Faculty Journal Keeping Across the Disciplines: A Teaching, Writing, Research and Work Management Resource Dannelle D. Stevens, Portland State University Joanne E. Cooper, University of Hawaii AERA Professional Development Workshop San Diego, 2009

Agenda I. Introductions II.Challenges: Focused Freewrite III.Research: Reflection in adult development IV.Writing: Lists V.Writing production: Research-based strategies BREAK VI.Journal keeping as a teaching, writing and research resource VII.Writing: Dialogue with inner mentor VIII.Writing: Concept-mapping & stickies IX.Writing: Letter from the future with action plan X.Final thoughts….

Research on the role of reflection in adult learning “Our narratives are the means through which we imagine ourselves into the persons we become” (Hopkins, 1994, p. xvii). “…any writing and reading of our lives presents us with a challenge that is at the heart of every educational experience: making sense of our lives in the world” (Grumet, 1990, p.3).

Our Research: Role of Reflection on Professional Life “My journal contains the hard stuff, the good things in life and just the ‘everyday’ things. By writing about them it helps me. It gives me a place to put things. My journal gives me a place to look at things I do and make better decisions in the future” (Maralyn) “My journal helps balance so many things….It is like I have all these plates spinning in the air- some have chips because they have fallen or collide with one another. They collide less often when I have a journal.” (Micki, professor of education) “When I want to know what I really think, I write in my journal. It is more than a mirror: it does not reflect me; it is an organic process; it is discovery work. Writing in my journal changes me. I am growing and evolving as I write.” (Barbara, President emerita)

Using Journals to Improve Your Writing Skill and Productivity  Freewriting: Build writing fluency through freewriting frequently.  Focused Freewriting: Generate ideas, stimulate flashes of insight.  Dialogue: Write a dialogue with your manuscript, with your perception of yourself as a writer, with your writing block, with time, with paper topics, with students.  Concept Map: Generate as many ideas, questions, concerns, insights as possible about a particular topic. Cluster them, make connections, write sentences below the clusters that summarize the ideas in the cluster. Begin writing.

Using Journals to Improve Your Writing Skill and Productivity  Metareflection: Reread notes in your journals from conferences, ideas from readings, reflections, notes made during reflections, related to a topic. Photocopy these notes to create the seeds you have already planted for writing and developing your topic. Read them. Summarize them and write from them.

Books about Writing  Become a student of writing:  Boice, R. (1990). Professors as writers: A self-help guide to productive writing.  Cooper, J.E. & Stevens, D. D. (2002). Tenure in the sacred grove: Issues and strategies for women and minorities.  Elbow, P. (1981). Writing with power: Techniques for mastering the writing process.  Rankin, E. (2001). The work of writing: Insights & strategies for academics & professionals  Silvia, P. J. (2007). How to write a lot: A practical guide to productive academic writing.

Ways to use the Journal in Professional Life  Dialogue  Concept Mapping  Letter from the Future  Hemingway from The Snows of Kilimanjaro (p. 64) There was so much to write. He had seen the world change; not just the events; although he had seen many of them and watched the people, but he had seen the subtler change and he could remember how the people were at different times. He had been in it and he watched it and it was his duty to write of it.