Dialogue journals are notebooks in which students write to their teacher, in English, about whatever they choose, to which the teacher responds without correcting any errors. The objective is a written conversation. One Los Angeles sixth grade teacher used the technique with a linguistically diverse class consisting of 27 students from 12…

The personal journal has become a standard component of the writing curriculum, yet there is little research to support dramatic claims for its effectiveness. Journals, which differ from personal diaries or common notebooks, are associated with the "Neo-Platonist or Expressionist" approach to writing instruction, yet adherents of other…

Even for gifted students, the writing process resulting in an effective composition is a complex one, often overlooked in gifted education. The process begins with expressive writing, wherein the writer explores ideas and tries to find a focus. Subsets in the writing process include inventing, gathering outside materials, drafting, and revising…

Dialogue journal writing offers students of English as a second language (ESL) authentic, natural communication practice in the classroom. It is an interactive, self-generative, cumulative and functional writing/reading exchange between student and teacher, and is being used successfully in many kinds of ESL classrooms, with all age groups, and…

This pilot study of the structural characteristics of daily routines of young children also explored aspects of conceptual framework and research instruments. Four data collection instruments were developed. Two of the three retrospective measures used were questionnaires for mothers about their child's routine on the previous day. The other…

A study documenting and describing dialogue journal writing in a group of nine tenth graders in an Australian secondary school English class is reported. The overall purpose was to understand the nature of dialogue journal writing and to assess its value as a suitable mode of encouraging writing among secondary students. Specific aspects of…

Rural working-class women of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are rarely heard from as writers. The letters and diaries of such women that are available give virtually no information about culture, politics, or the arts, and they practically never contain an opinion. Instead, they provide minute, repetitive observations, with…

Recognizing the widespread use of journal keeping, divergent views of the process, and the dearth of formal attempts to study this process, this study determined the cumulative (post-28 days) and immediate (daily) effects of unstructured (journal) and structured (bipolar checklist) self-evaluative writing upon self-evaluation and…

The social and psychological factors which affect one person's acquisition of a second language are described in journal format. The psychological factors discussed are: (1) language shock, (2) culture shock, and (3) culture stress. The two social factors examined are both grouped under the term "social distance" but include (1) types of…

The significance of authors' reading notes may lie not only in their mechanical function as information storage devices providing raw materials for writing, but also in their ability to concentrate and to mobilize the latent emotional and creative resources of their keepers. This document examines records of reading found in the published…

Brief daily notebook entries by the teachers and therapists who worked with a developmentally disabled child provided valuable information for parents. The notebook served as a summary of daily activities and noteworthy events, a diary of developmental changes, and a record of medical information. (JW)

Since 1971 the BOCES Geneseo Migrant Center (New York) has been serving migrant farmworkers through an in-camp learning program. Teams of instructors provide survival-based instruction in English as a second language (ESL) and adult basic education to interested migrant adults and out-of-school youth. The instruction is provided in the migrant…

This lesson plan presents activities in which students read, analyze, and discuss excerpts from children's war diaries; and create a storyboard for a public service announcement on children's rights in wartime. It includes objectives, materials, procedures, extension activities, excerpts of children's war diaries, suggested readings, and web…

As Holocaust study for youth becomes integrated into the U.S. educational structure, educators throughout the country are going to need resources that combine history and humanity to convey to young people the impact of tragedy and violence that World War II and the Holocaust had on the youth of a particular time in the 20th century. This paper…

Working from a model of the experiential learning process, some pragmatic concerns for program design are presented. An extensive model for conducting internships is described, emphasizing ways in which learning from the internship experience can be facilitated. (Author/MLW)