Express Yourself! Individual Student Journals

Lesson Objectives	
	Upon completion of this lesson, students should be able to:
1.	Articulate their thoughts, feelings, and opinions about topics being studied
2.	Express ideas about themselves in the learning experience
3.	Formulate impromptu personal responses to prompts and quotes
4.	 
Introduction
	Starting in the first week of school, and continuing throughout the semester or school year, everyone will have the opportunity to express themselves in an open and honest forum without restriction on what or how things are said. Furthermore, the comments, thoughts, or opinions will not be graded or criticized, and most often not even reviewed for comment. What is the purpose of an assignment like this? You might ask yourself the question, but you might also know the answer as well. YOU are the purpose! The only real requirement for the lesson is that you apply yourself with honest and genuine sincerity toward each entry in an Individual Student Journal that draws from prior knowledge and personal experience. Journal writing is an informal writing activity that encourages the free expression of thoughts, feelings, and opinions dealing with the relationship between you the student and the course content. Simplicity is the key as you are encouraged to express yourselves without the constraints of mechanics, usage, criticism, or correction. You will have the opportunity to chronicle your thoughts, feelings, and ideas throughout the course, and to develop a document that will offer you insight into and reflection on your educational growth through the year.
Plan
1.	During the first few days of the new school year, have students bring to class a small spiral notebook with a minimum of 200 pages, college ruled.
•	Using a black permanent marker; have them put their name, course name, and class period on the front cover
•	Have a file storage box available for each class for which you are using the individual journal activity; correctly labeled
•	Once all students have a notebook in the class box, begin the lesson
2.	Define and explain Expressive Writing – the opportunity to articulate thoughts, feelings, and opinions about the topics that come up in readings, subject material, assigned prompts, and in class discussions, through the use of recalling and relating past relevant experiences your education and life.
•	Writing for oneself, or individual student’s choice of audience without anxiety of judgment or criticism
•	No expectation of proper mechanics, usage, spelling or revision
•	Helps students become personally involved with new topics, creating better understanding, by reflecting on previous knowledge and experience
•	Clearly writing down one’s thoughts in coherent expression
3.	Describe and explain the Individual Student Journal writing process – informal expressive writing activity chronicling the relationships between student and subject material.
•	No grade for content of journal, graded only for participation, execution, and effort each grading period; this should include an informal review of responses and effort, in a face to face interview with each student per grading period
•	Frequency of activity is important; minimum of three times per week
•	Journals should be kept in the classroom at all times
•	Students can make an entry at any time on their own as well; in reaction to any aspect of the course or classroom interaction that inspires or elicits a response
•	Model a response, using a typical example for a journal entry, demonstrating recall and activation of prior knowledge and experience
•	Demonstrate use of concept map to organize thoughts efficiently
•	Allow students opportunity to work a practice example; monitor effort
•	Show the following to reinforce TeacherTube Videos - Benefits of Journaling
4.	Assign a prompt at the beginning of a class period; to be started as soon as students enter the room and settle into their seats. (Suggested topics on Supplemental Sheet)
•	Keep activity to about 5-7 minutes or one page per entry; at least three per week
•	Include entry #, date, title, and the prompt (future reference if needed)
•	Prompts are generated from reading, quotes, passages, themes, current events, OERs
•	Optional do not read policy; student folds from top outside corner to gutter and labels (allows private reflection without judgment, cultivates trust)
o	Too many entries like this can indicate personal concerns for an individual student that should be addressed with appropriate parties; do not break the student’s trust and read them without their knowledge
Applying the Lesson
	By continuing to freely express yourself in a writing journal, you can develop an expert comfort level for articulating your own thoughts and feelings about any content material presented. Command of self expression through writing not only cultivates relationships with new topics, but also with insight to one’s own growth and development in the educational environment. Eventually, this self reflective skill will generate a habit of life-long learning and the motivation to try to better understand the world around you. 

For independent practice:  have students respond as often as possible to prompts, quotes, or topics provoking genuine reactions.  Expressive writing, particularly in an individual journal, can expand and enhance a learners view and understanding of topics within a course subject. The more frequently the journal is used, the more the relationship will develop between the students and the content, or most importantly between them and their education in general. By personally connecting with education, students become aware of their own ability to impact understanding it through the exploration of their thoughts, feelings, and opinions in a low risk writing activity.
Materials Needed
	College ruled spiral notebooks, minimum 200 sheets; whiteboard or projector; prepared list of potential prompts or topics relevant to the curriculum and content area
Journal prompts or topics
Sample prompts for Student Independent Journal:	
1.	Almost every day we make decisions based on our—and society’s—ideas of what is right and wrong. How do we know we’re doing the right thing? What can you learn from examining tough decisions that others make? Why do you think it’s important to understand ethical choices people made in the past?
	Respond to and share your thoughts and feelings about these questions; what are your ideas on the subject?
2.	Have you ever made a difficult decision based solely on emotion? How did it turn out? Quite often we have to make decisions based on how it affects others in our lives, even though human nature tends to lead us to make decisions for our own benefit.
	What do you do when you are faced with a decision where none of the options are agreeable, but you must choose one? Explain your thought process.
3.	Change is hard, yet it is one of the most consistent aspects of life. As we travel on our journey, opportunities will arise that will allow us to make a new start, or intentionally change something about ourselves that may be a weakness or flaw. Starting over again is difficult, but we probably all will face it several times in our lives.
	Describe a time or event in your life where you had an opportunity to start over, or make a significant change in who you are or how you do things. What were the circumstances and outcomes?
4.	“If you’re ridin’ ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there.” – Will Rogers
	The quote about leadership says a great deal with very few words. What does it mean to you? What traits does it address in a leader? How does it imply a mutual relationship?
5.	“Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”              –John Wooden
	Reflect on whether or not you agree with this statement and why. Share an example from your experience. How is this quote more relevant to someone your age?
6.	An exceptional list of historical quotes should be used as much as possible from the OER repository Curriki.com:  Curriki - HistoricalQoutesWarmUps; use the concept map for the question structure and organization

7.	Alfred Nobel is known for two historical events in his life; the invention of dynamite, and the founding of the Nobel Peace Prize through his will.  How is this statement an example of irony?  (See Nobel Prize - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; for more information on Alfred Nobel.)  After viewing the following video clip, http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/atomi10m.mpg; explain what is ironic about it? How does it impact you personally? When do you think this was made, and why? What examples of irony do you see every day?

Organize Your Thoughts

Independent Student Journal Prompt

In context?

What does this mean? #1

Why?

To me?

Do I agree with this topic or statement?         #2

Why not?

Why?

How does this make me feel? #3

To what extent?

Why?

Example?

Do I have any experience with the topic? #4

When?

Why?

How does this topic relate to the subject being taught?         #5

Example?

Why?