Argues for the value of reading and interpreting autobiographical writing in a high school literature class. Explains a teaching method whereby students are asked to choose a special passage and respond to it in their journals from a personal viewpoint. Suggests that the sharing of these passages in class builds class chemistry. (TB)

Presents a case study of a mentoring triad involving a first-year, African American teacher, her mentor, and her principal, noting the use of reflection and reciprocal journaling to reflect on and dialogue about the challenges of teaching in a large urban high school. The article focuses on the teacher's professional competence and the teacher as…

Discusses the Facts and Feelings Response Diary strategy for assisting middle school students in inclusive settings to connect both efferently and aesthetically with informational text. Notes that this activity stimulates students to focus their attention on important facts and details and to use their prior experiences, feelings, interests,…

Describes a project involving student journal writing designed to examine middle graders' mathematical thinking and disposition. Teachers gained insight into students' conceptual and procedural knowledge and attitudes toward mathematics. Students' responses suggested that they found journals to be a way of sharing their thoughts about mathematics,…

Looks at the design, implementation, and integration of a task journal in an English-as-a-Foreign-Language class that is designed to do the following: 1) stimulate students' thinking about the text; 2) promote reflection on the reading process; 3) give students practice with a practical strategy for vocabulary building; and 4) serve as a basis for…

A 10-session anger management program was offered in a therapeutic day school for adolescents with emotional or behavioral disorders. Booster sessions to maintain gains were provided. Participants exhibited a reduction in peer fighting, an increase in talking with a counselor when angry, and an increase in using anger logs. (Contains references.)…

Suggests that, in the author's experience teaching fiction to high school students, the key to their understanding a work lies in their ability to make connections with the characters. Notes the importance of using many activities to enable all of the students to understand character. Describes three such activities, incorporating brainstorming,…

Shares how the author's process of self-study led to the development of a planning framework that protected her from mandated packaged teaching programs. Suggests tips for starting and sustaining teaching journals. Describes the steps she took to approach the structured teaching plan of her new school that differed greatly from her holistic…

Describes a student's journal entry which discusses her response to a work of digital fiction. Reads the journal entry as a resistance narrative, an assemblage, a remediation, and an emergence. Reflects upon the changes in instruction and identity that occur in computer classrooms, online course supplements, and Internet classes. (PM)

Shares the observations of an educator visiting a high school classroom. Comments on how planning can support students' initial responses and their deeper thinking. Argues that teachers of literature can be both intuitively planful and planfully spontaneous in providing students with powerful language tools for shaping personal meaning. (MG)

Explores the use of journals as teaching tools. Finds modifications are necessary to accommodate the differences between the psychology professor's goals and the composition teacher's goals. Recommends using dialectical reasoning entries and lists some practical methods to encourage students to think critically. (NL)

Argues that writing centers can unintentionally emphasize writing-for-evaluation at the expense of writing-for-learning. Proposes that writing centers help students write productive journal entries; coach students in freewriting; appeal directly to students in writing-for-learning courses; and sponsor ongoing faculty education in…

Explores how high school students' reading logs reveal their reading processes as they read and respond to literature. Examines the reading logs from three eleventh-grade English classes throughout the school year. (MM)

Describes a study conducted to examine the effects of journal writing on student performance in a math course offered as part of an eight-week summer program for educationally and economically disadvantaged youth. Indicates that students who completed practice exercises at the end of class performed better than those who wrote in their journals…

A primary school in Cali, Colombia, has implemented major changes intended to give students a more active role in their education. Encouraged by new government guidelines, teachers banished letter grades and began to assess students on mastery of curriculum objectives. During parent-teacher conferences, children speak confidently about their…