ACADEMIC JOURNAL TOPICS Use at the Beginning of Lesson 1. 2. 3. Tell what you know about ___________(a new concept).

What is your opinion about ______________ (topic of the day)? Describe an experience you have had relating to _________ (topic of the day). 4. Explain how _________(topic of the day) plays a part in your life. 5. Explain how _________(topic of the day) will play a part in your life ten years from now. 6. Summarize what you have learned so far about __________(previously studied topic). 7. What has been the impact of _________(previously studied topic) on your life? 8. Describe a difficulty you have had related to __________(new or previously studied topic). 9. How do you think __________ (previously studied topic) relate to _______(new topic)? 10. List from one to three questions about _________(new topic). 11. Do you think your classmates understand what's going on? If not, why not? 12. Why is the teacher presenting this lesson? Use in the Middle of the Lesson 1. Write a question you have about anything we have discussed so far. 2. Write a sentence telling how knowing about ________(new topic) might be useful to you personally. 3. What is interfering with your learning right now? 4. How do you feel about this issue now? 5. How would you feel about this issue if you were _________(someone likely to have a different perspective)? 6. What are you thinking about right now? 7. How to you feel when you hear someone one say______________(a controversial statement about the topic of study)? 8. How do you think your best friend (or boyfriend or girlfriend) feels about ___________(controversial topic)? Use at the End of a Lesson 1. How do you think your feelings about ________(new topic) is different from your teachers (or friends or parents)? 2. Summarize what you have learned today about ______(new topic). 3. Write a revised definition of __________(new concept). 4. Write a question you still have about ____________(new concept). 5. Explain how ________(new topic) relates to ________(old topic). 6. How could the teacher have made this lesson more interesting? 7. How could the teacher have made this lesson easier to understand? 8. How will you use the information you learned today? 9. What went wrong with the lesson today? 10. What was good about the lesson today?

Journal Writing in the Classroom

An effective Journal Writing program doesn't mean you just sit back and relax while your kids write about whatever they want. See how you can use journal topics, classical music, and checklists to make the most of your students' daily writing time. In my third grade classroom, students write in journals every day for about 20 minutes. Each day, after read-aloud time, the kids go back to their desks, pull out their journals, and start writing! By writing every day, the students gain fluency while getting a chance to practice important punctuation, spelling, and style skills in context. Most days, I give them a specific topic to write about. On Fridays, the students are so excited because they have "free write," which means they get to write about whatever they want! Many teachers let their students write about whatever they want every day. But, in my experience, student writing can tend to get silly with a lack of focus. This way, students stay focused on a particular theme or topic. Here is a list of teacher-tested journal topics to help you get started in your journal writing routine: What do you like to do at recess? Do you think boys or girls have it easier? Do you think you have too many chores? If you could choose whichever chores you want, which ones would you prefer to do? What would you do if everyone in your family forgot your birthday? If you could travel in a time machine and go any distance into the past or future, where would you decide to go? Why? What makes our class special? If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do? If you could choose any bedtime you wanted, what time would you pick? Pretend that you were already grown up with children. How would you treat them differently from the way your parents treat you? Would you like to have an identical twin? What would be the best thing about it? What would be the worst thing about it? Are you excited to grow up? What does it mean to be "grown-up" and what do you think will be the best thing about it? What about the worst thing? I try to come up with interesting topics that are fun for the kids to write about. You can also try your local teacher supply store for topics or check out a kids' books of questions. Just like adults, children are more likely to write in a lively and engaging manner if they are entertained by the topic. While the students are writing, I play soft classical music. I've explained to the kids that classical music, especially Mozart, makes you smarter. So, every day, they want to be really quiet so that they can hear the music and get smarter! The music also sets a serious tone for productive, quality writing. After each student finishes writing, he or she consults a small checklist that is pasted into the inside cover of the journal. The student makes sure that he or she has included all of the important elements for a journal entry. The kids know that, every so often, I will collect the journals and grade them on their latest entry. They don't know when I will collect them so they need to be "on their toes." Here is the checklist that my students and I use: Date (1 point) Neatness/Handwriting (1 point) Capitals (1 point) Periods (1 point) 1-2 sentences (1 point) 3-4 sentences (2 points) 5 or more sentences (3 points) Total (out of 10 points)

When I collect and grade the journals, I staple one of these small checklists to the corrected page so that the students can see which points they received and which areas need improvement. I also write a short note of comment and encouragement to each student, inside their journals, letting them know that I enjoyed their writing and to keep up the great work. During the last few minutes of Journal time, I ask for volunteers that would like to read their journals out loud to the class. This is a fun sharing time where the other students need to practicing their listening skills. Often, they spontaneously start clapping when a classmate has written and shared something really special. As you can see, there's much more to Journal Writing than just setting your students loose with a blank pad of paper. With proper structure and inspiration, children will come to cherish this special writing time as one of their favorite times of the school day. Have fun with it!