Each journal must be 500-750 words a piece and include a title of sorts to

clue me into what you are discussing. For the most part, I will be instructing

you for each of your journals, or giving you some direction. Each journal will

be collected and catalogued before I read them, so I know they are turned in

on time. For the final point score, you will receive some amount of points

out of five.

I will be looking for:



500-750 words minimum



thoughtful responses



meaningful questioning and reflection



a strong indication that you have considered the material that I have

directed you to

Please keep all five journals, so that you have it on hand in case we need to

check your points online! Usually your topics will concern either a piece we

read in class or a discussion we had in class.

This assignment is intended to keep the gates of writing ease open so that

you do not stall out so easily during your formal writing assignments. This is

a free space to invent, discover, and explore your own writing voice and

opinions. Feel free to do so! Sometimes academic writing, or rather our

preconceptions of academic writing, get in our own way, and the only way to

escape it is to feel free to write what we like without those constraints. I want

you to practice this as a tool for formal writing assignments (of course,

always remember who you are writing to; I want to hear what you have to say

within the bounds of polite and informed conversation).

Topic: “For this journal, I ‘d like to know how you are feeling and what you are thinking about reading poetry. Is your experience of poetry shifting? In what direction? Do you like it better than when we began, or less? Give me the details.”

**Only one story journal needed. Thank you.