Tools used by writing teachers in a variety of ways, often as [bookmark]INVENTION techniques or to generate ideas for class discussion; sometimes referred to as Writers’ Notebooks.
Individual teachers will use journals in different ways and have different “rules” governing them. Journals usually consist of [bookmark]LOW-STAKES WRITING, a form of writing to discover or [bookmark]WRITING TO LEARN. Some teachers use journals as a means of exploring what a writer thinks. Writers improve by writing, and journals are practice at writing, trying out ideas, and exploring possibilities—activities that lead writers to [bookmark]REFLECT and elaborate on their ideas and how to express them.