Running head: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF JOURNAL WRITING IN ELEMENTARY

GRADES 1

The Effectiveness of Journal Writing in Elementary Grades

Kyaria Walker

Wesleyan College

Author Note

EDR 390 Research Paper Fall 2019

Abstract

Journaling is a strategy that supports composition. When the strategy is used correctly it’s able to

help students generate ideas that span across different subject matters. Fluency, composition and

self-confidence are interictal parts of journaling that directly affects the students. This paper will

uncover the benefits, strategy, reasoning and how to of journal writing in elementary grades with

research and classroom experience to support the claims.

The Effectiveness of Journal Writing in Elementary Grades

Writing in journals can be a powerful strategy for students to respond to literature, gain

writing fluency, dialogue in writing with another student or the teacher, or write in the content

areas. (Cox 2017) Journaling is a self-assessing tool for students and can be an ongoing tool used

in the classroom. Journaling can be used across the different subject areas for example, math

journals, science journals and social studies journals. When we think about journaling, we

typically think about using journals for ELA/ Reading. Journal writing closely resembling the

language of speech. (Brown 1995)

Journal writing usage and effectiveness can vary from grade to grade and from teacher to

teacher. There is no absolute right way to use journals in the elementary or middle school

classroom, but there are many wrong ways. The problems with journal writing are illustrated by

the fact that many, many teachers begin using journals with high hopes, only to abandon them

soon after. Journals without a real purpose seem like busy work to everyone involved, and they

soon fall by the wayside. (Patten Based Writing: Quick and Easy Essay)

Using journals, the correct and effective way can be beneficial to the teachers and

students. Writing strategy’s that are taught can be used in the journals for example, point of view

writing. This can be used in a journal entry to make a connection to the standard being taught.

Benefits

Journal writing provokes reflection and encourages students to take charge of their

learning and their feelings. Journals help students make connections between what is important

to them, the curriculum, and the world. Journaling helps students to be less restrained when

expressing themselves. It gives students time to organize their thoughts to prepare their

responses. This gives them the extra confidence they need to participate in classroom
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF JOURNAL WRITING IN ELEMENTARY GRADES 4

discussions. (Schweighofer 2018) From personal experience, journal writing benefits students

show their mastery of a standard being taught. Students can write about what was taught from

different point of views.

The use of journaling promotes self-evaluation. When students assess their own work. It

is an assignment in itself! Ask them to review their previous journal writing and choose their

favorite and least favorite pieces. They can then write about why they chose these pieces and

how they might complete future journaling assignments differently based on this evaluation.

(Schweighofer 2018)

Journaling can benefits teachers, as well. Teachers can use journal writing to meet

specific goals, for their students. Journaling can also have a wide-open purpose for teachers and

students. Some teachers check journal writing and work on polishing skills; others use journals

as the one "uncorrected" form of writing that students produce. Some teachers provide prompts

to help students begin their writing. Others leave decisions about the direction and flow of

student journals up to the students. (Hopkins 2017)

Strategy

Journal writing can be done at a set time during a class period or day, or students can write in

journals sometime during the day. Journals can also be part of writing conferences with

individuals or small groups. They can also be used to address writing conventions and questions

and needs students may have about spelling, punctuation, word usage, or grammar. Students can

choose to share what they have written, or they can share an idea from the journal that they

would like to explore further with another type of writing (e.g., poetry, story, or letter). Journals

can be used in conferences to discuss these other writing forms. For example, students could

write from the perspective of a personified character, such as an animal or other nonhuman, to

personify, research, and learn more about the personified character, and they could write a

fictionalized version of a diary. The same could be done with a historical figure or a fantasy

creature. Students could put themselves in the place of the character they have learned about,

personified, or imagined and write from their point of view. (Cox 2017) This type of journaling

was done previously under my supervision. Students put themselves in the place of a solider or

child during World War One and used facts that they have either researched or knew from the

lesson to write a journal entry as on of those people or characters. In the journal entry, the

students had to answer certain questions. The questions they had to answer were, when do you

think the war will be over? What is the war like? Is the war anything like we see in the

newspapers and talk about in school? Students used those questions to guide their writing. The

only direction that was given to them was to imagine that they were writing to a relative that was

off fighting in World War one and they had to ask them those specific questions in their writing.

(Walker 2019)
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF JOURNAL WRITING IN ELEMENTARY GRADES 6

How to use journaling in the classroom

If teachers are looking to implement the use of journals in their classroom, they need to

be consistent in their journal usage. Being consistent will help your students become comfortable

with the practice of journal writing. Set aside a special time for daily journaling or ask students

to journal following a lesson. Be sure to allot enough time for students to form and organize their

thoughts and get them out. (Schweighofer 2018)

Also use writing prompts. Writing prompts provide students with a clear goal as to what

you expect them to write about. They also provide you with a way to evaluate what they’re

taking away from a lesson. You will be able to see which aspects of a lesson they connected with.

(Schweighofer 2018)

Journaling can be used in each subject. From personal experience it was used in social studies,

under my supervision. It was used to help students understand life in America during World War

One, the impact of World War One on children and the soldiers. It was also used to coincide with

a read aloud.

Personal Experience

As stated before, journaling is a great self-assessment tool and a way for teachers to gage

mastery of the standard being taught. I think journaling is a great

strategy for students to make connections between writing and a

specific content area. Writing will help students with

comprehension of what is being taught in this specific content area.

My experience with journaling has been very rewarding. In the

integrated unit that I taught saw haw each student took what we

learned about World War one, made up a character and wrote about

Journal Student Work

it. Being able to read the journals gave me insight on what I needed to go back and reteach and

what I needed to do to help my students make greater connections. In the example shown, the

student is using point of view journaling and writing as if they were a child during World War

one. The only guidelines were to use facts that they researched during the journal and make sure

they emphasize their conclusion. This is shows what journaling is all about, being able to make

connections while writing.

References

Brown, S. A. (1995). The effective use of journal writing in a fourth grade classroom, an

inservice for elementary school teachers. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-

project/1073/.

Walker S. E. (2006). Journal writing as a teaching technique to promote reflection.

Journal of athletic training, 41(2), 216–221.

Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay. (n.d.). How to Use Journals in the

Elementary and Middle School Classroom. Retrieved from

https://patternbasedwriting.com/elementary_writing_success/how-to-use-journals-in-the-

elementary-middle-school-classroom/.

Hopkins, G. (2017). Journal Writing Every Day: Teachers Say It Really Works! Retrieved

from https://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr144.shtml.

Finley, T. (2010, September 1). The Importance of Student Journals and How to Respond

Efficiently. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-journals-efficient-teacher-

responses.

Cox, C. (2017, August 23). Journal Writing. Retrieved October 20, 2019, from

https://www.readingrockets.org/article/journal-writing.

Schweighofer, J. (2019, July 3). The Benefits of Journaling in the Classroom. Retrieved

from https://upub.net/blog/the-benefits-of-journaling/.

Walker. K (2019, October) Personal Experience