Teaching Journals

Why use a journal?

Reflective journals provide an informal place where you can write your own reactions to your experiences, for example, in your teaching, or in a course you attended. They have been used in teacher and nurse education for a long time and are now increasingly encouraged for tutors in higher education.

A principle of this type of journal is that it can enhance the 'conversation with oneself' which often goes on inside the head. Writing down thoughts can make them more concrete and visible by getting them out of your head and onto the page. The phenomenon of 'I don't know what I think until I hear what I say' becomes 'I don't know what I think until I see what I write'. The journal can be a tool to help us make better sense of our experiences by summarising them and actively trying to understand them.

Another great value of a teaching journal is that it enables us to go back and 'see' our thinking. We have a lasting record of thoughts which provides evidence of our own development.