Journal Writing

Hello colleagues, I've used dialogue journals in the past, and I am planning to implement this practice again when our spring term starts next week. How has journal writing worked for you as an instructional strategy? What advice can you offer?

To help me prepare, I decided to reread this article, "Dialogue Journals: Interactive Writing to Develop Language and Literacy," from the LINCS collection by Joy Kreeft Peyton. Others may also be interested in this piece.

Please contribute your best ideas as well as any questions you may have about journal writing.

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Language Acquisition

 

Comments

Susan, thanks for posting the topic and the link to the ERIC article. I was not able to access the article, and received the following message: 

"Your connection is not private - Attackers might be trying to steal your information from www.eric.ed.gov (for example, passwords, messages, or credit cards)" 

I wonder if others might run into the same issue.

We know that we learn new skills by doing them a lot. And we do them a lot when we enjoy them. That goes for writing, of course. Students can really get turned on to writing, especially those who like to reflect on topics; others can pick up the joy when they lose the fear of being evaluated. What I found out in having students write journals was a very important approach: don't grade and don't correct journal writing! The same is true for the practice of having students write when they join the class as others drift into the "bell ring." In fact, sometimes, during class, I might say, "Let's move into writing now. You will write for the next five minutes. Write anything you want, but write. You will not be graded or corrected. When we are done, share what you experienced in those five minutes, staring now!" At first, they really didn't believe me, and they had no ideas of what to write. After awhile, they just started writing and reported that it was fun."

I would love to hear how others successfully approach journal writing! Leecy

 

 

Thanks for sharing this article, Susan.  It made me start thinking though about how dialog journals fit into our push for increased rigor and the new ELP standards,  In my experience, these journals tend heavily towards personal narratives.  I'm wondering if tighter topic selection would help, or if it's even an issue.   Maybe I'm swinging too far in the other direction where I needlessly feel like I need to essentially eliminate personal narratives in order to focus more on career-building writing styles and topics.  Thoughts?

Hi Jana,

I think there are definitely ways that dialog journals can be used to build CCRS skills.

1: If your learners are in level A or B, narrative writing is still a focus (anchor 3). At higher levels, narrative writing is linked to argument and informative/explanatory text, so more practice with it would certainly be acceptable.

2: Writing anchor 2 asks students to write clearly and convey increasingly complex information. If you ask clarifying questions in the dialog journal, you will be helping students to learn how to convey information clearly.

3: Writing anchor 1 focuses on argument and evidence/reasoning. If you ask students to explain their opinions, they will be practicing anchor 1.

4: Anchor 5 focuses on using feedback from others to improve writing. While dialog journals should not focus on editing, getting another person's response to their writing can help students learn to write more effectively. Similarly, getting a response to their writing can help students adjust their writing to fit their audience (anchor 4) because it helps them predict reader responses in the future.

5: Additionally, remember that vocabulary is a major focus of the CCRS. If you respond to a student's thoughts using different words (ex: "It sounds like your supervisor is being very demanding..."), that can help support your other vocabulary instruction.

Most importantly, dialog journals are a good way to get students more writing experience. Far too often, students simply don't get enough writing practice to become comfortable and competent. (I know that I often have to remind myself to integrate writing into my classes!) If using dialog journals increases the amount of writing students do, I think that it can only help them make progress. I'm curious to hear what other people think about this...

Rachel

 

I absolutely agree. There are so many skills that can be practiced and improved in narrative writing that apply to more academic wriitng. I often talk about how narrative wriitng builds comfort and fluency in the writing process, making it a bit easier to move students into academic/argument writing. These are great suggestions Rachel.

Hi Jana and all, I know many of us are thinking about enhancing the complexity of our lessons-- as well as actually implementing more complex lessons, often with standards as our guide. We are learning that this is indeed possible-- with the appropriate supports -- for learners at all levels.

This is a timely question since Rebeca Fernandez, Joy Kreeft Peyton and Kirsten Schaetzel, our guests for the series on teaching academic writing, are emphasizing the need to devote more attention to writing to prepare students for the writing demands in the workplace as well as in postsecondary education.

I really appreciate Rachel's comments here. As you beautifully illustrate, Rachel, there are many ways to pay attention to standards through dialogue journaling.

Keep the ideas coming, folks!

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Language Acquisition

In my experience these are especially great for reluctant beginning writers to consistently get over that fear of the blank page.  You really can shape the content how you like.  ProTip: If you want to keep writing constant, have two journals for each student.  At each session, they give you one and you give the other one back.  That way they always have somewhere to write, even while you're working on your feedback.

Hello Josh and all, Having two journals is a great idea. Thanks for this tip. We usually just use lined paper for student journals, which makes it easy. You can staple a card stock cover on it to make it look more official. In the past, with a class of learners at the beginning level, I would start the class with dialogue journal writing, and those who were most eager to write would show up on time, so they didn't miss the writing activity. I would write a quick response to them as they entered the class. That way I didn't waste time on those who were not able to come that day.

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Language Acquisition