CORE TASK CYBERFOLDER

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LEVEL 2  JOURNAL TASK
Course = RW
Level = 2
Category = Journal Task
Core Task = Journal Partners
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = kristy perry
E-Mail = kristyperr@aol.com
Report Text = I didn't have students keep a journal. I preferred to keep them busy with more paragraph writing. Activities which grew from tasks Some students did explore their cultures and feelings when creating paragraphs (especially the compare and contrast paragraphs).

Course = RW
Level = 2
Category = Journal Task
Core Task = E-Mail Journals
Center = CSM
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Andersen
E-Mail = aaronandersen@yahoo.com
Report Text = The journal task was set up as an e-mail journal task with each student writing to another student and copying it to me as the teacher. I did not give them specific topics, and assigned a total of eight journals spaced approximately once a week. Students were unclear on the concept and frequently missed assignments or sent me in-class paragraphs as journals. I did not correct the journals in order to reduce stress on the students; unfortunately, because students were unclear on the concept, this was confusing to them, and they didn't seem to understand why I was allowing them to write in this case without correction. I would recommend set topics for this level, but I still wouldn't correct the journals. I think this was a class-specific problem.
Course = RW
Level = 2
Category = Journal Task
Core Task = Personal Journals
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Patrick Nolan
E-Mail = nolanzki@hotmail.com
Report Text = In my class students write two journals per week about any topic they choose. Although there is always some grumbling at the beginning and some excuse making during the term, I think they all appreciate this writing practice and without a doubt, they all improve their writing. I tell them at the beginning to focus on expressing personal ideas that are important to them and to not worry about perfect spelling, grammar or punctuation, and I generally do not correct their journals so they feel less constrained when writing. I always respond to their ideas, if appropriate. The important thing, I tell them, is to write and to get used to writing in English every day to express themselves! The idea is to learn to write unselfconsciously, as if they were speaking naturally. For some it is easier to write than speak, so it is an especially welcome opportunity. For many it is a new concept, but they usually like the idea once they begin. The wide variety of topics students discuss and their varying levels of self-expression always amaze me. Journals tell me a lot about them and how their writing is progressing over a two-month period. Of course some students grab this opportunity and write long, interesting, personal journals while others tend to just describe the events in their daily lives. Some write about their countries and issues at home, some write observations about the US, and some write more philosophically. I assess my students' journal writing according to the time they spend writing and the thought they put into it. Reading their frequent free writing makes it possible to gauge real progress and to see how students adopt what they are learning in class to their personal writing styles. The grade a student receives in RW 2 is highly dependent on their journal writing because it indicates their level of involvement, their progress and focus. Students who regularly write two or three page journals and discuss topics in-depth are usually "A"students, while those who do the minimum just to meet the requirement tend to be "C" students. I feel that personal free journal writing with no assigned topics and little emphasis on grammar is extremely helpful to students on many different levels and helpful to teachers as an ongoing assessment tool.
Course = RW
Level = 2
Category = Journal Task
Core Task = Journal writing
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = Lynn
E-Mail = labergsc@uncg.edu
Report Text = I have the students freewrite a couple of times a week on topics related to something we've read in class. They are to react to the topic (i.e. give their opinion or talk about how it is similar or different in their own culture). They then give their writing to another student and that student writes a response to the first student's ideas. I also read and respond to both. I always tell the students ahead of time when I am going to have other students read it..and we talk about the importance of considering your audience when you write something. I do not mark these for grammar problems, but I will ask when I don't understand something because of the grammar. The topics we have read and written reaction journals to include current examples of slavery (Benin boat), the place of women in the family, body piercing and tatoos, etc. I think the students enjoy reading the comments of their classmates and seeing how they are the same or different. They learn that other people may have very different reactions to the same reading - even when they are from the same culture. I also think the idea of audience is really clarified when they know their classmates will read what they have written.
Course = RW
Level = 2
Category = Journal Task
Core Task = E-mail journals
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = aafally@isugw.indstate.edu
Report Text = This term we had two sections of RW2, so we decided to have the two classes be e-mail journal partners. Twice a week the students e-mailed someone from the other class, and each week they changed partners. The journal topics were based on the novel that they were reading. Here are a few examples of some of the topics: -Describe a time when you or someone you know has had something stolen. -Tell about a time when you were lost or alone. -Why do you think Rifka worried about how she looked? Why do you think people judge others? -Describe a time when you have helped someone. Since sometimes it is difficult thinking of journal topics, using the novel as a resource was very useful. The students seemed to like doing the journals and liked reading what their partners had to say.
