Five Journal Topics from the book Writing Alone and with others

The following are five journal writing topics which have produced good results in my middle school classroom.  I tweaked some here and there to make them fit my current class.  However, all journal ideas in this post are from the book Writing Alone and with others by Pat Schneider which I will review shortly.

1. Create a new origin any of the following phrases: "rule of thumb"..."pain in the neck"..."catch some rays".  (Note: You can add any phrases you'd like.)

2.  If you are leading a group of writers, wait until they are quiet, then spread a plain cloth and put out a collection of objects that represent various kinds of experience: a spool of thread with a needle stuck in it; an old, scarred wooden spoon; a brush and hand mirror; a well-used baseball; a plastic flower; and on and on.  The more you use the better--keep the objects small and separate.

It is important that these objects be things that suggest memory or story.  After displaying all of the objects, tell the class something like, "Every object here is full of story--what is was before it was made into this object, where it has been, all of  the people who have used it.  Find a story in one.  Be open to it."

3. Lay out a collection of pictures and allow students to choose one or more as a trigger for writing.  An excellent source are photography or art books--look for photos which suggest a story.  Magritte paintings are wonderful writing stimuli.  (I hadn't been familiar with Magritte until I read this suggestion by Schneider...she was on point.  I used Magritte with fantastic results)  Of course you can have students pull a random picture from a hat, or you can assign one to the class, or you can even have students select a picture for a classmate.

4. Create a shoebox for class with the label "First lines of stories never written"...whenever someone needs a fresh idea they can pull one out of there or use it to lead a journal writing session.  These, of course, can be almost anything you can create and think of...there are also tons of options online.  Some of the suggestions in the Schneider book are as follows:

Rain moves over the garden...
A hickory nut falls to the footpath...
I am a small man without a head...
You were the gentle one...
I won't go back there this time...
I've read your letter again...
Right before you disappear...
She got quieter as she got old...

5. Write a piece in which you give a detailed description of a lesson, either from the point of view of  the teacher/instructor or the learner.  This is an excellent way to work on clarity.  Sometimes when a writer is truly faithful to detail the end becomes much more than the making of something.  Some suggested topics:

A mother teaching a child how to tie a shoe.
A sister teaching her brother how to climb onto a horse.
A grandfather showing a grandson how to drive a nail.