Grade Level: 6,7,8

Goals:

*The students will gain knowledge and experience in journal writing.

*The students will demonstrate their creativity in their writing of their journals.

Materials:

*word webs

*notebooks

Content Areas:

*Writing

*Language Arts/literature

*Social Studies

Concepts:

*ocean travel

*journal writing / informal writing

Procedure:

1. Begin by introducing the concept of journal writing. Ask the students if any of them have ever written in a journal. Such questions as: What types of things do you write about? How does one write in a journal? How is writing in a journal different from writing a research paper for example? can all be asked.

2. Next, the teacher will share with the students examples of different diaries/journals. These may include such things as historical diaries, spiritual/reflective diaries, scientific journals, etc. They could look at examples of professional journals and explain what types of things are written. The important thing for the student to learn is how journals can be used to reflect on a given event, experience, or revelation and can be an excellent tool for looking at a story from a different perspective. Some examples of these are listed at the end of this lesson.

3. After discussing writing in a journal, the class will be given a chance to discuss how writing in journal can be used as a starting block for writing a more formal essay. For example, a journal can be written to encourage students' creativity and be written quickly as ideas form in the mind of the writer. This means there will be errors in grammar and syntax. This is the form that most journals or diaries are written in. However, corrections can be made in the writing when an informal essay has been written. This type of essay, most likely written in first person, is more creative and follows a less restrictive format, yet has no grammatical errors.

4. This will be the type of assignment that the students will be working on. They will be asked to journal or "free write" and then polish their work so that it can be handed in.

5. The students will be asked to write a journal entry about Grandfather's Journey. The assignment is for the students to write a journal entry describing a journey that the grandson in the book would take. This would involve the students speculating what a journey in today's terms may be like. The students should remember that they will be writing about taking a journey via the ocean so they need to consider what kinds of things might happen on the ocean.

6. The students will free write in their journals for approximately 45 minutes to an hour. They will first brainstorm the situation that they will be writing their journal from. They will need to decide if the grandson took a similar trip that the grandfather did from the United States back to Japan or if it was a different journey entirely. Who was the grandson telling the story to? Was it his own grandson? Or, was he writing it as he was making his actual journey? These are just some of the questions that the students can pursue as they create the narrator whose eyes they will be writing the story through.

7. After the students brainstorm, they will begin journaling. Music can be played in the background to set the mood for the sea voyage that the students are journaling about.

8. After journaling, the students will be asked to share a quick synopsis of what their journal contained.

9. Their assignment to be turned in the next day, is to polish and make corrections in their journal entry so that it becomes an informal essay. This essay will be handed in the next day and will be required to be typed and polished.

Evaluation:

The journal rubric will be used to assess the students.

Approximate Time: 2 hours

Resources:

~Baldwin, Christina. Life's Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest. New York: Bantam Books, 1991.

~Kopelnitsky, Raimonda. No Words to Say Goodbye: A Young Jewish Woman's Journey from the Soveit Union into America--the Extraordinary Diaries of Raimonda Kopelnitsky. New York: Hyperion, 1994.

~Miller, Randall M. and Miller, Linda Patterson (ed.). The Book of American Diaries. New York: Avon Books, 1995.

~Plath, Sylvia. The Journals of Sylvia Plath. New York: Dial Press, 1982.

Extensions:

*The teacher may decide to change the journal topic. For example: Entry describing different subject/time period; Entry describing the conflicts the individuals may have had adjusting to the new culture.

*The teacher may also allow the students to journal on a topic that is to their own choosing. They may suggest ideas to the students but ultimately, let the students choose what they are writing about.

Teacher's Note: We have chosen to use a rubric for evaluation of this journal. You may chose to use some other type of evaluation, but realize when using the rubric that you should set the criteria for successful student performance. For example, student must have all 3s and 4s for an A, etc.

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