After going through the next five sections of the textbook I
have noticed a variety of ways to incorporate journal in the classroom. This
text seems to be redundant at this point and methods are all the somewhat
same, but all have different names. However, after overlooking the
similarities, I have never really realized the importance of incorporating journal in the classroom. One method is called Critical Incident Journal[ing] (Clark). This
method is used in order to key in on one particular event in the class. The
text describes it as a “aha! Moment, when a student finally understood the
material [or] the confusing part of the lesson” (Clark).
I have never
experienced this in a English class, but I have seen many aha! Moments during
my years of teaching math. The text gives some example questions that a teacher
could relay to the students on a worksheet:
1.
What is the significant event you would like to
write about in your journal?
2.
Why is this event important to you? What was
your favorite or least favorite part of today’s lesson?
3.
Describe the event. What happened?
4.
What did you learn from this experience?
5.
How does it fit in with what you are learning in
social studies class?
These kinds of guided questions can be incorporated in any
subject and can be quite beneficial because it allows the students to describe in
detail of what occurred during the lesson.
The next form of Journaling the book describes is called a Dialog
Journal. A “Dialog Journal is just what the name implies […] a dialog between
two or more people. Dialog Journals can be shared between a student and a teacher
or a student and another student” (Clark). This is a valuable exercise that
will benefit the student now and in the future and at the same time allow the
teacher to see how the student comprehends the material. So, in a sense it’s a
win, win.
As I continue to read this book I hope to learn other
methods to use in my classroom. So far it has been a good help and has allowed
me to look at things differently and open my mind to using different ways of
reaching the students. At this point I will continue to read and post anything
that could be valuable.
What a great idea. I would have never thought of journaling in a classroom setting either. This would be a great way for students to brainstorm as well as getting their thoughts onto paper. Thanks for the post! Very inspirational.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. I would have never thought of journaling in a classroom setting either. This would be a great way for students to brainstorm as well as getting their thoughts onto paper. Thanks for the post! Very inspirational.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed my kids are encouraged to journal in elementary school. Even my preschooler had a "journal" where she could practice making marks or at least go through the motions of putting words on paper, even if she can't really spell or read quite yet. I especially like the idea of a Dialogue journal between student and teacher. I think that's a great channel of communication, especially if the student feels reluctant to speak up in class or ask a question. They have the journal as an alternative way to ask. Also, it teaches students the appropriate way to address someone through writing (or at least this is something they could learn through Dialogue journaling.) Very interesting!
ReplyDeletewriting journals is a great way to teach second language learners writing and speaking at the same time. Also, exchanging journals with more capable students makes it a good learning opportunity.
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ReplyDeleteCouldn't figure out how to comment on another one of your posts, so I'll do it here instead. I can't agree more about the importance of notetaking, and how some students can get lost in the taking of notes that they miss the point of the lecture. While I was performing many experiments with my students last year, one of them that worked pretty well was one I did with note taking. It worked something like this: On Monday I would put key words and concepts on the board and give students the class period to to write notes concisely as possible (pointing out that just going to the back of the book to find definitions wouldn't help). The students were allowed to work in groups.
ReplyDeleteThe next day I would give them a quiz with open notes. The quiz was only ten minutes long. The first few weeks of this experiment showed poor grades, but after about the fourth week the kids started to understand what was important and what could be disregarded, and then it clicked, the quiz grade started going up until by week nine most of the kids had perfect scores on the quizzes.