Suggestions for Journal
Entries
You
should use your journal to explore your responses to the readings and
discussions in the class. Use your writing as a tool to help you discover what
you think. As you complete the journal, you will be able to see how you have
developed in your thoughts and in your writing. Most of your journal entries will be illustrative
of “reflective thinking.”
The ability to reflect on experiences, readings, discussions synthesize learning, and consider new meanings is a hallmark
of a college student. During this
semester you will be asked to “capture” your learning experiences
and their meanings by recording them in journal entries. These entries should be sent electronically
to Grant T. Smith at gtsmith@viterbo.edu
on the assigned date. Feel free to
e-mail your entries to other members of the class. You should also feel free to write questions
at the end of the entry that you would like Professor Smith to answer. The entry is very much a dialogue between you
and others. Please keep in mind that
your journal entry may be used to initiate a discussion in class or to extend a
class discussion.
Keep
your journal close when you read. You may want to write something when you read
a particular paragraph or sentence.
I
suggest you write three to five pages in your journal each week. You may have
three or four separate entries for a week on separate topics, or you may a
longer entry on a single topic. There are many options for journal entries. All
of them suggestions below are acceptable, but be careful of using any single
suggestion exclusively.
- First
impressions: Take some time to write down anything that comes to you in
relation to the text—your initial response or
responses. Don’t try to puzzle them out, just
write! If you are bored by the reading write that down. If you’re intrigued by certain statements, if you’re attracted to characters or issues or problems,
write that down. Just write!
- Make connections with
your own experiences. What does the reading make you think of? Does it remind
you of anything or anyone?
- Make connections with
other texts, movies, concepts or events. Do you see any similarities
between this material and other books you’ve
read? Does it bring to mind other issues or contexts that are somehow
related?
- Ask questions: What
perplexes you about some passage or some point that the writer is making?
Try beginning: “I wonder why…” or “I’m having
trouble understanding how…” or “It perplexes me that…”
- Do you agree with the
author? Tell why you support the author’s argument.
- Do you agree with the
author? What parts of the author’s argument
anger you?
- Jot down ideas, images,
details that strike you as you read. Why are they there? What do they add
to the “whole” of the work? Why are they memorable to you? Do they have
anything in common? Can you make an assertion about these details?
- Class notes
- Expressions of
complaint or frustration related to class assignments, discussions,
readings.
- Writings about some
philosophy or idea that you have been considering.
- Creative expressions:
poems, short stories.
-
I
would you prefer that you accept this assignment as an exercise in journal writing—not personal diary writing. These journal entries
are not necessarily formal writing, but you should be careful of using
vulgarities or obscenities. Also be careful of libeling others in your journal
entries. Do not write anything that you do not want shared with the instructor
or with members of the class. However, your confidentiality will be respected.
I
shall collect, read, and respond to your journals periodically, so they should
be kept current at all times. Bring them to class every day because we will use
your journals to introduce a piece of literature or to initiate a class
discussion.
Reflections
you might include in your paper:
·
What I learned was…
·
This author helped me learn…
·
This literary theory reflected ways to…
·
A new idea for me was…
·
I’m confused to think that…
·
I disagree that…
·
I was thinking that…
·
I still wonder if…
·
I don’t understand…
·
What happened to me was…
·
What this means to me is…