1. TEACHING JOURNAL: This is a journal containing your ongoing thoughts about the content you are teaching, your teaching processes, your relationships with students, colleagues, and supervisors and your responses to the readings. See Richards & Lockhart, 1994, p. 7, for more about the purpose of the journal.
The following prompts may be of help when focusing on what to write about. Everyone must address prompt "d" in every entry:
a. How did your teaching plans coincide with what occurred in the classroom during the week in terms of setting objectives, planning learning activities, organizing learning activities, and specifying evaluation procedures? Don't be afraid to admit successes or failures you have had.
b. Detail your interactions with students, colleagues, principals, university and school supervisors, etc. If you are working with a supervising instructor, evaluate his/her teaching style, instructional procedures, feedback methods, etc.
c. Comment on any of the following in your own teaching: results of working with individuals and small groups; planning, teaching and assessing listening, speaking, grammar, reading, writing, etc.; teaching a textbook unit over several periods; preparing tests; error correction and feedback.
d. In all entries, you must include at least one reference to one of the sections of the current readings in the course text. You may respond to or do "Discussion Questions," "Journal Activities," or "Tasks" from assigned readings (identify page number and question). Samples are available in your instructors' office.