Teacher Toolkit--Journaling

Journaling is a powerful tool to add to your toolkit as you work to engage students in your Bible Class. It allows students to respond in writing to the texts they are reading and opportunities for reflection and critical thinking. Be sure to provide students with a journal or a system for keeping their responses. Show students examples of good responses to text. Then, help students identify aspects of thoughtful reading responses. As you read a portion of text out loud, share a thoughtful response. Discuss with students why it was thoughtful and not shallow. Read another portion of text aloud and have students write a thoughtful response. Share in groups. After reading a text, or listening to one, students use Journal Responses to respond to what was read.