Appendices

Appendix 2

Journal Writing

A journal contains students' thoughts, feelings and reflections on various topics or experiences. Journal writing is rarely done to communicate with others. It is used to explore ideas and to communicate with oneself. Journal writing is often referred to as personal or free writing. This activity is appropriate for writers at all levels of development.

Purposes

• to use writing to explore ideas and record observations, experiences and understanding
• to encourage students to take risks in manipulating language and in structuring meaning
• to provide opportunities for students to reflect upon their growth and development as writers

Procedure

• Students could construct their own journal booklets.
• Model journal writing for students, demonstrating the process of reflection, idea exploration and writing.
• Schedule journal writing sessions daily or as frequently as possible.
• To introduce students to journal writing, brief discussions about topics or experiences may be necessary to focus students' thoughts.
• Allow time for silent reflection and idea exploration.
• Some journal writing sessions may focus on the description of a particular object, place, event or person, on experimenting with specific patterns to create poems, rhymes, songs and stories, or on responding to literature selections.
• Once students are familiar with the routine of journal writing, they should be encouraged to explore topics of their choice.
• Journal entries should be dated.
• Students may choose to discuss specific journal entries during conferences.

Assessment

• Review students' writing folders.
• Review journal entries with students to identify their interests and concerns, their writing abilities, and the skills and knowledge needed for further growth and achievement.
• Discuss students' writing strengths, growth profile, and specific frustrations or weaknesses during writing conferences.

What Students Learn about Language

• Personal, expressive writing can be used to develop self-awareness and to clarify thoughts, feelings and experiences.

Adaptations and Applications

• Silent sustained writing (S.S.W.) sessions can incorporate journal writing.
• Journal entries may occasionally be shared in author's chair sessions.
• Daily records or personal diaries can be used to record classroom experiences.
• Students may keep learning logs in which they record their understandings, feelings and attitudes about particular subjects areas.
• Dialogue journals encourage and extend students' reading and writing efforts. Teachers, the most common audience for these journals, write responses to each journal entry. The teacher's shared insights, comments, questions or suggestions are read by the student who then responds in the form of another journal entry and the dialogue continues.
• Students could respond to the journal entries of the teacher or their peers.
• Reading logs can be used to clarify thoughts as students read or listen to selections.