September
12 Journal Writing
Teacher:
Linda Templeton
Overview:
After viewing hours of television coverage of the September 11
attack on America, this
teacher had to gather herself to enter her classroom the next
day. Life in had to continue. This journal writing activity
could be adapted to help ease the transition from any difficult
event, local or national, and to make the classroom experience
relevant to students’ lives. Click
here for extended version of this lesson with student artifact
and teacher reflection.
Materials:
Paper, pen
Time:
30 minutes to an hour
Instructional
sequence:
1. As students arrived in class on September
12, 2001, I wrote the journal topic on the topic chart: In
light of yesterday's events in America,
write down the thoughts and emotions that you are feeling at this
moment. I continued with my daily routine of taking roll,
signing absentee slips, basically getting the day organized while
my students wrote. Usually students are given about ten minutes
to journal write, but this day was different. As I walked around
the room, I noticed that after ten minutes most of my students
still had pen to paper and did not appear to be close to stopping.
2. I proceeded to begin our discussion
(as normally done after journal writing), allowing students to
share their thoughts and feelings. We did not solve any problems
that day, but we did begin the healing process.
Evaluation:
This activity requires no formal evaluation.
Click
here for extended version of this lesson with student artifact
and teacher reflection.
