Reflective journals have been used widely in teacher education programs to promote reflective thinking (Freidus, 1998; Carter & Francis, 2000; Yost, Senter & Forlenzo-Bailey, 2000). Smyth (1992) advocated that posing a series of questions to be answered in written journals could enhance reflective thinking. It was for this reason that…

Describes techniques developed by Ira Progoff for writing intensive personal journals and proposes their use in the classroom. (MAI)

This paper describes a research project in which volunteers, self-selected from IALS students preparing for one or more of the Cambridge English Examinations, kept journals. Following guidelines, they reflected on their in-class and outside-of-class experiences in the 8 weeks leading up to the exams. They also attended four biweekly meetings with…

Autobiographies are typically included along with self-help books on resource lists for mental health clients. Although first-person narratives may have advantages of reader identification with the protagonist, little research has been done on this issue. One problem is that book categories overlap, e.g., some novels are autobiographical, and some…

The fourth goal in the 1989 "Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics" by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is for students to learn to communicate mathematically. The call for this implies that students should be given opportunities to use all communication vehicles available. Writing journals is a…

A field project aimed to determine if the use of guided imagery affected low-achieving children's motivation in journal writing activities. Over a 4-week period, 2 weeks pre-intervention and 2 weeks post-intervention, researchers documented the number of off-task unrelated and related behaviors, fluency in the number of words written and attitudes…

An instructor, released on sabbatical from September 1991 through July 1992, embarked on a journey, not as a tourist but rather as a traveller seeking the enlightenment of exotic places. After reading travel literature and devising a plan, with computer in tow, the journey began. A correlation between Thoreau's assertion that he had…

This study describes a program designed to alter instructional and assessment processes in mathematics in order to increase comprehension levels and engagement in mathematics. The targeted population consists of high school students in a community located in the western suburbs of a large metropolitan area. The socio-economic status of the…

This study examined the effects of background classical music on silent reading in a sixth grade class, in order to determine the amount and type of influence it would have on the reader's written response to what was read. Thirty-four suburban sixth graders from two history classes were selected for this study. The data was obtained over a period…

Teaching Organizational Culture is a powerful way to take students beyond a basic understanding of organizations. Students not only are able to glean insights to help them select an organization that best matches their own career direction, but they stand to gain a better sense of the impact they can have as leaders in the organization. This paper…

Journal writing in science can be productive and stress basic skills. Students need to be highly motivated to engage in journal writing, and since the world of science fascinates most learners, chances for motivation are good. The subject matter to be written about needs to relate directly to the ongoing unit of study. Dramatizations, both formal…

This paper describes the use of reflection journals in a teacher education course with a field experience, analyzing and discussing the results of using these reflective journals. Information comes from Education 75 (ED 75), "The Teacher, the Learner, and the Curriculum," which is offered at a small, Texas, liberal arts institution. The…

The data gathered for this study supports the hypothesis that using journal writing, as a follow-up to reading literature, would improve second graders' ability to comprehend texts. The study compares the effects of journal writing and language-related activities on reading comprehension. Two groups of second graders were pre- and post-tested in…

Describes how art-making and writing intersect in a sixth-grade art classroom. Discusses how writing about art-making promoted reflection and thinking, and was essential to the learning in class for both students and teacher. Offers brief notes also about art in the language arts class. (SR)

Discusses five conditions, based on research, that should be present if daily journal writing is to facilitate literacy development in kindergarten children: print rich environment; scheduling; teacher modeling; honeybee conferences; and sharing. (PA)