SSM: Effectively Using Journals -Reflections

I found this chapter particularly interesting because I think journal writing can be an incredibly flexible instructional tool that is useful across the entire curriculum. While often used as a class startup activity, it can also be used primarily to give students an opportunity to speculate on paper and rest assured tthat their ideas, observations, emotions, and writing will be accepted without criticism. Even when I was with Glassmen, we used journals all of the time for both discussion-based activities and private, personal reflection, which allowed to to be much more self-aware of both the musical and social aspects of the experience itself.

Further, I think that curriculum-oriented journal entries have the advantage of causing students to relate personally to the topic before instruction actually begins. Asking for a summary of learning or for a question about something causes the student to process and organize his or her thoughts about the material covered - a great instructional device, particularly in the world of music education where a classroom with any activity other than rehearsal can be hard to find.