What is daily journaling? (e.g. about the reading one has done for that day, or just thoughts)
Thanks.
2 answers
It depends on the age of the child, but nearly always includes thoughts, daily activites, or even short essays. My youngest (7) often wrote letters in the journal.
Keeping a journal on a regular basis (every day is the best!) is one of the most effective ways a person can develop fluency in writing. Here are some guidelines and suggestions for you:
* Write daily. If you are dealing with students in middle school or older, encourage them to write at least a page a day in either a composition book or a spiral notebook.
* Encourage drawings and writing for younger children, or maybe a drawing one day and some writing the next about that drawing.
* What sets a journal apart from a diary is that a journal entry is usually focused, especially with older students: one topic per journal entry. You can provide lists of topics for your students; you can put a quotation each day on the board; you can pose a question each day; etc. Or you can let students choose their own topics. I used a combination: I'd put a topic or quotation on the board each day, and students could get ideas from that or they could write about their own topics. It didn't matter because the point was to get them to just write.
* Encourage students not to worry about spelling, punctuation, etc. They should just focus on the idea in each journal entry. What happens over time is that students become unafraid of a blank page. That's a big part of the point of this activity.
* Some teachers grade journals; others don't. If you do give them grades, you don't grade on the mechanics of English; you grade only on writing often enough and staying focused on the topic the student has chosen for each entry. It's not even necessary (or possible!) to read the students' journals. Scanning through is usually enough.
There are lots of additional ideas in here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=journal+writing+ideas&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SUNA
Have fun with this. It's very effective.
* Write daily. If you are dealing with students in middle school or older, encourage them to write at least a page a day in either a composition book or a spiral notebook.
* Encourage drawings and writing for younger children, or maybe a drawing one day and some writing the next about that drawing.
* What sets a journal apart from a diary is that a journal entry is usually focused, especially with older students: one topic per journal entry. You can provide lists of topics for your students; you can put a quotation each day on the board; you can pose a question each day; etc. Or you can let students choose their own topics. I used a combination: I'd put a topic or quotation on the board each day, and students could get ideas from that or they could write about their own topics. It didn't matter because the point was to get them to just write.
* Encourage students not to worry about spelling, punctuation, etc. They should just focus on the idea in each journal entry. What happens over time is that students become unafraid of a blank page. That's a big part of the point of this activity.
* Some teachers grade journals; others don't. If you do give them grades, you don't grade on the mechanics of English; you grade only on writing often enough and staying focused on the topic the student has chosen for each entry. It's not even necessary (or possible!) to read the students' journals. Scanning through is usually enough.
There are lots of additional ideas in here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=journal+writing+ideas&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SUNA
Have fun with this. It's very effective.