Reform-minded teachers encounter formidable challenges, especially in the difficult conditions of typical urban settings. Maintaining an online web log (or "blog") has been suggested as a powerful tool to support their practice and continuing professional development. To further articulate how and why blogs can provide teachers with unique…

Narrative is used to describe and understand how people construct meaning of their lives and experiences and how they think about their own and others' identities. We examined narrative as both data source and method of analysis for investigating learning in non-traditional school settings with students from diverse socio-economic status and…

Arguing that journal writing is a particularly appropriate evaluation mode for travel experiences because it is a learning activity that encourages reflective observation, this booklet includes an instructor's guide for the student travel journal and a student's guide to writing a travel journal. The instructor's guide section discusses objective…

Suggests having students write a series of business magazine article summaries as part of a journal assignment. (MS)

Describes one family's use of a journal to record family history and daily observations. Points out that family journals increase family unity and help teach children the value of writing. (ARH)

Describes how one teacher learned to eliminate ethical and pedagogical problems inherent in student journal writing by placing restrictions on assignments. (ARH)

This paper focuses on some of the issues from a study that questioned the validity of the proposal advanced by the influential North American curriculum movement referred to as "Discipline-Based Art Education" (DBAE); that the methods and understanding of artists, art critics, aestheticians, and art historians can be represented in a…

Encouraging young girls to write in a journal to know themselves better, this book gives several ideas for "journaling." It discusses why writing in a journal is important. The book presents writing ideas such as having a privacy journal, a seasonal journal (fall, back to school, winter, holiday thoughts, etc.), thoughts and feelings about family…

Summarizes cognitive mentoring and uses it to analyze positive self-talk using the "thinking mirror" (an ordinary mirror in the classroom used to initiate reflective moments for children) as a classroom strategy. Shares guidelines for implementing positive self-talk during written communication endeavors using the thinking mirror. (RS)

Of 15 older learners who kept a journal or diary, a few had started diary keeping in adolescence or young adulthood. Their current practices varied in terms of time, method, and type of writing. Most linked journals with other writing practices. Writing helped them cope with daily life, experience the joy of discovery, and nurture voice and…

Discusses the difficulty involved in moving from writing a journal entry toward writing an essay. Uses the background of a trip to Ireland and writing an "Irish" journal as an example. Gives four strategies to use from journal to essay: double-entry notebook, defamiliarization (or "persona switching") techniques, cross-genre…

Establishes an image of a science writer based on a synthesis of writing theory, models, and research literature on academic writing in science and other disciplines, and contrasts this image with an actual prototypical image of scientists as writers of science. Assesses scientists' writing habits, beliefs, strategies, and perceptions of…

Advocates use of the nature journal as a flexible, hands-on teaching tool. Suggests exercises for developing observation and drawing skills and describes the basic equipment and field guides. Discusses various kinds of nature journals and ideas for using them in the classroom. Includes examples of student drawings. (DLH)

Describes how a teacher's journey of documenting everyday literacy events on the streets in her community changes her understanding of what it means to bring the outside world and local literacies into her classroom. Concludes that educators must place value on who students are and where they come from. Suggests that educators and students must…

Describes how to assess nature journals which have great potential as a learning tool. Provides a nature journaling rubric. (YDS)