As a teacher trainer, I want to encourage new teachers to develop critical thinking as a way to understand that what they have done successfully is not just one good activity, but a rule or a principle which can ALWAYS work for them.
With that said, the connection between writing in teaching journals and teaching is a discovery process where teachers are also involved in the learning process.
Use these 7 tips to help you use the teaching journal as a way to learn from good and not so pleasant teaching experiences. These suggestions are intended to make writing in your journal a pleasant and easy experience. Try to set up the conditions for writing so that journal keeping does not require a great deal of effort. The actual process of writing should be (or should become) almost effortless.
1. Set aside time each day to write in your journal.
2. Write your entries in a place you like (your favorite desk, outside with a pleasant view, in a sunny kitchen) where you won’t be disturbed. If you are using a computer, save your file often and try not to let people interrupt you while you are writing.
3. The time devoted to writing about your teaching experiences should be enough for you to write down your thoughts and experiences without pressure. You won’t be able to write down everything that happens in class, so you may want to focus your journal writing on some particular aspect of your experience that interests you. Here are a few guided writing categories to help get you started:
-React to class demonstrations, observations, teaching/tutoring experiences
-Argue for or against a technique or procedure
-Describe some new knowledge you have obtained
4. Keep your journal in a safe, secure place. The idea is for you to be able to write anything you want without feeling uneasy about other people reading and reacting to your ideas.
5. When you record your entries, don’t worry about style, grammar and organization. The idea is to get complete and accurate data at a time when the information is still fresh in your mind. Thus the original diary entries sometimes read like stream of consciousness.
6. Each time you write something ask yourself: What did you learn from the experience and how did it influence your teaching in general? And what is it about that specific activity/technique that makes it good for your classes? Try to support your insights with examples from your lessons.
7. At the end of each entry, jot down ideas or questions that have occurred to you to consider later. This is one way to narrow your focus somewhat during the journal writing process. It’s also a great source of new teaching ideas.
From Aviva Shapiro’s Creative Classroom Management Booklet
Happy Writing!