By Jessica Deitcher (she/her), educator in New Westminster and faculty associate at Simon Fraser University
In the last issue of Teacher, I led you through the first part of my journaling journey with my Grades 4 and 5 students. Eight years of journaling alongside them has taught me so much about the journaling process and also about how identities are critical to our success in the classroom. When I read my students’ journals, I gain better insight into their identities, and I can then understand how to meet their needs in the classroom. Journaling is a great tool for learning more about yourself and, with permission, learning about others. The key part is to write your data down and to realize that everything about your life is worth writing down.
After 14 years as a public school educator, I made the move to Simon Fraser University to work with preservice teachers in the Faculty of Education.
Like my elementary students, my student-teachers thrive when I give my support and guidance as they step into their teacher selves. They also need me to give them their space and allow them to find their own way. They seek connection with me and with other classmates through activities, games, conversations, and discussions. They want to know the finer details about how and why we do the things we do as teachers, and they want their time to be honoured and valued as they navigate the education program. They look to see if they can trust me as their instructor. Essentially, the same things that elementary and secondary students need from us teachers, adult learners need as well. They need the same love and care, through the lens of, “I see you for you.”
Unlike my Grades 4 and 5 students, my student-teachers were a bit more apprehensive about journaling and its process. They were skeptical of its place in their learning, or unsure of what they could or could not share. A few of them were hesitant to share their journals with me at all. I realized I was going to have to change my tune, just slightly, to prove to the adults that journaling is worth it.
One of the biggest changes I made to my journaling practice for the student-teachers was to provide loose “instructions” for journal entries and demonstrate with my own examples. While my elementary students were eager to pick up my journals and read them, the student-teachers were much more tentative. I noticed that social dynamics and pressures came into play when journaling with adults; they seemed to feel like more was on the line, that sharing journal entries was perhaps too personal and there was a fear of being judged. I realized that I would have to show them my own entries first to gain their trust.
There were also journaling stereotypes we overcame together. We contradicted the idea that journaling is copious amounts of writing, or that it’s only ever about the big things in life, the serious things, the “Dear Diary” things. I tried my best to show my student-teachers that journaling could be different than what we have come to expect.
After a few weeks of journaling with one of my first cohorts, things began to click. It took more time to trust the process, but time with journaling and the routine we were building was a turning point for most of my student-teachers. They needed to journal first—in various ways and formats I presented to them—to understand how meaning could be made. They needed the proof. In sharing their journals with me, they came to understand what it felt like to have someone see them for themselves.
After journaling with numerous cohorts over the years, my student-teachers have given me feedback on the experience. One student wrote that journaling, “was a moment to revisit, organize, and calm my thoughts and feelings,” while another expressed that journaling, “has meant honouring experiences and documenting moments in time.” Numerous students told me that journaling helped them connect with me, and many others described journaling as fun and a way to relieve stress. The most common critique I get of journaling with student-teachers is that they wished I gave them more time in class to complete their entries.
While I have learned that it is powerful for myself to have documentation of my life, there is also no substitute for the meaning-making that happens when journals are shared with others. Reading through the journals of my Grades 4 and 5 students and my adult student-teachers is the same kind of inspiring, connective experience: reading the stories of someone’s life is truly a gift. Understanding point of view and perspective, being privy to opinions and ideas, and gaining insight into the mind, heart, and spirit of others—journaling has allowed me entry into the worlds of those I teach, inevitably turning the table so that I become the learner. As I explore what it means to journal my own truths, I witness my students (and student-teachers) doing the same, in part because I journey alongside them. I have learned that there is great reciprocity within the sharing of stories, and journaling is a valuable tool through which connections, trust, and care are strengthened within education, no matter what age.
How to start a journaling practice
If you are curious about journaling on your own or with students, here’s how to begin:
Start with empty pages: Choose a journal that has blank pages—no lines. This gives you so much freedom to create. Don’t feel you have to write sentences. Write however you like.
Stick to a schedule: Journaling is all about consistency. I have found that once a week is the right amount for my practice to flourish. Pick the same day each week to journal to build a routine. Stick with it, even if you don’t write as much as you’d like.
Don’t worry: Don’t worry about what you write. It is more important that you do, even if you think you’re writing about nothing. The more you practise journaling, the better you’ll get at writing how you want.
If you’re stuck: If you’re really stuck on what to write, here are two prompts that will always give you something to write about:
How am I feeling today?
What am I grateful for today?
When you’re ready: To make journaling even more powerful and meaningful, read over your past entries once in a while. You’ll gain insight into who you are. If you’re willing to go further, share your journal with someone else. This is where the real magic of journaling happens: when someone else witnesses your stories.
Jessica’s book Worth Writing Down: Ideas for Journaling Your Truest Self is out this month! It includes her favourite journal entries and how-to instructions useful in the classroom. Also check out Jessica’s Instagram @joyous_journaling and website joyous-journaling.com.