I believe keeping a journal will help reflect on previous lectures and remind the instructor of the teaching mistakes - smaller business schools such as where I teach, I may not have the same course for 6 to 8 months, and in that amount of time, it is easy to forget the error in the slide, or the hiccup in the presentation.
Stephanie,
Great. Journals can be used by instructors in many ways, and the benefits of doing so are just as numerous. What you've cited works for you. Keep it up.
Barry Westling
It can help by finding out what works and doesn't work in the classroom. By keeping a journal it allows me to keep thoughts and ideas organized.
Jason,
For me, journalizing helps me remember moments, reflect on expereiences, and measure personal growth. This can only occur over time and looking back where I've been. A journal helps me do that.
Barry Westling
this is a GREAT idea - something that I found very helpful as a beginning instructor...for every class I taught, I would track what worked, what didn't, and over time see how small changes to the class delivery could add up to overall improvements...
it also helped me to prepare reports during curriculum review and to share best practices with my peers...
now that I supervise instructors, I recommend that ALL of my teachers use teaching journals...
Charity,
I note anything I observe that's different, interesting, or curious about a session. I;ll also not comments to myself about future sessions teaching the same topic. Very helpful.
Barry Westling
Diane,
I learned early on the benefit of notations and observations documented ag=fter a class session. Now, I look at these with reflection and see growth, maturity, and tolerence I've made since those earlier times. Quite helpful.
Barry Westling
This helps a lot because as a class progresses, different ideas about how to add to teaching material bombard your thoughts, sometimes even in the middle of class. Even making a note about the different personalities in class can help you prepare for a future class that may have similar attributes.
It allows me to stay consistent with my method of teaching.
It allows me to look back at my journal and see what needs to be corrected or what worked well for that specfic course.
It is a very important tool for an instructor.
Ted,
For me, reflection on past events and comments I made are invaluable. Sometimes I track class information but more often it's personal.
Barry Westling
It keeps you on track and prevents unnecessary repetition.
James,
You're right about student observations. I've experienced so many unexpected reactions, behavior (good and bad), or expectations some students have, I've memorialized many of these observations in a journal. Mostly it's for my benfefit to reflect on, but it also has helped me gain a greater understanding of human nature and improve on interpersonal dealings with students.
Barry Westling
Billie,
I'm like you, I like to document my observations about a class, especially if new ideas came to mind, or a particulary interesting question from a student. Sometimes, through trial and error, something really great occurs in a class (spontaneuosly), that is very worthwhile and I want to repeat it. So the journal serves as a perfect place for these kind of documentation and observations.
Barry Westling
Greetings,
Journalizing class activities has several benefits. For the instructor, journalizing offers regular perspective of how activities in the classroom affect the learning process of the students. Journal entries can also be used for feedback to individual students; this feedback can be used as encouragement and positive steps for improving performance.
Keeping a journal, highlighting on great points of the day AND area that werenot so great, is a great way to help keep you on the right track with your teaching method and style. I myself note things that truly kept my students attention and things that did not. Things that brought them into discussion etc.
Dawn,
I make notes to myself and document observation, needs, and thoughts about how the topic or class could be improved. For me, if I don’t write it down, I'll forget. Also, reflection on past comments in a journal help measure progress and groth in my instructional abilities.
Barry Westling
Helps with the evaluation process. Allows one to track what works and what doesn't, especially if that class is not a regular. It can be your memory for class specific info. It also allows to track what works with which type of student. It will also show patterns that you may want to adjust.
Jeannine,
Great! Your use is perfect (for you). Journalizing can be very helpful if the instructor values it and is fairly consistent in doumenting their observations and comments.
Barry Westling
I think using a teaching journal provides reflection on how the class evolved that day and over the course of the term. It's helpful to have a recap of the class activities, students interaction and learning of that day's content to use in preparing for the next class and to make changes of what worked and didn't work. I think a teaching journal helps an instructor develop over time and use what worked and improve on what didn't work in the class.
Nancy,
These are all good reasons for pretesting. One way at the end of a class that pretesting may be of value is toi save the pretests done aty the beginning, repeat the same (or similar) test at the end of the course, and have students observe their progress. This can be motivating, especially for students who may need some encouragement or feel they could have performed better.
Barry Westling
