Teaching Writing: Children

Lesson 4: Using Journals and Review

Kinds of Journals and Starters

Personal Journals

If you and your class are new to using journals, the easiest place to start is the personal journal.

Many teachers like to have students use a journal as a place to just write. Personal thoughts and ideas can be explored, and it is sometimes a great way for students to work out things that are bothering them. (That works great for adults, too. Try it!)

An instructor at a journal workshop I went to many years ago gave us a great tip for using this type of journal. In order to build trust with your students, allow them to fold over a page on occasion that they don't want you to read. Honor that trust. You'll find that students open up more easily if they know there are still thoughts that they can keep private. Of course, a word of caution is needed here. Keep a close eye on students who never share ideas, or whom you suspect may be in a difficult situation at home. And be careful when assigning prompts that you don't ask students to write on a topic that might be considered and invasion of privacy.

Focused Journals

Sometimes I would ask my students to just write, as a "Do Now" when they first came into the classroom in the morning or after recess. This is a great way to warm up before other writing. You might want to give them "free reign" to write whatever they choose, but often students need a bit of a "push" to get them going. Giving students a writing prompt is a form of the focused journal. For example, writing about a holiday or a special occasion coming up is one popular option, as children almost always have something to say about their plans for a holiday or vacation.

Here are some other prompts that I've used:

1. My best memory...
2. The way I'd like to spend my birthday...
3. My most prized possession...
4. How to ...
5. My favorite game, song, place to visit....
6. How I would spend a million dollars...
7. My favorite number...
8. What makes (Halloween or other holiday) fun...
9. How I feel on report card day...
10. Spring (or other season) is...
11. The gift I'd most like...
12. What I learned from (my science project or other class activity)...
13. My good luck story...
14. A day I'll always remember...
15. I like snow days because...

Creative Journals

Another way that I used journals was for the more "traditional" use - creative writing. Some days I just asked the students to write, on any idea they had. They were great ice breaking tools for early in the year "getting to know you" types of writing, or for after a holiday or vacation. "What I did over the Weekend" was a great favorite of my students. Some days, I used the last 10 minutes of class for students to write about something that they learned that day. Sometimes I gave them a starter idea. Many of those rough journal beginnings eventually became great completed pieces of writing. I let them experiment with types of poetry, description, persuasive writing, first and third person writing, the list could go on and on.

You might also like to use some prompts that relate to seasonal occurrences. Check some calendar websites or events calendars for some fun and interesting ideas. Here are a few to get you started:

1. September 26 is Johnny Appleseed Day. List all the apple dishes can you think of? Which are your favorites? Can you think of a new way to use apples?

2. Do you like ghosts? Witches? Goblins? What makes them scary? Create a new monster for Halloween (October). Describe him and tell what he would do if he went out on Halloween night.

3. February is National Children's Dental Health Month. Why do you think taking care of your teeth is important?

You get the idea!

More Starters

Recently I came across a neat journal prompt idea called Journal Cards. The cards each have a picture and several prompts to get students thinking, and come in sets of 40. That would easily be enough to pass around a class for many months. Of course, in the "old days" when I first started teaching I remember making a similar kind of "story starter" card set to use with my students, and you could easily make a similar set to use with your class. Some ideas don't get old, they just come around again! See: http://www.journalmagic.com/suemeyn/jour...

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