Journal Entry Ideas

[Unregistered]

I am a new social studies teacher and I'd like to have my students keep a history journal. Does anyone know of any books or websites to get ideas for entries? For example, which do you prefer: to call it the American Revolution or War for America's Independence. Give reasons why.

[Unregistered]

Well, I think it depends at what point in the lesson the students are doing the writing.... Your example requires previous knowledge whereas I use journal writing to trigger knowledge already "in there." If you were to use your idea at the end of a lesson, okay, but prior to the actual lesson would only stump and frustrate students.

In my opinion, journals should prepare students to think aobut the concepts you will be teaching about (scaffolding). For example; if you were doing a lesson on the Civil Rights movement you might have students start class by answering the following in their journal - How would you feel if someone told you you couldn't do something you really wanted to do simply because of your eye color? This gets them set up for the ideas that you will be talking about in class.

In my mind the purpose of preclass journal writing is to put students in touch with knowledge they already have. What you have written sounds more like an assignment that would come at the end of the lesson. Hope that helps.

Oh, if you google "Writing prompts for teachers" you can find some interesting stuff. Good luck!

[KatieBee]

Kind of off the topic of journals, but in the same vein, what about having them do a mock MySpace/Facebook profile for a historical figure, or create a blog instead of a journal? I know these highly interactive sites are a touchy subject with administrations right now, but I think perhaps you could utilize kids interest in technology for something educational and maybe work an internet safety angle in there too since it seems to be such a large issue with these sites. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children also has some general rules, their Cybertipline area has some good stats, and tips as well. Good luck!! :D