Just Write Journals

I use Just Write Journals mostly every day in our ESOL class.  On our agenda board the J.W.J. prompt is written.  Students immediately begin writing in their journals while I take attendance and take care of other housekeeping duties.  I collect the journals every 2 weeks.  Each journal is worth 20 points.  I mostly check for completion, however I do leave comments and feedback.  

The heading for each journal consists of the date, the entry number and the topic.  Entry numbers are assigned according to nine weeks.  For example, we are now beginning the second nine weeks.  Mondays entry number will be 2.1.  By the end of the nine weeks, I know how many journal entries each student should have.  Bonus points are given to students who put in extra effort.  This might be a descriptive graphic, an extraordinary response or just demonstrating more effort than usual.  Credit is always given.  The only prompts that don't receive credit are the ones that aren't there.  

This writing strategy and practice has proven to be very effective in my ESOL class.  We can see the progression of their writing throughout the year.  It provides for many samples of their writing.  It gives them a place to practice using new words and newly learned writing skills.  We encourage students to use their best English.  Bilingual entries are certainly encouraged for beginners.  If a bilingual entry is too difficult, students are encouraged to write in their first language.  Prompts are translated through online translators.  

 We try to keep the journals light and fun so that students will not grow weary of writing.  Sometimes we surprise students with a stapled air head or book mark just to show how much I appreciate their effort.  

We use composition books.  I've used spiral notebooks before, but they don't endure well.  I've also used pre-printed sheets for students to put in their binders.  I loved it, however it's way too expensive.  And, obviously, takes time to copy.  One year we created our own journals by stapling folded copy paper together.  We had a homemade journal for each nine weeks.  This worked fine except I had to provide the paper.  Again, costly.  The composition books seemed to work the best for us.  At the end of each nine weeks we fold our next page into a triangle to mark the beginning of a new quarter.  This provides for dividers.  Students who write in the front and back of each page usually don't have to purchase a new composition book the entire year.  

Grading is not time consuming for me because I don't have as many students as a non-ESOL teacher would have.  However, all our 8th grade team uses this strategy.  One teacher checks the journals each day.  She reads them as students are writing, and checks them simultaneously.  Another teacher collects journals every two weeks and gives students 10 points for each finished entry.  One more idea is to randomly choose an entry to use for a grade.  

Here are some journal ideas we use in our class: 

J.W.J = Just Write Journal

* This acronym goes on the agenda board on journal writing days.

C.Y.O.T.  = Choose Your Own Topic ("Coyote Day")

* Students are allowed to write about any topic of their choice.  Usually we brainstorm topics and fill the board with possible ideas.

W.W. = Word Write 

* This is a vocabulary strategy.  We choose one word a day from our vocabulary list.  Students have choices to write a narrative or a persuasive argument using the vocabulary word as their topic.  

A.A. = All About _________ 

*At the beginning of a unit or workshop, we use this prompt as our introduction.  Students write all they know about the specific topic or skill we are about to study.  If students don't have any background knowledge, they need to build it by either interviewing someone or doing a quick search online.  Usually we have a quick class discussion to get their juices flowing.

N.I.K.  = Now I Know ____________ (skill)  ("Nick Day")

* At the end of a unit, we use this prompt as a "reflection".  Students write about all that they have learned concerning the specific skill they learned.

C.E. = Current Events
*Students may choose topics from the news or just their own life.

CURRENTLY
* I found this idea in many blogs I've followed.  (Take a look at my blog list.)  Students write the word CURRENTLY on the top of their paper.  Then, I project a list of sentence starters that includes the pronoun "I" and a verb on our screen.  Students then finish the sentences using ideas from experiences, feelings or activities they are currently involved in.  This is a great strategy for English Language Learners.

REFLECTIONS
* We use the journal at the end of a unit of study to reflect on lessons learned, activities we've worked on, and student-ratings of the activities.

Visual Prompts
* Students receive a 3 by 5 black and white picture in their mailbox on the given day.  Students then glue-stick the picture into their journal entry and write a narrative, informational or argumentative response referencing the picture.

 Reactions
* Students are asked to react to certain articles, stories or facts we are currently reading about in class based on personal opinion and bias.

Paragraph Frames
* Students are given a cloze paragraph referring to a certain topic or vocabulary word.  Students write the entire paragraph in their journals including their responses to the blanks.

Write/Pair/Share
*Students share their journal entries with a buddy.  This provides students with the opportunity to practice reading their own writing and finding their own errors.

Class Journal
Last year we kept a Class Journal.  Each week students were given a poll question to answer.  I had a student do the math and create the statistics for the class according to the responses.  Then, in our class journal students would share the reason for their poll choice.  This year we haven't had the opportunity to continue the Class Journal idea.  Maybe we'll pick it up during the second semester.


Happy Journaling!