Journal Writing and Adult Learning Essay -- Teaching Writers Authors E

Journal create verbally and Adult LearningThe value of daybook writing to a course with adult students cannot be overemphasized. (Sommer 1989, p. 115) Journals and diaries turn in a long history as a means of self-expression. Several themes prevalent in adult accomplishment--coming to voice, developing the capacity for critical reflection, and making meaning--are reflected in the way journals can be used in adult education. Journals are useful learning tools in a variety of adult education settings. Dia lumber journals, for example, have become popular in adult literacy and English as a siemens language classrooms. This digest focuses on several types of journals, exploring their value in assisting adults finished their learning journey and summarizing advice from the literature on effective ways to use journals. Types of Journals unmatchable type is the reader response journal or literature log, in which learners record their responses to readings. Used on all levels from adu lt basic education through graduate study, such logs enable readers to enter the literature in their own voice (Perham 1992), placing themselves in relation to the text and discovering what they think about it. Over time, the log itself becomes another primary text to which they can respond (Perl 1994). Usually, entries are shared with the class, stimulating discussion. In one variation described by Perham, a unbound notebook accessible to the whole class becomes a collaborative journal in which learners and teacher make ongoing comments. Both Perham and Perl feel that these response journals have the power to build a community of learners though the process of critical co-reading and co-writing. The learning journal is a systematic way of documenting learning and col... ...462) Roe, M. F., and Stallman, A. C. A relative Study of Dialogue and Response Journals. Presented at the American Educational Research Association conference, 1993. (ED 359 242) Schatzberg-Smith, K. Dialogue Journal Writing and the Initial College Experience of Academically Underprepared Students. Presented at the American Educational Research Association conference, 1989. (ED 308 737) Schneider, P. The Writer as an Artist. Los Angeles Lowell House, 1994. Sommer, R. F. Teaching Writing to Adults. San Francisco Jossey-Bass, 1989. Surbeck, E. Han, E. P. and Moyer, J. Assessing Reflective Responses in Journals. Educational Leadership 48 (March 1991) 25-27. (EJ 422 850) Walden, P. Journal Writing A Tool for Women Developing as Knowers. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education no. 65 (Spring 1995) 13-20. (EJ 502 496)