Journaling surprise

Remember this number... it will be important later on in the post.

Earlier in the school year, I had every intention of my students doing journaling.   I wrote out pages of prompts in my supa fly Erin Condren Teacher Planner.   I got hype, ya'll.   Hype.   We were gonna do this!   

But then... I soon discovered that the kids really needed help.   REALLY needed help.   The writing at the start of the year was no buenos.   Bad.   Needed work.   Needed love.   I also had to teach my students HOW to write in a notebook.   Such as, "This is the first page, now turn to the next page and write here...." because I had students who would just open the notebook to any random page and scribble.   It wasn't good.    So my dreams of journaling went away.  

As writing improved, I decided to talk to the kids about journaling again around Thanksgiving.   Would they be willing to give it a try?    I had about 80% of the kids willing to give it a try.   This was a victory.   By December, confidence had increased and I was almost at 90%.    At the end of the marking period/semester, I asked the kids to let me know if they'd be willing to try it again.   This time, no quitting, we power through.   100% of the students agreed.

Last week we decided to really open up and have the conversation about journaling.   I had students research the benefits of journaling.   We read articles.  We annotated.   We discussed.   We had those conversations that you wished would not end.   We had those Mr. Holland's Opus smile file moments.  Good times, good times.

We came up with a list of ten main benefits of journaling and discussed them.

In addition to this, we came up with a list of topics that they could write about at any point and time to prepare for a "pop quiz" via Free Writing.

So here's how it goes down.

Students were each given a journal.   The journal is in a top secret hidden location so that their privacy is respected.   At the start of EVERY class, my para gives them their journals.    There will be a prompt on the board.   Students must write the prompt and date and then WAIT to discuss/brainstorm together.    

Once they are ready to write I just want them to write.   Just write.   At this stage, I just want the kids to unload.   Let it out.   Write.   I don't care about anything on the rubric other than the fact they write.   Just write.    Use whatever words you want, just WRITE.    Once they are done with their writing, they turn it back in.   We will take a quick look at the writing just to make sure there's nothing in there that needs to be reported.   Students are well aware of this.

On the last day of the week, students are going to be given their journals and they must review their writing from the week and choose one entry to "publish."    They will peer conference with someone!  It doesn't have to be me; it can be a classmate.    They are to take one of the entries they wrote and clean it up and make it as wonderful as they possibly can.    They will then evaluate themselves.  By the time the entry is complete they will have gone through the entire writing process and will also sign their name in cursive.  

The kids were totally down with this entire process/plan/lay-out.   In fact, signing their name in cursive wasn't even my idea.   It was theirs.   

So after building up this journaling task... after launching ... after discussing....

I asked my kids three questions.

And to be honest... I had no idea what to expect in response.

Here are the questions:

1. What are your experiences with journaling?

2. What do you hope to gain from the journaling experience?

3. What questions do you have about this process?

The responses blew me away!   So much that I compiled a list to review with them.  

Take the time and click each image to see their responses.   

Experiences with journaling:

These responses caused us to discuss even MORE.   So many students spoke of trust issues, their fears, their insecurities, etc.    

Hope to Gain...

Wow.   The honesty.

Questions

After going over these slides with the kids and having some really awesome conversation, we spoke again about privacy and the benefits of journaling.   I told kids that they don't need a fancy schmancy leather journal to do their own private journaling.  I straight up told them that if they want to write and write for themselves ... DO IT!    

Since having this discussion, I've had FIVE students come to me for their very own journal to keep with them at all times.   And today when I was walking around the building, I saw one student curled up against the wall, listening to their music, and just WRITING.

I am so excited to see where this goes.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my job?

Edit:   I just received a message from a student.   I'm now up to 6 kids wanting their own journal.