Why Journal?

You're a high school teacher. Your days are filling with curriculum and lesson planning, dealing with classrooms full of teenagers, engaging in small talk in the staff room at lunch time, and sifting through endless piles of assignments - mind numb and subject rubrik seeming to no longer make sense with the amount of time you've spent staring at it. Probably other things too, but this is how I imagine it to be since I'm not actually a teacher yet. So why oh why would you want to squeeze journaling into your already bloated schedule?

Now keep in mind, this is not an advice blog. This post is to convince me of the importance of journaling, and hopefully the prospect of posting online will keep me accountable enough that I'll be able to keep it up. I'm in my second month of Masters of Teaching - two years after I finished a Bachelor of Visual Arts. This is something of a change in career for me, but I'm super excited for it and determined to do well. So, without further ado, here are:

reasons journaling is a good idea:

(dot points formulated from an article recommended in one of my classes)

• Remember the good times

There's gonna be some awesome moments during your time as a teacher. Why not capture that through Journaling?

• Makes you feel good when times are tough

Okay so maybe this depends on how much you like writing. I do, so this works for me, but even if you only jot down two words on that difficult day, you can always look back on those good times we talked about, eh?

• Get good at teaching

I am a master of words. Journaling is an awesome way of reflecting on your teaching practice. What methods of teaching are working for your class? What about discipline? Discover insights that will help your teaching practice by writing it down.

• Learn more about yourself

Like I said, I enjoy writing, and I've found there's nothing like it to search your brain and pick out stuff you didn't even know was in there. I'm certain this is the best way to become more aware of yourself and your own thinking and method of teaching.