Journal Writing:
Many instructors use journals to fulfill writing assignments for the course. Various journal forms include:
Task Journals
Task journals can help students sequence and monitor smaller deadlines toward the completion of a larger writing task. Assignments can sometimes be overwhelming, and it is often helpful to break them down into less intimidating pieces. In task journals, instructors often ask students to:
Reflection journals help students to be engaged and critical readers of the course texts, by asking students to:
For a quarter or semester-long project, a journal may be a helpful way to keep chronological track of a student's preparation and information-gathering. Ask students to keep the journal as a daily log and summarize news events relating to their particular topic.
Free-write Journals
Oral and Sketch Journals
To engage students in multiple modes of learning, many teachers incorporate oral or sketch journals. These journals can ask students to:
All students, including those with disabilities, can benefit from these various forms of journal writing because:
Many instructors use journals to fulfill writing assignments for the course. Various journal forms include:
Task Journals
Task journals can help students sequence and monitor smaller deadlines toward the completion of a larger writing task. Assignments can sometimes be overwhelming, and it is often helpful to break them down into less intimidating pieces. In task journals, instructors often ask students to:
- Write about their goals and what they hope to get out of the assignment;
- Ask students to list specific things they hope to achieve from an instructional unit, a writing assignment, a reading, the course overall, etc.;
- Have students estimate an assignment timeline for themselves.
Reflection journals help students to be engaged and critical readers of the course texts, by asking students to:
- Write about their personal reactions to the reading;
- Evaluate the reading, stating its strong and weak points;
- Copy memorable or especially important passages and comment on them;
- Rate the value and meaning of the piece; did they agree or disagree?
For a quarter or semester-long project, a journal may be a helpful way to keep chronological track of a student's preparation and information-gathering. Ask students to keep the journal as a daily log and summarize news events relating to their particular topic.
Free-write Journals
- Free-writing is writing without having a specific outcome in mind.
- Free-writing:
- Helps get students' ideas and thoughts down on paper;
- Helps students develop and organize thoughts;
- Helps make sense out of the topics students may be studying or researching;
- Allows students to review their writing and identify ideas that will benefit the overall assignment.
Oral and Sketch Journals
To engage students in multiple modes of learning, many teachers incorporate oral or sketch journals. These journals can ask students to:
- Record themselves talking out ideas for a paper responding to a reading (using digital or analog equipment);
- Create oral "dialogues" with a course reading, incorporating their own voice and quotes from the author;
- Create an image (digitally or on paper) which represents or complicates the ideas in a course reading;
- Draw a map to outline a proposed paper idea.
All students, including those with disabilities, can benefit from these various forms of journal writing because:
- Journals are very informal.
- Journals can be considered "unpolished" writing or works in progress.
- Journals can be less intimidating to students.
- Journals aren't limited to writing; journals can include drawings, flow charts, sketches, news clippings, copied images, or paraphrases and summaries of others' ideas on the same topic.
