Getting kids to write is no easy task, and yet mastering this critical skill is necessary for success in school and career.
Dialogue journals are informal but meaningful collections of writing between two people. Useful for recording reflections about reading, observations and more, a dialogue journal may be the impetus your child needs to begin writing, especially if he or she is an emerging writer or one who still struggles to get thoughts on paper.
A dialogue journal inspires kids to write and read.
Credit: http://www.scholastic.com
Getting started
Starting a dialogue journal begins with a notebook and a pencil or pen.
Take your child shopping for the notebook you'd both like to use. This notebook doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, expensive journals rarely get used. They are so attractive that writers are afraid to mar them with what they perceive to be inferior writing.
Composition notebooks make the best dialogue journals. The soft paper covers yield to coloring and decorations, and there are just enough pages inside the composition book to be encouraging without being overwhelming.
Look for wide ruled lines for emerging and young writers, and use narrow ruled lines for older children who have mastered fine motor skills and can control their writing instruments.
What to write
Write the first entry in the journal yourself to create an invitation to the writing. Begin with a quote or a picture, make a comment about it, and ask for a response by asking an open-ended question instead of a yes-or-no question. Date your entry – and ask your child to do the same with her writing.
Here's a sample:
Today we are beginning our dialogue journal. I am excited that you and I will get to share our thoughts in this book that we will create. What is your favorite story so far?
When you are finished, hand over the journal to your child. It's now up to her to respond.
Keeping the momentum going
You can add interest to the dialogue journal by adding pictures, stickers, and other small but flat objects that can be pasted onto the pages. It's also fun to place the journal in an unusual hiding place and let your child discover it.
When he or she is finished with the response, it’s his or her turn to place the journal where you’ll be sure to find it. That location could be by your nightstand, in your briefcase or even in the refrigerator.
Respond in writing as quickly as you can, because your child will begin to anticipate the journal. Each written entry is another gem that adds to a treasure chest of ideas that will shape both your child and your relationship with each other.
When to let go
Your child will let you know when he or she is ready to move on to new endeavors.
That’s your signal to put the dialogue journal away in a safe place, and share the memories with him when he is an adult raising his own emerging writer.