When I was a student I can remeber doing writing assignment in a blue book that was provided to us. One of my favorite journal writing experiences was a journal that we had to write in as if we were on the Oregon trail. Once or twice a week we would use the journal as if it were a diary. We were to write what we thought might have happened to us on that day. I though this experience was particularly helpful becuase it really allowed us to try to imagine what life was like back then. There were also many other writing prompts that we used in school. In my Tuesday experience classroom the students just completed a writing propt by using thier senses. The student were asked to use their senses to describe their favorite place and then to write a paragraph about it.
There are seven types of journals that Tompkins has described that can be used for different ideas expressed through language arts.The first is personal journals. This is ussually the first type of journal writing that students are exposed to. The second type of journal writing is dialogue journals. These journals are interactive and allow students to recieve feedback about their writing similar to what we are doing with the blogs. The third type is reading logs. Students use these to to write about stories or other books that they have been reading. The fourth is double entry journals. Students will use this to write quotes from the story in the left column and in the write column make text to world connections. The next type is language arts notebooks. Students are able to record a variety of language arts information about language arts topics. The last two types of journal writing are learning logs and simmulated journals. For learning logs students record about what they are learning in other content areas. While using simulated journals studtns assume the role of the character and write from their perspective.
Teachers can evaluate journals by giving students one point for every entry made. Teachers want to remember that someof students writing may be personal and can be indicated by students writing read me at the top of an entry or by writing private.
The types of letters that students write are friendly letters, business letters, and simulated letters. Friendly letters are used to help students learn to write letters. When they have decided to write a friendly letter they need someone to write to. It can be to a pen pal and author or other. Business letters arr used to help students to seek information. Simulated letters are used to help students assume the identity of historical figure and then to write a letter that would have been written by that person.
Teachers can incoperate this into their instructional programs by allowing students to write to an author that they have read about or to allow students to write business letters to ask questions to further their understanding.
I believe that Reeny would love personal writing. It would allow her to write about what she wants to write about. It would be a way for her to talk about herself and talk about Lionni. I believe she would be excited and enjoy this time spent.
Paley would want use to remember that it is personal. It is a way to get to know the students and be able to discover their interests. Once a teacher has discovered a common theme she will be able to encorperate that into the classroom. Students will learn best when they are exploring something about what they are interested in.
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3 comments:
WOW! I totally forgot about the Oregon Trail! That really brings back a lot of fun memories from my past. I really loved the idea of the Oregon Trail it really helped me get a feel of how things were before our time. Just like you, I also had to do writing prompts about it and looking back I can see just how much that has helped me. In my Tuesday Experience classroom, my teacher does a lot of writing prompts. Right now, she is focusing and giving the children minilessons on how a story is written and what the best and effective ways are to write a story. I find that writing prompts and minilessons really help the children develop not only writing skills, but also reading and spelling skills. Also, each student has a writing journal and every morning for about the first 20-25 minutes, the students are to write in their journals about a certain topic. During this time period, my teacher is able to do running records and any other work that needs to be completed.
Alicia, what it your favorite type of journal writing? From what your teacher does in Tuesday Experience, do you think you will impliment any of her writing activities as a future teacher?
Your tips were very helpful, organized and percise. Thank you!
Christina,
I have not been able to see much use of journals in my classroom. There is one particular prompt that I was able to see that I really enjoyed and would impliment in my furture classroom. All of the students were asked to think of their favorite outdoor place and to describe it using their five senses. They were to come up with five descriptive words for each sense.Once they had completed this they were to take all of their words and write a short paragraph about the place that they had choosen. I thought that this was a great idea because it will really help student to expand on details in their writing.
My favorite type of journal writing is simulated journals. I feel that it really allows the children to put themselves in the shoes of a specific character. Also it is fun and allows the students to assume the identity of someone that they would not ussually be. They are forced to think not about how they would respond to something but how the character they are portraying would.
When I was in 6th grade, I remember writing friendly letters in class. When we first walked into the classroom, we had to start working on a friendly letter to one of our classmates. We had a class list, and we had to work through the entire list, that way every one received about the same number of letters each week. We got to practice writing something every day. They were not long letters, but it was a writing experience. I still remember reading some of those letters from my classmates. It was a great experience.
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