✏️ Student Writing Notebooks: The Starter Pack (ft. 50+ Example Journals) (3/3)
Writing every day sounds fantastic. But how do you start?
Teach Writing Tomorrow addresses major myths and misconceptions about teaching writing. It will move from attitudes to actions and mindset to methods, showing how any teacher, regardless of their own perceived ability or creativity, can teach writing tomorrow.
The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. "Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?" he asked.
"Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop." (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Ch. 12)
In case you missed it, check out Parts 1 and 2 of my short series, Write Every Day. Part 1 gives an overview while Part 2 focuses on what to write and how to grade it. This final installment addresses logistics: policies, checklists, scripts, and example journals. Also, my original introduction for Part 3 became a separate post, “Couch to 5K Writing.” Check it out!
Never Start in the Middle
Never start writing notebooks in media res. Never, never, never, never. If you're reading this mid-year and feeling eager and energized, relax. Believe it or not, I don't even start that first week.
Even if it's only five focused minutes, daily writing requires a mindset shift. Moving from writing every day to everyday writing lays the foundation for everything else: learning about mediums, learning about text structure, learning about conventions, then transforming ideas between them.
But timing is everything.
So before writing every day, choose the right day to start.
If you start mid-year, plan around natural calendar breaks such as after breaks or the start of grading periods. Even then, I’d strongly recommend a week or two notice. Explain the upcoming processes and procedures to prepare students for the changes. Start adjusting your objectives with a journal placeholder. Invite students into the journey of becoming better readers, better writers, and better thinkers.
Again: Just don’t announce students need a notebook in two day without explaining why. You want buy-in, not pushback. Make writing the given, not the addition.
So when do you start ideally? With the classroom rules.
Daily writing should be intertwined with classroom rules and expectations. The action should be as foundational as bringing a pencil or work polices. It should become the smaller writing that leads to the bigger writing.
What do you do each day? You come to class. Then you write. Then you read or write even more.
Let’s explore a working timeline:
Late Spring. Journals arguably begin with spring supply lists. Don’t surprise parents with your notebook request. (I request both a composition notebook and loose leaf paper.) After several years with journals, I like to think it becomes word of mouth.
Late Summer. Back to School Night means my three sentence stump speech as parents filter by: an introduction, a statement of course values, then explanation for journals. (And a letter with the explanations.) It feels one-dimensional, but this might be my only chance to meet some parents. And talk expectations.
Week One. If you’ve read The First Days of School, everything depends on predictability. Start the year with expectations and explaining routine. Give students one week to bring notebooks to class. Train them where to look in the daily objectives.
Week Two. The first journals begin the second week. Be clear and narrate every step of the routine. Be firm with discipline. What isn’t punished is permitted. While writing every day may sound foreign to some English classes, make it normal and nonchalant.
Week Three. Narrate routine until it’s redundant. Students may need explicit reminders for two to three weeks. Regardless, fuse daily writing with other activities—introductions, reflections, and so on. Lower the mental barriers to entry.
Weeks Four and Beyond. What happens after the first five minutes? How do I design the rest of my class? Hold that thought!
What about move-ins? Move-ins require far less effort than you’d think. Once routines run themselves, students learn from actions. A kind student body will help new students through routines without drawn out explanations.
Beyond that my explanation just sort of… stops. Next we will talk next steps blog-wise and I’ll leave you with logistics.
✍️ Feedback: What other questions do you have with daily writing? What did I forget?
Next Time (“Ground Writing in Speaking”)
Teach Writing Tomorrow serves as the first steps and next steps from my workshop, “Help! I don’t know how to teach writing!” Many leave eager and excited to teach writing, but a short session can’t provide everything. When I sketched this series, I had something like a dozen chapter ideas. Writing for the medium—blogs over book chapters—and we're still early in.
If you missed it, check out the overture!
So where to next?
Writing every day becomes the foundation to a classroom that practice integration over isolation. Remember: Students should discuss what they write about literature. Thus, with the five minutes of class accounted for, we will shift our sights to more pressing matters: Lesson design.
This may require a detour through fundamental yet inescapable flaws in teacher’s education. I’m talking about you, useless twenty page lesson plans. Seriously. Who does that with 180 days on the job?
Here’s a taste: We will start by grounding all instruction with how we experience information—through encoding and decoding. (I will borrow from James Moffett’s Student Centered Language Arts, third edition.) This will expand into four basic activity categories: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Once lesson planning incorporates each category, we will explode outwards into predictable combinations and generate scores of lesson plans a priori.
