REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

INTRODUCTION

Reflective journals are notebooks or pieces of paper that students use when writing about
and reflecting on their own thoughts. The act of reflecting on thoughts, ideas, feelings, and their
own learning encourages the development of meta cognitive skills by helping students self-
evaluate and sort what they know from what they don't know. The process of examining one's
own thoughts and feelings is particularly helpful for students who are learning new concepts or
beginning to grapple with complex issues that go beyond right and wrong answers.

 
HOW TO CREATE A REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
One of the most commonly used and therapeutic ways to utilize your journal is to reflect
upon experiences you deem profound or that had an impact on your life. Getting it all down on
paper can really give you a completely different perspective on things. Writing in your journal
can be an incredibly useful tool to help you better understand yourself and the world you operate
in. Reflective learning journals are also a great way to find creative solutions to difficult
problems.

Reflective Journal

A reflective journal (aka a reflective diary) is the perfect place to jot down some of life's biggest
thoughts. In a reflective journal, you can write about a positive or negative event that you
experienced, what it means or meant to you, and what you may have learned from
that experience.

A well-written journal can be an important tool. As with any tool, to get the most benefits, you
need practice. This could mean forcing yourself to write, at first, but after a while, it will become
like second nature. Write down your entry as soon as possible after the event. This way,
the details will still be fresh in your mind, which will help later in your analysis.
 5 Reasons To Write a Reflective Journal

Reflective journals are most often used to record detailed descriptions of certain aspects of an
event or thought. For example, who was there, what was the purpose of the event, what do you
think about it, how does it make you feel, etc. Write down everything, even if you don't have a
clear idea of how this information will be helpful. 

Here are some of the most common reasons why people find reflective journals so useful:

1. To make sense of things that happened. What you write should sound as if you are
describing the details to someone who wasn't there. Be as descriptive as possible. Just the act of
writing down the details of what happened may give you perspective that you may not have
otherwise considered had you just continued to think about it.

2. To speculate as to why something is the way it is. Your views can come from your own
common sense, or from something you have heard at a lecture or read in a book. Either way,
speculating why something is the way it is can be a very useful exercise in reasoning.

3. To align future actions with your reflected values and experiences. After positing
your interpretation, continue to observe the subject of your speculation to decide whether you
want to stick to your original views, or make changes. That is one of the great things about an
online journal--you can make changes to your entries at any time.

4. To get thoughts and ideas out of your head. Writing down your thoughts can help
relieve pressure or help resolve problems. It will also help you focus the task at hand.

5. To share your thoughts and ideas with others. Getting opinions from others about
what you wrote can help you clarify your feelings for a deeper understanding of yourself.

The Reflective Journal Thought Process

When writing a reflective journal, you are simply documenting something that has happened in
your life that requires you to make a change or consider the impact of your decision. Your
journal, in many ways, is a dialogue that you are having with yourself. You are forcing your
brain to think critically about something and to produce written words accordingly.
The worst thing you can do to a creative flow is to start inputting criticism before your thought is
complete. Allow yourself the time to make a mistake and keep going. Who cares if you didn't
phrase that exactly how you should have or you didn't spell that word right? Those things just
aren't important here. Find whatever works for you.

4 Tips To Get Your Reflective Journaling Started

Writing a reflective journal requires not only that you describe a learning experience, but also
that you analyze the topics covered and articulate your feelings and opinions about the subject
matter. There is no set structure for writing a reflective journal, as the diary is meant for your
own use. The writing process is entirely free-form. However, there are certain guidelines to
follow that will make you more successful at this. Here are some basic tips at how to write a
reflective journal. 

1. ALWAYS KEEP THE JOURNAL NEARBY

The first step in learning how to write a reflective journal is as simple as being prepared to jot
down your thoughts and opinions on something you are learning anytime the mood strikes. For
example, if you have an insightful observation about a book you're reading while on the bus, it
pays to have your journal with you. Penzu's free diary software come in handy in such a
situation, as online and mobile entries can be made in your Penzu journal from any location.

