R/W post #4

    This past week I was truly exposed to journal writing and it's benefits as a learning tool. When asked to think about what journal writing was used for I immediately thought about the reflective process in journaling. This is something I did a lot throughout my student teaching process that allowed for me to assess what had been going well and maybe not so well for the past week. The reflective process is a huge component of teaching and is something that I want to practice during my own teaching career. This mode of writing is also a great tool to use with your students. Having a student's journal allows them "to record experiences, to explore ideas, to ask questions, to activate prior knowledge, to engage the imagination, to assume the role of another person, and to problem solve" (p. 108). Journaling gives students a creative way to navigate through their learning. Tompkins provides us with different options for journaling as well; these are personal journals, dialogue journals, reading logs, double-entry journals, and simulated journals. I really like the idea of incorporating dialogue journals into writing workshops because this type of journal allows students to have a written conversation with their teacher. This allows me as a teacher to provide feedback but also take the time to further understand my students on a more personal level. Another journal type that I would like to incorporate in my future classroom is simulated journals. I think that this is a great way to assess students' understanding of content by having them write from the perspective of a character or historical personality. I will be able to evaluate how well they understood the book or the concept and it also gives them an opportunity to approach the assignment in a creative way. 

    This week's discussion of the journal genre has really influenced my genre pieces project. I have decided that I will have a teacher's journal as one of my genres. I am writing about social emotional learning and COVIDs impact and will be using journaling as a way to show how SEL is more important now than ever. This journal is a mix of a personal journal and a simulated journal, some of the experiences are from my student teaching and current subbing experience and others are experiences I have heard from teachers I work with. I had not thought of using this genre when I first chose my topic but now that I am writing it I am falling in love with how real and genuine the story feels. 

    Something else that I truly enjoyed during this past week's class was reading through many mentor texts. Since I am still an undergraduate student I have not had opportunities to expand my library as much as I would hope to. Seeing and reading through all of these mentor texts gives me so many new ideas and makes me excited to use these as a guide for my future students.