Journals in the Classroom

The purpose of this blog is to summarize articles on teaching English/language arts, from kindergarten through college, published in English education journals from the past.

Topic: Journals in the Disciplines

Title: The Journal Book, edited by Toby Fulwiler. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1987, 402. Reviewed by Anne Johnstone. College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 363-365. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary: Articles on using journals in the classroom, mostly in the humanities.

Comments: I have steadfastly avoided asking students to use personal journals in class, i.e., journals that discuss students’ personal lives; however, I do think that students gain a great deal by using journals to respond to the content of classes in all subjects. Personal responses to ideas and questions about concepts should bring about personal involvement with the class and its ideas and should give teachers an understanding of how students are responding to the course. Most helpful should be questions about what students do not understand.

The authors point out that teachers will need to show students how to use the journals as part of the class. RayS.