Replacing the Journal Entry

At the beginning of each new semester, I assign my English students to describe or illustrate their individual writing processes.  After explaining my way through confused stares, I grade their assignments, and they never shock me; I have yet to have a student do anything but regurgitate the steps to writing a five paragraph essay; a result of them being drilled for past NC writing assessments.  Until we discuss it in class, most of my students show little evidence of understanding audience, and many even leave out the publishing and sharing elements.


Even though I currently practice the traditional secondary English teacher strategy of having students compose daily journal entries to reflect on life as well as course content, I am considering shifting to one of two other models of daily writing instruction as the new school year approaches; should my students compose daily blogs, or should I have them write hard copy diary entries like Erin Gruwell in Freedom Writers?  The ramifications for my decision could reach farther than non-English teachers realize. Labeling an assignment as a "diary entry" suggests privatization and deep introspection, while blogging requires organized reflection and publication.  My students are used to and prepared for the former, but I find that many do not know what blogs are or how to use them.  


I want the most bang for my buck when it comes to writing instruction. I value the paradigm that all students should write every single day. However, some experts believe that a balance between the number of writing assignments (quantity) and the length of time spent on editing, conferencing, revising, and rewriting an assignment (quality) is essential. "Excessive quantification of written words diminishes the quality of both the writing and the writing experience, just as too much qualification in literary assignments diminishes the quantity of material produced and the thought given to producing it" (Lipson, 2010). Can one of two strategies I am currently considering help provide balance between quantity and quality so that my students are better served?

In a recent tweet, Carol Jago, former president of National Council of Teachers of English, current professor at Western Michigan University and well-known expert in English education, questioned whether or not blogging is replacing the diary and what this means in terms of understanding audience. Hopefully, students understand that what they publish to the Internet instantly becomes public knowledge, so how honest can they be, and does this hinder responsible composition? Having an immediate, random audience of readers may inhibit them from experiencing some of the benefits of keeping a daily diary where their reflections can be completely honest and private; when writing a diary, students can write free of judgement.  


However, a teacher cannot objectively grade assignments such as these, particularly if the student chooses not to let the teacher read such a private reflection (an option which Erin Gruwell in Freedom Writers allowed in her classroom). Thus, an instructor cannot ensure that academic writing skills, such as correct grammar usage, effective argumentation and persuasion, vivid description, and clarity and cohesion are being developed since grading is primarily judgement of one's assignment. This makes me question whether or not grading my students' daily writing assignments is that important afterall; perhaps the main purpose of having them write regularly should be to help them develop into mature adults with efficient coping strategies. 

According to a recent article in The Guardian, keeping a daily journal can make people happier. The article describes a study conducted by psychologists who had volunteers visit a lab for a brain scan before asking them to write for 20 minutes each day for four consecutive days. 50% of the participants wrote about a recent emotional experience while the other 50% wrote about a neutral topic. "Those who wrote about an emotional experience showed more activity in the part of the brain called the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which in turn dampened down neural activity linked to strong emotional feelings" (Sample, 2009). High school is such an emotionally-charged time for so many of my students, so one could conclude that daily diary writing could possibly help many of these teens through the trials and tribulations of adolescence. But should student happiness and emotional comfort be so much a part of my course that twenty out of ninety minutes each school day are dedicated to it? Perhaps so, especially if clearing the emotional air could make room in their brains for new course material. But what about the "real" standards we have to meet?



Despite the introspection and happiness writing a private diary can promote, blogging may be better suited for our classroom needs. Today's new Common Core English Standards require that students develop college and career ready and twenty-first century learner skills, and that they also publish their work. Blogging would come in really handy for this! My students could personalize blog spaces and reflect upon current events, literature and nonfiction, their learning processes and collaborations, and their own ideas about the world. In fact, classrooms all over the country are approaching blogging as literacy.  Many teachers are turning to blogging to help students enjoy writing and develop confidence in their voices.  Educators across all subject areas see blogging as the answer to our nation's literacy problems.  Because students publish their content, they are held accountable by their blog readers; writing more and better becomes an intrinsic value as teachers, students, and the public comment on their posts.  


Of course, my students and I will have to spend time understanding that publishing information online is permanent and wide-reaching.  And, I will have to ensure that whatever blog tool I choose to use is safe and is compliant with the requirements of my school district's acceptable use policy.  Parents will want to know that their children are safe from Internet predators, but maybe they would enjoy spending a few minutes on their lunch breaks checking out their students' thoughts on Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail", or Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience"- two readings we explore extensively.  What a great way to incorporate families into my students' education, a difficult task for many high school teachers!  


In a book titled Cohesive Writing, Carol Jago maintains that writing cohesively "...means doing many things at once- wrestling with ideas, balancing form and function, pushing words this way and that, attending to syntax and diction, and employing imagery and metaphor until a coherent message emerges" (Jago, 2002).  As long as my students are engaging in each of these activities, perhaps it does not matter which strategy I use for writing instruction.  While I am leaning towards using a combination of both, I plan on soliciting the advice of my more experienced colleagues once the school year begins; perhaps we can work together to create our own new system of writing instruction for English students at Bartlett Yancey High School which combines both strategies.  Perhaps teachers of other subjects will adopt our strategies, thus fostering cross-curricular instruction and writing across the disciplines.    

Resources
[Image of the writing process] n. d. Retrieved from http://www.oncoursesystems.com/school/webpage.aspx?id=11047592&xpage=960085
[Image of the diary entry] n. d. Retrieved from http://weheartit.com/entry/31905839
[Image of Shakespeare blogging] n. d. Retrieved from http://www.teachingcollegeenglish.com/2011/02/
[Image of the importance of writing] n. d. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&um=1&hl=en&biw=1920&bih=872&tbm=isch&tbnid=-1CbAw4RXtExkM:&imgrefurl=http://eqafe.com/p/the-importance-of-writing&docid=KQ73GjrIq3FOrM&imgurl=http://eqafe.com/uploads/product/image/205/the-importance-of-writing.jpg&w=357&h=500&ei=g8f1T5aOJYqQ9gS4xd30Bg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=468&vpy=105&dur=15480&hovh=266&hovw=190&tx=142&ty=97&sig=109124790102288938946&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=117&tbnw=84&start=0&ndsp=54&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:79
[Image of students typing] n. d. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-09-13/writers-go-online-in-a-bid-to-get-noticed/2257850
[Image of Cohesive Writing book] n. d. Retrieved from http://www.tower.com/cohesive-writing-carol-jago-paperback/wapi/101860364
Lipson, S. (2010). Teachers.net. Retrieved from http://teachers.net/gazette/FEB02/lipson.html
Jago, C. (2002). Cohesive writing . (p. 144). Boynton/Cook.
Sample, Ian. "Keeping a diary makes you happier." The guardian . N.p., 2009. Web. 7 Jul 2012. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/feb/15/psychology-usa>.