Journaling

image of a person writing in a notebook Journaling is an assessment and learning tool to help students reflect on their coursework and ideas without worrying about the finished written product. Journaling can help students see that “writing is thinking” (Stevens & Cooper, 2009, p. 49).

Keys to success for journaling in the classroom:

Tell students not to worry about grammar or sentence structure. Focus on the process of thinking, not producing a polished product. Think of the journal as a sketchbook for your ideas. Thoughts do not have to be fully formed. It is an opportunity to think with yourself, reflect on course content, and record personal reactions to the subject matter.
Encourage your students to be consistent with their journal entries. Tell them to set aside a specific time of the day to dedicate to their journal assignment.
Provide clear guidance on your expectations of their journal entries. What prompts should they reflect upon? Do you have a minimum entry length? Journaling assessments should be structured with critical thinking prompts. Unstructured journaling assignments can yield less productive results. Integrate the journal with the course goals and outline your expectations in the syllabus.
Distinguish the journal from a diary and from traditional academic writing.
Use a rubric to assess entries. This will also help students understand your expectations.

Ideas for how to integrate journaling in the classroom:

Discuss personal reactions and questions about subject matter.
Reflect on course readings, discussions, and learning
Study journal

See the Principles of Practice tab to see how journaling impacts learning.

According to Stevens and Cooper’s book Journal Keeping (2009), the three basic writing principles that support journal writing in the classroom are:

“Writing is thinking on paper” (p. 49). Many students think that writing is something they do only after they have perfectly organized their ideas.This can lead to procrastination. Students might wait to start writing until they feel ready. Instead of working through drafts, they try to write the final version in one go. Because they have spent so much time planning their ideas in their heads, they are less likely to revise or improve their work. However, when students are guided through journal writing they learn that “writing is thinking,” and how to work through their thoughts and the ideas of their sources on paper.
“Practice builds fluency and the motivation to write” (p. 50). When students are unencumbered from worrying about writing conventions and simply get ideas on paper, this helps their motivation to write and build fluency with practice.
Integrate journaling with the course goals and communicate to students how it reinforces the learning activities (p. 52). Be transparent how the journal should be formatted, whether it should be brought to class, how it will be used, when it will be collected, and how it will be graded. Share the assessment rubric to demonstrate your expectations.

Research

Dunlap, J. C. (2006). Using guided reflective journaling activities to capture students’ changing perceptions. TechTrends, 50(6), 20–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-006-7614-x

Stevens, D. D., & Cooper, J. E. (2009). Journal keeping: How to use reflective writing for learning, teaching, professional insight and positive change. Routledge. (See chapters 4-6 on using journals in the classroom)