Journal Writing in Middle School English Classes

Josiah Fallot

My Context

• School: Mar Lee• Classes: 6th-8th grade English• Focus on grammar

Question: How do we use journals?

• Warm-ups (grammar problems, timed writing, etc.)

• Rough drafts • Vocabulary words• Free Writing– Referred to as expressive writing (Bangert-Drowns,

Hurley, and Wilkinson, 2004)

Warm-Up Example

Rough Draft Example

Vocabulary Example

Free Write ExamplesFor my free write I am going to write about my horse show tomorrow. Tomorrow is my very first horseshow. I am very nervous. I can barely run on a horse yet. I don’t think i’m ready. My grandma said that I don’t have to run it for my first couple shows. She said I could go as fast as I want. I am scared that my horse trainer is going to tell my horse to run out there. Then she will take off and I will fall. I really want another month or so to practice. After tomorrow, I will run again. The horse show on sunday is for a kid who has cancer. All the money goes to paying for his surgery. I am so proud to run for charity. This is what I’m doing over the weekend.

I went to a foot ball game last night. The olivet egeals were playing against the Falcons. The eagles lost though. But my brother got to play. He played half the game. He wasn’t sad that they lost. This was there first loss. There record is seven wins and one loss. The egals are great!!! It was super cold last night. I Think it was worse beause we sat up at the top of the sadium.

Last Friday my great grandmother passed away so I was gone wensday. Because of her loss times are hard on our family right now. She died of cancer, she had lung cancer for 3 years. As soon as her family (except for me, my parents and my sisters) she finnaly let go. My great grandma had a big time sweet tooth. For breakfast an Saturday mornings she would serve ice cream with chocolate sauce, cherrys, peanuts and choclate covered sunflower seeds. It was hard to get over but remembering the way she always smiled helped. She was a peacful person and just wanted to live life any way she could get it. She accepted that she had cancer and Just kept On living. She didn’t try to fight, she just went along with it. She never made a big deal about ANYTHING. What she told my dad and my dad told me was: If we didn’t love so much, it

Benefits of Journal Use

• Provides a personal connection with students• Adds organization to the classroom• Assessment: Displays student growth over time– Link to metacognition

• Improves comprehension of literature(Wong et al., 2002)

Challenges

• Time• Dealing with a student’s personal world• Definitive assessment

Future Considerations

• Continued use of journals• Student-teacher connection• Differentiation of instruction through

individual feedback

Acknowledgments

• Stacy Tucker• Albion’s Education Department• Dr. Suellyn Henke• Teachers and staff at Mar Lee School

References• Bangert-Drowns, Robert L., Marlene Hurley, and Barbara Wilkinson. “The Effects of School-Based Writing-

to-Learn Interventions on Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis.” Review of Educational Research 74:1 (2004): 29-58. Web.

• Tucker, Stacy. Personal Interview. 15 November 2012.

• Wong, Bernice et al. “Effects of Guided Journal Writing on Students’ Story Understanding.” The Journal of Educational Research 95:3 (2002): 179-191. Web.

Questions?