journal writing

Journal writing | Mike McDonald | September 23rd, 2002

How religious is everyone else about the diary? I do my best, but I'm writing so much else - extensive notes on the books I read, extensive answers to tasks, evaluations of the lessons I teach . . . there just isn't time some days. By the way, is there any particular reason for the recommendation to use A4 paper? I use an ordinary notebook. What's wrong with that?

Mike McDonald

Journal writing | Jerry Talandis Jr. | September 23rd, 2002

I don't keep a journal anymore. I did so religiously for FND, but I got sick of writing, "I didn't study again today, I feel so guilty," etc. I found that the journal didn't really help me, so I changed my system. Now I write up short reviews of what I read, focusing specifically on how this piece of literature relates to my assignment focus and how I can use it. This is much more time-efficient and useful for me.

Everything I do is geared towards the assignment. That is the only thing I am evaluated on, so it makes sense to put most of my limited energy there. This kind of approach is hard in that I have to let go of many things I want to do.

Jerry

Re: Journal writing | Mike McDonald | September 24th, 2002

Jerry, like you, I find the diary less useful than the reading notes and lesson evaluations. Occasionally I think of relevant things that don't fit into those categories, but mostly I find myself writing about my feelings regarding the course. Perhaps that's helpful. I dunno. What do others think?

Mike McDonald

Journal writing: Blooms taxonomy | Jake Kimball | September 23rd, 2002

Just an opposing view of journal writing: I religiously kept up the journal (15+ minutes often much longer) throughout FND but have been quite lazy about it these days. I even tried making an audio journal for a while but I found it was too inconvenient and time consuming to search for something and play back. That method I gave up.

Don't know why I stopped journaling. Maybe that's why I've gotten so far off track this year. Last year I found it to be a motivating process, especially when I reread them.

I did go back to my old notebooks and rediscovered the Bloom's Taxonomy quick reference guide that I pasted inside. It's a list questions demonstrating each level of critical thinking (which I used as a basis for most of my journaling).

Here's a link to example Qs that may help guide you in writing more quality journals. I imagine it'd also be helpful to keep in mind while reading, writing up tasks, or taking notes. Perhaps it'd be a nice entry to the study companion.

Journal writing doesn't have to be 'this is what I did or didn't do today.'

Jake

 

 

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