Journal Project and Evaluation
This semester you will be keeping a daily journal. Though this might be a tedious task to some at first, most every student should find it rewarding prior to the close of the term. The purpose of the journal:
- To provide seeds of thought, as a catalyst to other writing.
- To provide a place to record reflections on one's own writing process
- To experience journaling firsthand, hopefully discovering new possibilities for future journal writing with your own students.
Journal Evaluation I:
Your Journal Behavior:
- How many entries have you made in your journal since the beginning of the term? (you make an entry every time you write. You might have more than one entry on some days; you may skip on a day or so as well).
- On how many dates have you written?
- What is the greatest number of entries you have made on one date?
- Have you used any of this writing for purposes other than the journal itself?
- In how many locations have you written during this period of time? List three of the locations.
The Art of Detail:
- Have you written a description of a place? If so, what is the place you describe? Copy three sensory details from that description.
- Have you written a description of a person? If so, copy three sensory details from one such description.
- Which of the fullowing have you described using three or more sensory details: an object, food, the weather, an event, an internal state (emotional or intellectual)? Copy details to substantiate.
- Have you experimented with use of image (photograph, drawing, sketch, painting, cullage) as a stimulus for creative/critical thought? Provide examples to illustrate.
- On the basis of the above, do you believe that you are using your journal effectively to practice the art of detail?
- What is your favorite sentence in your journal?
- What is your favorite word or phrase?
Process Entries:
- How and how often did you make use of your journal to reflect on the writing process? Include a process entry. Did you learn anything about yourself as a writer from this writing?
- How do you feel about your journal at this point? It is reasonable to have mixed feelings about how it works for you. How does it? How doesn't it?
Journal Evaluation II
Notice there is some repetition from your first evaluation; this is to see how your journal writing has changed for you.
Journal Behavior - repeat as in Journal Evaluation I
Journal Entries: Please copy from your journal two short entries, or parts of entries. Find a typical entry, the kind of entry you tend to make over and over. Find an unusual entry, one that stands out from the others.
Use of Journal:
- Review Lance's use of his basketball journal in From the Other Side of the Desk (page 95-96). How does the journal serve you as a way to better understand your world? How does the journal serve you as a way to act upon your world?
- Read over your journal since the last journal evaluation. Are you using more or less detail than you did in the first half of the term? Has the way you have used your journal changed?