However, given my habit of announcing working drafts—and leaving them unfinished—I should just write the things first. But I’m thinking this will be three to six posts?
That said, as teaching conference proposals loom and workshops demand scripts, exploring these two ideas may take some time.
Daily Writing Starter Pack
This section includes resources for writing every day, including example policies, checklists, scripts, and 50+ prompts. I tried being thorough without being exhaustive. When writing, I tried asking what tips and tricks would have saved years of experimentation from Year 1.
Feel free to change, adjust, alter, modify, adapt, revise, borrow, or steal. Just remember where you read it from and check back for more.
Example Policies, Procedures, and Scoring
This section contains example policies and procedures for the syllabus or first days.
Daily Journal Policies
Students will write every day in class. They will need a journal that stays in class.
Each class begins by writing a small paragraph (4-5 sentences). There will be four entries per week at five points each. Responses will be graded weekly.
Absences will be discussed individually.
Procedure: Daily Journals
1. Get your own journal and be in your seat when class starts.
2. Mr./Ms./Mrs. — will introduce the journal and answer questions when class starts.
3. Write until the timer ends, aiming for 4-5 sentences per day. When you finish, wait quietly.
4. When the timer ends, count your sentences and record them in the margin.
Scoring Description. Responses will be graded holistically each week, meaning that longer responses can balance out the occasional short response.
0 point: No response or off-topic response.
1 point: Single sentence response. Minimal detail. Little to no effort. Incorrect information.
2-3 points: Two to three sentence response. More detail needed. Partially correct information.
4-5 points: Four to five sentence response. Excellent detail. Fully correct information.
Example Responses. Question: How was your summer vacation?
1 point: It was boring.
2-3 points: It was boring. I stayed home and played video games.
4-5 points: My summer was boring. We didn't travel, but I played video games and hung out with friends. I beat Breath of the Wild for the tenth time!
Starting Classroom Checklists
The following checklists address basic logistical questions. Adjust and tailer the list to your individual needs.
Classroom
Before starting, arrange the space to store and grab journals on the way in and out. This eliminates remembering journals and students needlessly walking the hallways.
[__] Storage. Do you have an area like a bookshelf set aside?
[__] Labels. Did you label each specific class hour?
[__] Sharpies. Do you have a new Sharpie so students can label their notebooks?
First Week of School
Start with explaining routines—not the writing itself. Place journals on supply lists and give them one week’s warning before starting.
[__] Routines. Have you displayed and discussed the basic routines and procedures?
[__] Supplies. Have you reminded students they will need that notebook for the first week?
[__] Labels. Have you encouraged students to write their name and class hour on the cover?
Second Week of School (The First Journals)
When starting daily writing, narrate procedures until it’s redundant. Remind students to use the entire time to write, and to wait patiently when they finish.
[__] Display. Did you post the journal on the objectives in a different color?
[__] Timer. Did you embed a timer on your objectives?
[__] Routine. Did you remind students they should grab their journals when they enter?
[__] Date. Did you remind students to add the date for the entry?
[__] Counting. Did you remind students to count their sentences after that first entry?
Second Week of School (Grading)
Grade when students work through other activities. Circle and discuss mistakes, but rarely hold them punitive. See the suggested grading descriptions.
[__] Other Work. What will the other students be doing when you grade?
[__] Location. Where will you grade from? Is it a central location? Can you see the others?
[__] Grade Sheet. Do you have the grade sheet ready?
At Any Point
Narrate routine until it’s redundant. Students will need frequent reminders else the written prompts become class discussions.
Troubleshooting
Daily writing suffers from forgetfulness: students not bringing supplies and so on.
[__] Spare Pencils. Do you have at least one or two pencils should students forget?
[__] Spare Paper. Do you have spare notebook paper in case "I lost my journals?"
[__] Spare Notebooks. For move-ins, do you have any spare notebooks?
Example Scripts (The First Weeks)
This section contains example scripts for the first several weeks, including the vital first journals. I wouldn't recommend reading from them verbatim, but I've certainly used these scripts as yearly reminders. Be explicit about the physical page, else some students will open journals to random pages and never include the date.
THE FIRST JOURNAL
The Basic Routine
“As we get started, here are some general reminders for starting each class.
“First, grab your own journal when you enter class. Do not grab a friend’s journal because you don’t want to responsible for losing them.
