Journaling: What do we know?

What's the cover of your journal look like?
This unique collage cover inspires.

Have you ever kept a journal? 

If so, what kind? I don't mean - bullet journal, Midori, Hobonichi, or spiral notebook. I mean, regardless of the paper stock and binding preferences, what was your purpose for journaling? What did you record? Pretty art work? To do lists? Deepest thoughts?

Our new unit

Why am I asking? Because our Tuesday morning group decided this month to narrow their topic choice from practical spelling, herbs & spices, and sugar in our bodies to journal writing. That's right - for the next two months they'll be devoted to journal writing.

Where to start

So, what knowledge and skills should they take away from this instruction? What essential questions will get learners most engaged? What do they need to know about journal writing that will sustain them into the future?  All important questions.

Our first questions however were: "What do we already know?" and "What do we want to learn?" We quickly determined that our knowledge was tied pretty much to diaries. In fact, learners who are currently reading Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl were quite certain that that's what journals were all about. However, when questioned, learners were not interested in listing what they did all day. Unlike Anne Frank's life, they assured me their lives were too dull to write about. 

What would you do?

What would you include in this unit if you were teaching it? What would you want to learn from this unit?

My next step appeared very clear at this point. I had to introduce them to journals that weren't merely about describing their day-to-day activities. 

Want to see how this works out? Follow us.   

"Milkshake" Theory of Literacy

What role does adult literacy
education play in learners' lives?

Clay Shirky in Cognitive Surplus (2010) states that we shouldn't set up a media campaign to promote "milkshake" purchases by just focusing on the qualities of the milkshake - sweetness, coldness, etc. If we do, he says we will be misled.

Why? We'd be looking at the milkshake in isolation. Instead, we need to look at the bigger picture. What role does the milkshake fill for the people buying the milkshakes - alone at 8 AM, never consuming them in the store, or buying anything else.

Shirky suggests that these milkshakes are purchased as sources of sustenance and amusement for morning commutes. This insight produces an extremely different basis for any potential media campaign.

How does this idea of consumption of milkshakes play out in the delivery - or consumption - of adult literacy instruction? What role does literacy instruction play in our learners' lives? Is the role different depending on the time of day? What's the impact of the person's perceived support system (inside and outside of our center)?

What other questions should we be exploring to get a more complete picture?