I think doing writing journals in the classroom is a great idea in order to get students to write continuously. An idea that I used in grade 9-12 classes was to hand out scrap paper to every student and have them write down a one word on each piece of paper. There are no restrictions on the words they choose. Then everyone puts their words into a paper bag and every time we do journal writing, three words are pulled out. Students can choose to write on one, two, or all three words, but they must write on at least one of them. I have found that they enjoy this because they are 1)given choice in what they can write about and 2)contribute to the class by putting in words that other people can write about.
Submitted by: Lorna