Sample Journal Writing Guidelines

Sample Journal Writing Guidelines

Overview – Keeping a journal will be an important part of your learning experience. By having you think about what you are doing and what you are learning from the experience, the writing of a journal can increase the amount you actually learn. It can also make you aware of what you don’t know, so that you can direct your efforts towards finding out more. Your journal provides important evidence of what you are learning from your experience.

Instructions: Do a journal entry each time you work at the community site. Take a few minutes before you leave the site to make your entry or do it within a few hours of your experience to facilitate making an accurate entry. Each journal entry should include all of the following elements. Please clearly divide each entry into the following categories.
1. Date and hours worked
2. Objective description of your experiences

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  What happened? Write a factual account of the behaviours you observed that does not include your opinion.
  

3. Interpretation/Explanation

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  Now try to understand the behaviours you described above in section two. Use principles and concepts from the course reading material and lectures in making your interpretations.
  

4. Personal Opinions/Feelings and Learning

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  Thoughts/opinions – interpret what you saw and heard today. What does it mean to you?
  
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  Feelings – Describe how you are feeling after the community experience.
  
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  What knowledge and/or skills did you acquire today?
  
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  What did you learn about yourself?
  
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  What did you learn about others around you?