The journal has been used as a universa panacea for almost every thing in education. From counselling to English language to whatever you can think of.
But what good is a journal if it is merely a piece of work to be counted in the teacher's and the student's list of work to be done for the year?
A journal is a misnomer for any document where free prose is used as a form of giving feedback, confessions, teacher-student communication and what not.
It could be unguided. In this regard, what point is there to force the student to write a journal for me when there is supposed to be free play and for the life of me, they simply have either nothing or no interest to write?
It could be guided. Then it becomes a piece of assignment. A piece of ass-say in the disguise. Then isn't it plain disgusting that we now have another piece of heartfelt sharing that is neither heartfelt nor sharing?
I used to use "journals" - for the want of a better phrase - during my math lessons to check progress. On hindsight, it could be a renamed a progress checklist or progress journal. My students tell me what their problems are and what I have done well when I teach the topic. They tell me what else they want me to do to help them. It is a piece of non-threatening communication. A kind of 360 degree feedback, if you wish.
Still, I think we have flown off the handles for journals. We are overdoing it.
Someone should come out and start correcting the belief that journals can solve all problems. If anything, the first is to solve the problem of the need to mark journals. What a f**king joke!
2 comments:
Blog entries can be considered a journal, a chance to record thoughts of the moment that can be reviewed at a later time. On that notion, there would or should be an improvement in thought development for those who continue to write and then review.
No. We are forcing the kids to write and then we mark the journals for errors. And then the preaching that follows in the guise of teachers' comments... Eww...!
I write what I want and when I want in a blog when I am ready. That means I am ready to receive comments as well. Unfortunately, we pounce on the kids and then moralise that they should not be doing this and that. It's so fake, so hypocritical. I hate feeling like Spitzer, you know.
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