Journals in the Classroom

After reading Brown (2003), many teachers can be aware of the importance of using alternative assessment in the classroom because it is a useful method in which students can express their interests, goals, and desires using second language. This way of assess students does not follow the normal path of using tests, notebooks or  books,  due to the fact that teachers can include extra tools such as portfolios, journals, conferences and interviews, in order to evaluate their learning processes and learning outcomes. 

One of those relevant extra tools mentioned above are journals. At the moment teachers decide to implement them in the classroom, many factors should be taken into consideration because it is not just asking students to have a diary or complete a notebook.  Before requiring student to develop those journals we should have our purposes and objectives clearly. We can start by determining how journals should be organized, assessed and shared, when they should be incorporated into the lesson and the several uses they can have.

On the other hand, there are two relevant aspects in order to help learners become familiar with journals:  guidance to let students know what we are looking for or what to do, and encouragement to focus on their thought process, not the right answers.  Also, if we allow students to personalize their journals with stickers, pictures or photos would make the process engaging and exciting for them, not laborious and tedious.

In conclusion, begin implementation of journals with affective, open ended questions regarding the students’ feelings about a particular experience, concept, lesson or  problem would give the teacher greater insight regarding how to develop each individual student and diagnose misconceptions and or areas of difficulty.