For my blog entry this week, I will be writing about the journal writing genre. Tompkins encourages teachers to use journal writing across the content areas so that students can have more opportunities to write while using writing as a tool to assess their own knowledge/learning on a topic (p. 119). I think this is a wonderful idea. I remember using composition books in elementary school to keep a learning log for science class. While I can't recall at what stage we used the learning logs, I know we recorded our learning through note-taking and drawing in our notebooks.
In a school library setting, I could use learning/reading logs to help my students when they are doing research with non-fiction texts (I'm thinking of older students, perhaps upper elementary to middle school age). If students were brought to the library to review non-fiction texts for a project, I could supply them with a simple handout to record the most important details from the text (print or digital) for their projects, including page numbers or website address. The students could refer back to their writing while working on their project, and the log would serve as their notes on relevant source material.
Another type of journal, the double-entry journal, is another great way to use writing to deepen a student's understanding of a topic. The journal is divided into two parts and students write different information in each part. Tompkins says that "though this type of journal, children become more engaged in what they are reading and become more sensitive to the author's language" (p. 110).
A few ways to use a double entry journal (explained in Tompkins p.110-112)
- Student writes a quote on the left and explains the quote on the right/makes connections to their own life or experience
- Students make predictions about a text on the left and actual outcome on the right
- Students take notes on a topic during a lesson (like in a science or social studies unit) and then ask more questions/make personal connections/post reactions on the right
I remember using double-entry journals in middle school as part of a regular writing workshop in my English class. We would pull quotes from books we were reading in class and write those on the left, and then write our responses on the right. I believe our teacher may have guided us in selecting the quotes. I loved this assignment because it deepened my understanding of the text and, if I was able to draw a connection to my own life, made it more relatable to me. Perhaps I could make a more interactive version of the double-entry journal in the library with a display, like a bulletin board. I could put quotes that tie to different themes (female authors? black history month? banned books?) on one side of the board and have students record a short response on a piece of paper and tack it to the board. This might be stretching the definition of the double-entry journal, but I like brainstorming ways to get students thinking about writing in the library!
One of my favorite ideas for journal writing is a simulated journal, where the author takes on the point of view of a character from a story they are reading. As a creative-minded young person, I always enjoyed these assignments. I still remember taking on the voice of Johnny Tremaine, the 12-year old protagonist in Esther Forbes' award-winning novel, for a 7th grade project. I can't remember anything about this story other than that our class was so unsatisfied with the ending that our teacher asked us to write a final chapter from the perspective of the main character. The following year, I took on the voices of Ethan Frome, his wife Zeena, and lover Mattie for another journal project while studying Edith Wharton's famous novel. Both of these projects allowed me to go deeper in my understanding of the books and their characters.
When students are given regular opportunities to journal, they will not only become better writers, but also will learn how to express themselves through writing, an important life skill in our world of texts and emails. I look forward to seeing how I can encourage journal writing in the library.
Sources
Fulwiler, T. (1987). The Journal Book for Teachers in Technical and Professional Programs.
New York: Heinemann.
One of my favorite ideas for journal writing is a simulated journal, where the author takes on the point of view of a character from a story they are reading. As a creative-minded young person, I always enjoyed these assignments. I still remember taking on the voice of Johnny Tremaine, the 12-year old protagonist in Esther Forbes' award-winning novel, for a 7th grade project. I can't remember anything about this story other than that our class was so unsatisfied with the ending that our teacher asked us to write a final chapter from the perspective of the main character. The following year, I took on the voices of Ethan Frome, his wife Zeena, and lover Mattie for another journal project while studying Edith Wharton's famous novel. Both of these projects allowed me to go deeper in my understanding of the books and their characters.
When students are given regular opportunities to journal, they will not only become better writers, but also will learn how to express themselves through writing, an important life skill in our world of texts and emails. I look forward to seeing how I can encourage journal writing in the library.
Sources
Fulwiler, T. (1987). The Journal Book for Teachers in Technical and Professional Programs.
New York: Heinemann.
As our latest version of Tompkins' notes, journals these days are often thought of as tools for "writing to learn" and "recording what we read/observed." I certainly agree that journaling should be used in these ways, but like you say at the end of your entry, helping students see that journaling is a way for them to express themselves in writing is important.
ReplyDeleteThe piece that I worry we are missing is that the writing should always be for *them* first. This is the key. Journaling should also be a place for exploration, for questioning, imagining. This is the rhetorical space that gets short-changed.