“Second, find the journal and wait for instructions. Journals are color coded in my daily objectives. Wait for instructions, though, because you may have questions. Do not start until the timer starts.
“Third, write quietly while the timer counts down. Your goal is four to five sentences in the five minutes given. Don’t forget to add the date!
“Fourth, after the timer finishes, count your sentences. Mark them in the margin.
The Blank Page
“Regarding the physical space, the goal should be opening the first page for the first week and continuing through the rest of the year.
“First, each week begins on the first line of a new page. You will add the days date and then start. Tomorrow you will leave a blank line, add the date, and then start with the next entry.
“Since each week should begin on a new page, nine weeks should theoretically take nine pages. If someone opens your journal, they should never have to search for entries—it should be overwhelmingly clear.
“Second, for the first few weeks, write your name in the upper right hand corner of the page. This will help me with names and speed up grading.
The First Journal (Before)
"Before we start, I want to explain some basic expectations.
"First, start on the first line of the first page. You will add today's date, [eight slash twelve], and then start. When you start tomorrow, you will start on the same page and leave one blank line between entries. This way, one week should be on one page, front and back.
"Second, label your journal. Label the cover with your name, first and last, in the upper right along with the class hour. This way, should you leave your journal by accident, I will know where to put it.
Also, at least for the first few weeks, label your journals themselves. Add your name to the upper right. This speeds up grading.
The First Journal (After)
“Now that we’ve finished, go back and count your sentences, meaning look for the ending punctuation. Once you’ve counted the sentences, record the amount in the margins. We will do this after each entry.
“Tomorrow we will leave one blank line, add the date, and then start. In fact, let’s go ahead and try this now. Leave one blank line and write tomorrow’s date at the start of the line.
“To see that we did this correctly, trade with a partner and verify they followed directions.
The Second Journal
"As we start our second journal, start on the same page as yesterday, leave one blank line, then start with the date... If you start on a new page, you’re doing it wrong.
“After today you’ll leave one blank line and start there.
REGULAR JOURNALS
Introduction (After Week 2)
“Today’s journal is…
“Once I start the timer, your goal will be writing four to five sentences during that time. If you finish early, wait quietly for others to finish. Even if your neighbor finishes, you should not be turned and talking.
Afterwards
“Times up! Start to find a stopping point.
“Now that you’ve finished, go back and count your sentences and write them in the margin. Look at your ending punctuation.
SPECIFIC TOPICS
Open Topic Responses
“Today you will write about anything. You can switch topics as many times as you want, but keep it school appropriate and must write the entire time.
“Write about sports, video games, or anything that’s on your mind. Just remember your English journal isn’t your personal diary.
“If you have trouble starting, say you have trouble starting. If you hate open topics, say you hate open topics. If you run out of ideas, narrate and describe what’s around you. Go stream of consciousness.
“Remember the goal is writing the entire time. If you close your journal after two minutes and look around, you’re not following directions. You end when the timer ends.
Off-Topic Redirections
"Remember to write about, not talk about it. We will talk about journals when the timer ends.
"If you finished early, go back and doublecheck that you've answered the question. See if you can add details you forgot. Remember the goal is _____ sentences...
"If you finished early, go back and address the journalists questions: who, what, where, when, why, and how. Imagine sensory details and write them out.
"If you're stuck, picture your topic and then name the sights, the colors, the shapes, the sounds, and so on.
Peer Review
Note: Peer Reviews work well when learning to navigate the page and fixing basic capitalization and punctuation errors. Use it however frequently you want.
“Before putting our journals away, we’re going to do a one-minute peer review to check for [issue]. Trade your journals with a neighbor and look for [issue].
“If you see [issue], lightly circle it. Before handing it back, you will tell your partner if they had [issue].
“Alright! Time’s up. If you haven’t already, talk with your partner. Let them know what you found. Once you’ve found it, go back and revise it.
50+ Example Journal Prompts
This section contains example journal prompts sorted by category. While journals should connect and complement daily reading, variety prevents boredom. I suggest using the Back to School or Autobiographical questions when the year begins.
Note: Reread prompts before copy-pasting. Many include both the positive / negative wordings, and could have been two separate prompts. Others include notes where the question stem can become multiple prompts.
For more, check out my list of 50 Metaphorical Writing Prompts.
1-10. Repeating Weekly Topics
1. Open Topic. (4-5 min.) Write about any (school appropriate) topic you want. You may switch topics as many times as you want, but you must write for the ENTIRE time.