2. MAKE REGULAR ENTRIES

While you can write in whatever form and style you please, it's important to write regular entries,
even if a moment of inspiration doesn't arise. This ensures you are reviewing content and
actively thinking about what you have learned. This will develop your writing and critical
thinking skills while keeping you organized. In the end, this should enable you to
better understand specific topics you are studying.

3. PARTICIPATE, OBSERVE, SUMMARIZE AND CONTEMPLATE

While reflecting is the main part of keeping a reflective diary, it's also vital that you first
participate in a learning activity, make observations and summarize facts and experiences. For
example, if you are writing a lab for science class, be sure to first cover what you did and what
the goal and outcome of the experiment was prior to elaborating on your ideas and opinions of
what was discovered. Reflective journaling is first about participating and observing before
writing.

4. REVIEW REGULARLY

Take time to read over previous journal entries and see how new experiences, additional
knowledge and time have altered how you think and feel about the material you've been
analyzing and contemplating. This will make the journal more valuable to you personally, as it
will shed light on how you've grown. 

Types of reflective writing assignments

A journal requires you to write weekly entries throughout a semester. May require you to base
your reflection on course content.

A learning diary is similar to a journal, but may require group participation. The diary then
becomes a place for you to communicate in writing with other group members.

A logbook is often used in disciplines based on experimental work, such as science. You note
down or 'log' what you have done. A log gives you an accurate record of a process and helps you
reflect on past actions and make better decisions for future actions.

A reflective note is often used in law. A reflective note encourages you to think about your
personal reaction to a legal issue raised in a course.

An essay diary can take the form of an annotated bibliography (where you examine sources of
evidence you might include in your essay) and a critique (where you reflect on your own writing
and research processes).

a peer review usually involves students showing their work to their peers for feedback.
A self-assessment task requires you to comment on your own work.

Good reflection journal examples from the same field can be used by students to get an idea
about reflective journal structure and content. A basic reflective journal template for students is
shown here:

 Experience description: Start with a description of the experience. Describe what

happened without coming to any conclusions. This is what you will reflect on.
 Describe what you felt: What was your reaction to the experience and how did you feel
about it?
 Evaluate: What was positive or negative about the experience? This is the section where
you can make value judgments
 Analysis: What do you make of the situation? What knowledge do you have from outside
the experience that can help you determine what happened?
 Conclusions: What can be concluded from these experiences and the analyses you have
done? What did you learn?

Our service provides quality samples of reflective journals for students to review and use as a
guide for their own reflective journal. When samples and templates don’t provide the help you
need we can undertake reflective journal writing assignments for you.

 
Reflective Journal Writing Tips for Students

When teachers introduce the idea of journaling into their classroom, they're often searching for
reflective journal writing tips for students. These are the ideas that will help students become
motivated to formulate opinions, express themselves openly, and write reflectively.

Students - middle and high school students especially - can really benefit from journal writing
and it's not a difficult or expensive technique to introduce into a lesson plan. In fact, it's often an
effective way to begin class. This practice creates routine and reliability.

Students of all ages can learn a lot from keeping a regular journal. In fact, teachers can, too.
Learning from experience is an important part of the teaching career track and many teachers
like to reflect on what's working and what's not within their classrooms. Students themselves
often enjoy writing in journals. These small notebooks allow them to create a safe space to write,
express themselves, and document their progress.

Five Benefits of Reflective Journal Writing

Everyone can learn something about themselves and their habits when forced to write about
them. That's why journal writing is a critical activity when seeking personal development. Let's
take a look at five benefits of journal writing.

