Journals

One thing I want to always incorporate in my classroom are daily journals.  I want my students to have a notebook dedicated to their own free writing.  I think it is so important to encourage them to make up their own stories and have a place to privately reflect.  This is a good thing to have to work on if they finish up a test or an assignment early.  Of course their journal would never be graded or even read unless they give me or a fellow classmate permission.

When I was doing my placement last year while I was still going to school down in Georgia, one of the girls in my class wrote a new story every day.  Her stories were hilarious.  I would have never even known this girl was capable of making up such colorful stories if I had not asked what she was working on one day.  She was a very quiet and reserved child, but once she left her imagination run wild, she created some of the silliest stories.  It was great to see all of the creativity the kids possessed as individuals. I always want my future students to have a journal so they have the freedom to write or draw whatever they want.