Course = RW
Level = 2
Category = Journal Task
Core Task = Journal
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2002
Instructor = Dean Daniel
E-Mail = dani208@attglobal.net
Report Text = For the journal task students posted their journal entries on an online bulletin board (available free at http://www.beseen.com). Each week we read 3-4 articles on a related theme and the journal entry (done weekly) was in reaction to the readings. By having all journal entries available in one place online, it was easy for students to read entries made by every student in the class. It was also an easy way for me to keep a record of every student's journal work. I could also easily copy/ paste student writing onto an overhead and use it for editing work in class.
course: RW
level: 2
category: Journal Task
core+task: Journal partners
center: ISU
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2003
instructor: Nadine Nicholson
e-mail: aafnadin@isugw.indstate.edu
report+text: This term my RW2 completed the journal task by entering bi-weekly paragraphs into a paper “bluebook” on topics such as: surprises when first arriving in the U.S., “being late” in their own cultures, lifestyle changes in their own countries, how they studied English writing in the past, activities over the weekend, games they played as a 10-year old, reaction to the novel we were reading, loneliness and how to personally overcome it, and the situation of elder care in their own countries. Topics were based on other material being covered in class, generally from their reading text or the novel, Bridge to Terabithia. Students were told to freewrite for 20-30 minutes at a time for homework, and then were either given time in class or as homework to read and comment on their partner’s entry. Partners were kept for approximately 3 weeks, which aided with continuity. Students appeared to greatly enjoy this interaction after a while, and it seemed to greatly increase bonding and comradery within the class. They dove into deep subjects with each other and expressed ideas with increasing accuracy and articulateness as the term progressed.
course: RW
level: 2
category: Journal Task
core task: Partner & Personal Journals
center: ISU
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2007
instructor: Nadine Nicholson
e-mail: bnicholson@isugw.indstate.edu
report text: This term my RW2 completed the journal task by doing two separate journal tasks: The first was a partner journal (similar to the one described in my Fall 1, 2003 core task report), yet with the same partner kept the entire term. These pairs were assigned after matching each student with someone I deemed had complementary linguistic strengths/weaknesses and based from student-generated lists of 3 classmates each said they would LIKE to pair with. This activity was deemed one of the favorites by all, and greatly added to classroom comradery and intercultural learning as well as English skills. The second journal I had them keep was also a big success, even amongst those who claimed to hate journal writing at the beginning of the term! In this case, the second journals were entitled “personal journals” and had the main aim of promoting self-guided study/learning by developing a frequent writing habit. Students were required to write at least 60 minutes a week, over at least 3 different days, on any topic they chose. As the term progressed, students became more confident and accurate in not only their content, but also grammar, organization, and development. Initially, I collected them once a week for the first 3-4 weeks of the term to oversee and provide logistical help, responding to content, as appropriate. Personal journals were then only collected once every 2 weeks for the remainder of the term as a maintenance measure. Journaling in this fashion also proved to be a very useful way to get information from my introverted class about their lives and worries (school shooting guilt, worries about gossip, missing family, etc.). *Please note: a very useful, concise guide for this particular brand of personal journaling is found on pages 181-183 of Longman’s new Introduction to Academic Writing, 3rd ed. (a more advanced version of the First Steps in Academic Writing—often used in RW2, yet perhaps even more appropriate).
course: RW
level: 2
category: Journal
Task core task: Journal Partners
center: VU
semester: Summer
year: 2007
instructor: Marcia Ricchiuto
e-mail: md_ricch@yahoo.com
report text: Since all the students were new in the country, the journal task was to write about their experience with the new culture, the food, language, people, and places. Every day they wrote about something that happened to them on that day and also expressed how they felt about it. Then every Friday they exchanged their journals with their partners, so they could find out what was going on in his/her partner’s life. They also had a chance to write a comment about what was said in the journal. From time to time, I collected their journals just to make sure they were working on them. And in the end I always left a message for them related to something they had written. The students really enjoyed this activity and often talked in class about things they had learned through each other’s journals.