The Power of Journaling
Teaching Journaling
Journaling is not an involuntary skill. It must be taught. Students need to see what journaling looks like, sounds like, and why it is important. This is the educators job! Journaling for your students will illustrate the techniques and thought process needed when journaling. Most students have never seen what it looks like to jot down thoughts, reflections, or important dialogue. Show students how to write, share, and save their writing.
Journaling Everyday
One of the reasons that people love journaling is because it is a non confrontational outlet for their thoughts and creativity. Gretchen Bernabi says "Journals are for themselves, a place to get ideas down, to play, to increase fluency. When their writing is for a more formal audience, errors are not ok. But in journals, they don't count at all." (Grammar Keepers, pg. 7) Let students journal freely each day for 5-10 minutes. Make this a time of freedom where students have a nonthreatening time for writing. You will see their writing increase in quality and quantity.
Using Journals
When teaching grammar, mechanics, and spelling, journals are a great place for students to "hunt" for examples of correct grammatical rules followed. Using a journal as a place for a scavenger hunt of sorts is great for students to prove that they have followed grammatical rules or showcase an outstanding piece of writing. Of course, students have to be willing to share their writing with others, otherwise it is off limits because that is THEIR journal and they have the right to decide if it gets published or not.