1. It allows students to advance from passive learners to active learners. Through the
process of journaling, students begin to problem-solve on their own. From this, self-esteem
begins to blossom.
2. Journaling also provides a place for dreams and ideas to grow. A proper learning
environment allows students to feel safe, free from judgment, and encouraged. Whether
students are journaling about academic goals or personal goals, a journal is a perfect place to
watch these seeds grow.
3. Reflective journaling, with its lack of strict rules, motivates students to write. Some
students feel they don't have a knack for writing. Journaling breaks down some of those
walls. Teachers can provide prompts for students to choose from or allow them to reflect on
a certain quote.
4. Reflective journals foster a greater understanding of new ideas. Students can use this
opportunity to think deeper about new discoveries, recording personal observations and
added research on the topic.
5. Reflective journaling allows students to acquire knowledge more authentically. Due to
the critical thinking skills that are a natural outcome of journaling, knowledge isn't acquired
simply because students were told something was true. Through journaling, knowledge is
acquired and maintained because students spent some time contemplating new ideas.
Five Ways to Encourage Journal Writing

For students who doubt their ability to write - or consider it a chore - there are many ways to
encourage them to embrace journaling. Here are five to get you started.

1. Utilize the "pick a topic" strategy. Encourage students to write about anything, in relation
to a theme. Creating prompts provides students with direction to get them started.
2. Don't use this as a time to nit-pick on grammar and usage. Allow students to write freely,
even in poor grammar. Students who journal regularly will naturally improve their grammar
skills over time.
3. Use the "stream of questioning" technique to foster new ideas. If you'd like students to
journal about recent reading, pose a series of questions, i.e. what characters did you relate to
and why? What would you do if you were in their situation?
4. Write a quote on the board and ask students to reflect on it. What do they think it means?
Do they believe it's true?
5. Create consistency. Make it understood that this is the way the first five minutes of every
class will begin. Consistency will foster the habits we've discussed i.e. critical thinking and
creativity.
Your aim should be to get students to draw connections between school and their life outside the
classroom. This helps students draw a personal connection to their work. Furthermore, it helps
students better understand events taking place in their everyday lives.

Five Ways to Use Reflective Journal Writing in the Classroom

Reflective journaling is most often reserved for English class. In truth, however, it can be used at
every grade level and in every subject. Here are some examples.
1. Science: Reinforce a new topic or concept. For example, if students learned about the law
of motion, ask them to write an entry about its application in their everyday lives. Pose
questions like, "How can I find the force of an object?" or "What is an example of each law
of motion?"
2. Vocabulary: One day, ask your students to try to use new words they've learned within
their reflective journals. You can list some of those vocabulary words on the board. This will
help them grow as writers and become more fluent in the written language.
3. Reading: Pose questions about a recent piece of literature. This will develop students'
reading comprehension. Ask them what they thought a certain scene meant. Ask them what
a character meant when he said <blank>. Use this opportunity to watch students develop
their own opinions and ideas. Ask opinion-based questions, too, like, "Was the character
right or wrong in their actions?"
4. Social Studies: Post a writing prompt or question on the board whenever you're
introducing a new topic. If you're about to begin a new lesson on the U.S. flag, ask students
to write an entry detailing what they think the flag stands for.
5. All Purpose: Once in a while, have your students reflect on one of their old journal
entries. It's very useful for students to go back and discover how far they've come as writers,
even within a few weeks of journal writing.
The Teacher's Role

If you plan on collecting and grading students' journals, this will create a wonderful opportunity
for you to better understand them. Perhaps you'll discover which areas they're struggling in,
academically, enabling you to address their needs. You may even discover their personal worlds
and understand how to help them develop relationships in the classroom.

The intentionally relaxed nature of journaling makes grading a bit different than other
assignments. The goal here is to place the emphasis on content, not technicality. It would be best,
for both teacher and student, to develop a simple rubric. Perhaps you'll outline three areas:

1. Content Reflection: Did the student answer all questions?

2. Personal Growth: Was self-reflection expressed in the writing?
3. Advancement: Were new discoveries made throughout the process of journal writing?
Keep the rubric basic, since the primary goal of reflective journaling is self-discovery and self-
confidence. It's possible to develop a framework that ensures students took the assignment
seriously, without overburdening them with strict "rules" in what should otherwise be a freeing
exercise.