2. Gratitude prompt. Describe someone or something you are grateful for.
3. Grade Check: My grade in English is a… I have ___ missing assignments. I need to…
4. Monday Planning. How was your weekend? What do you want to accomplish this week?
5. Weekly Goals. Set a goal for the week and create action steps to achieve it.
6. Friday reflections. How did this week go? Did you accomplish what you needed?
7. Friday reflections. What’s something you learned about yourself this week?
8. Describe something you learned in another class this week. (“This week I learned…”)
9. Describe something you learned in English recently that applies to other classes.
10. [After a Break] How was [Fall] Break? What did you do? [Variation: Add “Wrong answers only."]
11-20. End of Grading Period Reflection Prompts
11. Describe this past nine weeks in a word, then explain it. Did things go well? If not, say how they could have gone better.
12. List five things you learned this semester.
13. List three goals for next semester and explain how you will get there.
14. What was your most/ least favorite assignment or reading this semester? Why did you like /not like t?
15. Narrate something you did/ didn’t well this semester. Why did this/ didn’t this work?
16. Check your grades. How many missing assignments or tardies did you have this semester?
17. How did extra curricular activities and clubs go this nine weeks? What successes did you see?
18. How did you grow as a person this nine weeks? What challenges did you face?
19. Suggest an improvement for the class next semester. Be positive and proactive in problem solving.
20. Name other topics you wished we learned about this year.
21-30. Back to School Prompts
21. What are you looking forward to the most about this upcoming school year?
22. What was your favorite part of [seventh] grade? Who was your favorite teacher? Your favorite subject?
23. What was the [best part] of your summer vacation? [Substitute other topics and adjectives: most relaxing part, funniest part, most memorable part, and so on.]
24. Describe an average day during your summer vacation. Challenge: Write it like a travel itinerary, leading with the time and event.
25. What will you miss the most about your summer vacation?
26. If you could redo your summer vacation, what would you do differently?
27. Describe somewhere you visited this summer. If you didn’t travel, describe somewhere you’d like to visit.
28. Pretend you’ve just won the lottery and have to spend one million dollars on a month-long vacation. Where would you go? What would you do?
29. Did you have a summer job? If so, explain what you did. If not, envision an ideal summer job.
30. What's your favorite ice cream favor?
31-45. All About Me (Autobiographical Questions)
31. If you wrote a book about your life, what would the title be? Explain why you chose the word and what events explain it.
32. What is your earliest childhood memory?
33. What do you wish you could remember about your childhood?
34. What was your favorite childhood…? [Topics: toy, game, book, movie, summer activity, place to visit]
35. Who is the most influential person in your life?
36. What’s something you wish you could tell your younger self?
37. What is your…? [This list is endless: biggest strength, biggest weakness, biggest regret, biggest fear, happiest memory…]
38. Narrate a family tradition. What do you do? Who is involved? When did it start?
39. Describe a challenge you overcame and how it changed you for the better.
40. Who is your best childhood friend? Tell a story about your time together.
41. What’s one thing you would change about yourself?
42. What job would you most/ least want and why?
43. If you had to eat the same meal everyday, what would it be and why?
44. What movie could you watch on repeat? (Or what TV series do you binge watch?)
45. You're forced to eat the same meal for one week—21 times in a row. What is it?
46-61. Weird, Wacky, and Wonderful
46. Invent a new school subject. Explain the class, what you learn, and what work you do.
47. Invent the most useless superpower. What would it be and how would it (sort of) work?
48. Invent a new holiday. Describe the name, the reasoning, the history, the decorations, and most importantly, the menu.
49. Imagine you can teleport anywhere right now (that isn’t home). Where would you go and why? [Variation: Imagine you can teleport any object to you right now…]
50. Imagine you can add / remove any school rule right now. What would it be and why?
51. Imagine you’re forced to live inside a movie as a new character. What movie would it be?
52. Imagine everyone can fly and forgot how to walk. How would life be different?
53. What if you had a superpower but could only use it on Tuesdays?
54. What if it’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs? Describe life where the weather rains food.
55. If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be and why? What would you want to know?
56. If you could time travel, what historical event(s) would you want to see?
57. Pretend you have a personal robot assistant. How would they help you with daily life?
58. How would life be different if you could talk to animals?
59. Write a scary story in three sentences.
60.What if everyone woke up with infinite money. How does society work now?
61. What if you can only wear one outfit ever again. Yes, year round. What would it be?
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