.

2. Less structure, more subjective= more inviting.

3. Topics are student centered.

4. Intended for audience of one: the writer.

5. Opportunity to connect with teacher/student.

What's in it for teacher?

1. Tells teachers how students are doing.

2. Keeps you connected w/students lives.

4 different types of journals

1. Writer's notebook: depository of ideas

2. Class Journal: for classwork

3. Dialogue Journal: for classmates to respond to each other's thinking and work.

4. Project Journal: To keep track of project process that extend for several weeks.

• group work
• novels and plays
• research papers
• reflection for end of big projects

Suggestions for Using the Journal

• Keep journal for yourself and write alongside with students.
• Stagger due dates.
• Establish time to write in journals.
• Insert personal touches such as cartoons or news articles that go with student content.

Response and Evaluation

Responses are more important than grading because it provides students with real feedback that they can use to improve writing. Responses should:

• Encourage student to share with class.
• Suggest topics.
• Be honest.
• Avoid empty comments: interesting, nice, or good idea.

Evaluation should be based more on completion and the following three ideas:

• Is it truthful?
• Is it thoughtful?
• Is it thorough?

Ways to grade:

• plus, check, or minus
• 1 , 2, 3, 4, 5 Scale

Perhaps do not grade or respond at all and hold students accountable by having partner's check and respond.

Other things to consider when implementing Journal

• Do not publish or share any student work without permission.
• Don't allow for R rated content that is morally compromising in journals.
• Allow for confidential pages by having students fold pages they do not want to be read.
• Look for something good in journals that rub you the wrong way or you do not like at all.
• Avoid sarcasm.
• Take a break from the journal if it gets stale or burdensome.

Reflection:

I have always used journals off and on in the past and always felt ambivalent or unsure about how to use them. Last SY I used a journal for my expository writing class for formative assignments we did inside and outside of class. Many students commented on how that they liked how it kept them organized and how easier it was to carry them than a binder. By the end of the quarter or semester, my students were impressed that we had covered so much in just the quarter or semester because many of them have never wrote through a whole composition book before, let alone half a composition book. It gave many of my students a sense of pride and place to look back on and say, "Wow I wrote that." I also liked how it created a sense of routine in the classroom. The students I had in English 10 had a binder instead of a journal and for the students I had in my expository writing class and English 10 thought it was better to have the journal rather than the binder. Therefore, I do plan on continuing the use of the journal this upcoming SY in all my classes.

I was happy to see that many of the suggestions the authors give on how to use the journal in the classroom were ideas that I had already implemented in my own classroom. It's nice to see the routines and rituals you set up in your classroom reinforced in professional development you take or reading that you read.