Entry 8: Bless, Address, or Press

In this entry, I want to take a plunge into Holly Luke's Entry #4: Thoughts on Journals. In her entry, she highlights the importance of creating personal and dialogue journals. Tompkins (2012) suggests that teachers use personal journals for students who are English language learners because it helps develop writing fluency. Because journal writing is more informal, ELL students are usually more comfortable engaging in the task over more formal writing assignments (p. 129). I would like to bless Holly for challenging this and stating that we need to do this for all of our students. Holly's quote below really got me thinking about my own experiences as an educator and as a student. 

"I think as teachers, we should always keep an open dialogue between our students, first to get to know our students on a personal level and provide them with a safe space to express their thoughts and feelings to a trusted adult, and second to allow them to practice the craft of writing." 

I am currently a special education teacher in a school for children that struggle behaviorally and emotionally. Forming relationships and building trust is fundamental to their success. I wish I created personal dialogue journals with my students a long time ago. I'm wondering what I might have learned about them if I gave them an opportunity to tell me in writing. Sometimes saying something out loud is way harder than writing it down. The pandemic was rough on everyone but especially rough on our kiddos. We are living in a truly unique and challenging time. Personal journals is a great way for students to write informally about what is going on their lives and can serve as a coping skill later in their adult lives. I know I tend to write and journal more when I'm working through difficult transitions in my life. A teacher taught me how to do that! Her name was Mrs. Parmalee and she was my 2nd grade teacher. She gave us an opportunity to journal about whatever we wanted every morning. She responded to our journals everyday and I remember always being excited to see what Mrs. Parmalee wrote back to me. It was motivating! I always remember that I never had enough time to write her back. I would have written for hours if she let me. She is one of the reasons I am a teacher today! 

I want to press and pose a question about the use of mentor texts to introduce personal dialogue journals to students. Is there a mentor text out there that communicates to students that their journals is a safe place for them to write about their feelings and to ask an adult for help? I would love to start personal dialogue journals with my next batch of kiddos. 

Holly also addresses the use of a Simulated Journal where, "students write entries in simulated journals from the viewpoint of a character or historical viewpoint of a book character or historical personality to deepen their comprehension of the story or the historical period." I think simulated journals is a motivating way for students to engage with a particular text. The more motivated students are by the task, the more writing they are going to produce! I think the use of the mentor text "Dear Peter Rabbit" by Alma Flor Ada would really help students take the perspective of different characters while they write their journals. 

I want to bless the thoughtfulness of Holly throughout her post. It is easy to see that she is a devoted and passionate educator who truly cares for her students.