I apologize for responding so late. I am still trying to catch up after returning from a long vacation. Reflective journals are not limited to feelings. rw Rosemarie Woodruff Counseling and Student Development Center University of Hawaii-Manoa 2600 Campus Road, SSC 312 Honolulu, HI 96822 808-965-6114 The world is full of obstacle illusions. Grant Frasier On Tue, 10 Aug 1999, James F. Trumm wrote: > At the risk of being the skunk at the garden party, let me register some > serious reservations about the "reflective journal" as a pedagogic tool. > Maybe the teachers who assigned me such journals were not the sharpest tools > in the shed, and maybe I am just tempermentally unsuited to such > assignments, but in my experience the requirement that students keep a > "reflective journal" is usually imposed by teachers who are unable or > unwilling to assign more intellectually rigorous work. > > When I assigned written work at the two-year colleges where I taught, I > handed my students an "oh no!" list, an enumeration of constructions I did > not want to see in student papers. High up on that list were sentences > which begin, "I feel that . . . ." I told my students that while their > emotional reactions to the work I assigned were of interest to me, they did > not belong in a college paper. My opinion is that students fall back on the > "I feel . . ." construction 1) as a defensive move, since after all, how can > one grade a feeling?, and 2) out of a lack of confidence in their thoughts > and their ability to reason. > > "Reflective journals," in my limited experience, are simply extended essays > beginning with "I feel . . . " They are treated as a joke by the more > accomplished students, and have the unfortunate effect of giving less > talented students the impression that exploring their feelings constitutes > academic work. A "reflective journal" does not challenge a student to move > outside his own head. It does not teach a student how to defend assertions > with which he agrees nor to find flaws with assertions with which he does > not agree. It doesn't stretch a student's mind. It is all but impossible > to evaluate. > > One argument in favor of the assignment of "reflective journals" is that > they encourage students to write. Perhaps they do. What they don't do, > though, is to teach critical thought. There are many other ways of > encouraging students to write. Surely teachers can challenge their students > to do more than report on their own emotions. > > James F. Trumm > S.O.S., Inc.: Students for Other Students > 3171 N. Republic Boulevard > Toledo, Ohio 43615 > Fax 419-843-7229 > Phone 419-843-5798 > www.utoledo.edu/colleges/education/sos/ >