Tips For Using Writing Journals To Improve Student Writing In Middle School
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
When it comes to writing, there is some truth to the saying, “practice makes perfect.” The best way to help middle school students hone their writing skills and gain confidence as writers is to give them ample opportunities to practice writing. This can be done through assigning weekly text-based prompts, frequent sentence practice, or the occasional essays. These options have their place in the classroom, but they are often too structured to give the students space to write just for the love of writing. Writing journals can solve this problem by giving students a space to consistently practice their writing without rules or too much structure.
WHY USE WRITING JOURNALS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL
While structured writing assignments are beneficial, it is also important to give the students time to write in an unstructured, exploratory style. They need to be given opportunities to experiment, find their voice, and just have fun with writing. That’s where writing journals come into play. Writing journals give students a chance to produce less structured pieces of writing on a consistent basis. It gets them into the routine of daily or weekly writing.
Writing journals are especially useful in the middle school classroom, since they provide students with a creative outlet and allows them to express themselves and feel heard through their writing. This is a chance for them to be goofy, introspective, or vulnerable, without the pressure and rigidity that can often accompany formal writing assignments.
TYPES OF WRITING JOURNALS
There are two main types of writing journals: open journals and guided journals. Open journals are quite easy to implement in a classroom. Simply give every student a composition notebook and tell them to write about whatever they want. Students have the freedom to write about their day, their dreams, or their struggles. They can write poems or short stories. They can write to-do lists or letters. It’s completely up to them. The goal is to get them to write.
Guided journals provide students with a bit more structure. With guided journals, students are given a journal and a list of prompts to choose from. They still have a lot of choice over which prompt they will choose, but their journal entries must fall within the prescribed boundaries. If you choose this option, be sure to provide your students with a wide variety of prompts to choose from to keep them engaged in the journal writing process.
You can create your own prompts, but I have created a journal prompt resource that provides journal prompts for the entire year. All of the work is already done for you. Simply print out the packet, and you have everything you need for an entire year of fun journal writing activities. Click here to view this resource.
If your students love to write and are bubbling over with ideas, then open journals might be the way to go. However, if you have reluctant writers or writers who struggle to come up with ideas, then you will want to take a more guided approach. In a mixed classroom, you can consider giving everyone the option of using an open journal, but have prompts ready to hand out to students who seem to be struggling to come up with their own ideas.
HOW TO USE WRITING JOURNALS
Writing journals can be used in a variety of ways.
You can set aside a specific time for journal writing every week. For example, the first fifteen minutes of class every Friday can be your designated journal writing time.
If you want to get your students into the habit of writing more frequently, you can use the writing journal as a bell ringer activity. Create a classroom routine where students take out their journals as soon as they enter the class and write silently for ten minutes before the lesson begins.
You can also assign the writing journal for homework, extra credit assignments, or use it as an activity for students who finish their classwork early. The possibilities are endless!
GRADING JOURNALS
Grading writing journals does not have to be a heavy lift. You can choose to give a completion grade instead of grading for content. One way to do this is to assign a certain number of journal entries each month. At the end of the month, flip through the journals to see if students have completed the required number of entries, and grade accordingly.
If you want to grade for content, you can ask students to place a sticky note on their three favorite journal entries each month, and then read and grade those.
If you have assigned guided journal writing prompts, you can grade for completion, or you can use a rubric to grade your students’ journal entries.
My journal writing resource includes a rubric that can be used to grade any journal entry! It also includes writing prompts for an entire year. If you want to incorporate journal writing to your classroom or homeschool routine, but you’re not sure where to start or how to grade the journals, click here to view my journal writing resource. It has everything you need for a successful year of journal writing.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Consistent journaling can help your middle school students gain confidence in their writing ability and grow as writers. Whether you choose to use open journals or guided journaling, consider giving your students the gift of journaling this year.
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