The Classroom's Role

In the end, reflective journaling will serve as a powerful tool to aid everyone's understanding.
Students will come to know themselves, their thoughts, and even their dreams better.

Teachers will come to understand their students better and be able to reach out to them on both
an academic and a personal level. Starting off the day with a calm moment for careful reflection
is just the ticket to a successful and enjoyable day of learning.
Some examples of reflective writing

 Learning Journal (weekly reflection)

IN PBBSC lecture presented the idea that science is the most powerful  1.  Description of
form of evidence  topic encountered in
the course
 [1] . My position as a student studying both physics and law makes this
an important issue for me  2.  The author's
voice is clear
  [2]  and one I was thinking about while watching the 'The New
Inventors' television program last Tuesday    3.  Introduces
'everyday' life
[3] . The two 'inventors' (an odd name considering that, as Smith (2002)
experience
says, nobody thinks of things in a vacuum) were accompanied by their
marketing people. The conversations were quite contrived, but also  4.  The style is
funny and enlightening. I realised that the marketing people used a relatively informal,
certain form of evidence to persuade the viewers (us?) of the value of the yet still uses full
inventions   sentences

[4] . To them, this value was determined solely by whether something  5.  Makes an explicit
could be bought or sold—in other words, whether something was link between
'marketable'. In contrast, the inventors seemed quite shy and reluctant to 'everyday' life and the
use anything more than technical language, almost as if this was the only topic
evidence required – as if no further explanation was needed.

This difference forced me to reflect on the aims of this course—how

communication skills are not generic but differ according to time and
place. Like in the 'Research Methodology' textbook discussed in the first
lecture, these communication skills are the result of a form of
triangulation, 
  [5]  which I have made into the following diagram:

...

Reflective Journal Topic Examples

To create a reflective journal that really provides detail on your overall perspective on a variety
of different situations, consider using one of the prompts below to help with your
thought process.

 Write about which relationships have the most meaning to you and why. Include ways
you can grow to help maintain these close relationships and get rid of the toxic relationships
currently in your life.

 Write about what you are learning at school or in college.

 Write about someone in your life who has experienced a positive change and how
you can learn from their situation.

 Write about what you want out of the next five years of your life and what you can do to
achieve these goals.

If you’re looking for more topic examples, check out these great reflective journal prompts

Reflective Journal Example

The passage below is a sample reflective diary entry about losing a job in private:

“once upon a time I lost my job because my employer thought I was not consistent in my work.
At first I was a little upset, because I'm always on time, and I complete what I can by the end of
the day. I couldn't figure out what she meant by stating that I wasn't consistent in my work. After
thinking about the situation, I realized that I can only complete the work assigned to the best of
my ability. What she doesn't realize is that the problem started because I constantly received
incomplete reports. Whoever ends up with my former job will have the same issues if that
problem isn't addressed first. However, knowing that I did what I could will allow me to
continue to move forward with a positive outlook for the future.

A reflective journal is a personal account of an educational experience that offers a variety of

benefits, from enhancing your writing skills and helping you retain information to allowing
you to express your thoughts on new ideas and theories.

When keeping a reflective journal, it's important that you have privacy and convenience
BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Brookfield, S 1987, Developing critical thinkers: challenging adults to explore alternative ways

of thinking and acting, Open University Press, Milton Keynes.

Mezirow, J 1990, Fostering critical reflection in adulthood: a guide to transformative and

emancipatory learning, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Schön, DA 1987, Educating the reflective practitioner, Jossey-Bass. San Francisco.

The Learning Centre thanks the students who permitted us to feature examples of their writing.

Prepared by The Learning Centre, The University of New South Wales © 2019. This guide may
be distributed or adapted for educational purposes. Full and proper acknowledgement is required.
Contact us here: learningcentre@unsw.edu.au