Argues that reading comprehension is better measured in performance contexts than in decontextualized standardized tests (especially for the nonhearing) and that dialogue journal writing is a better method of testing reading comprehension. Five types of comprehension can be isolated in journals: propositions, questions, inferential messages,…

After focusing on pedagogical skills during their fifth year of graduate study, teacher candidates at Portland State University (Oregon) take a summer course in reflective practice. Inspired by Robert Coles's ideas, the course emphasizes the teacher as character. Students read real and fictional stories about teachers' experiences to gain…

At Arizona State University, undergraduate teacher candidates were asked to make biweekly journal entries relating course content to beliefs and knowledge about teaching, classroom applications, children's probable responses, and personal reflections about teaching and learning. Many students organized their entries according to a…

Describes how journals can be used to explore students' perceptions of self and society. Analyzes ("deconstructs") student journal entries to examine the language used to express experiences, and notes that encouraging students to examine their own entries helps them find language that more closely coincides with their realities. (MM)

A software package, ThinkingLand, was developed to help students' understanding of the content and thinking processes involved when using multimedia. Topics include multimedia reports and knowledge building; journal writing; collaboration; procedural facilitations; and the design and instructional applications of ThinkingLand. (AEF)

Discusses 10 "truths" about teaching, including idle minds are worse than idle hands; whatever the reading assignment, there's a video; there are no dull subjects; discipline is not a teacher's first worry; and keep a daily journal. (RS)

Describes how one teacher used journal writing with student writers. Discusses the reasons for using student journals and claims that journal use is most effective when the teacher's objectives and expectations are thoroughly examined. (HB)

Describes a parenting group for recovering addicts in which poetry, journal keeping, and creative writing are instrumental in the group process. Shows how they are used to set a therapeutic environment and establish a working alliance within the group, to reinforce concepts learned about the parent-child relationship, and to enhance communication…

Forty college students in a first-year biology course were randomly assigned to a learning journal (experimental) or scientific report (control) group. Results showed that the experimental group used more metacognitive strategies and more sophisticated cognitive strategies during a learning task. (SLD)

Describes a three-part assignment in which each student writes a complaint letter and an adjustment letter responding to another student's complaint letter. Discusses how the third part of the assignment--journal entries--allows students to formulate their own criteria for excellent letters based upon their reactions to the letters they receive.…

Describes how an English teacher used journal writing and how it improved the quality of the other writing his students did. Discusses specific journal writing assignments and details ways to help students maintain their journal writing. (RS)

Describes a method of including students into a community of readers through which they are encouraged to respond individually to literary texts. Shows how writing prompts can be used in the classroom to foster reader response and the integrity of each reader's interpretation of a text. (HB)

Describes how a teachers uses children's literature to immerse students in the living past. Presents students' poems and excerpts from student journals to document students' reactions to using historical fiction in the classroom. (RS)

Describes an English teacher's struggle to improve her writing instruction by improving her own writing process, incorporating a commentary or reflection step. The teacher used journal writing with her high school students to help them reflect upon their writing of short stories. (KS)

Instructors preparing students to be adult educators can have them keep journals as tools to develop the habits of intentional reflection on practice and as a form of professional dialogue through which the instructor can serve as mentor. (SK)