Dialogue Journal

 

Teaching Resources

Definition 
A Dialogue Journal is a double-entry notebook used as a form of communication between two people, either teacher-student or student-student. It involves all students in a literacy practice that incorporates both meaningful reading and writing all entries are private, informal messages or conversation between the two participants. After each entry, the journal is exchanged.

Guidelines

• Composition notebooks make the best Dialogue Journals. 
• The student writes an entry based on his/her own reflections or the teacher can provide a prompt. 
• The partner comments on the entry, expanding the topic or asking questions. 
• The journal is passed back to the original writer, who responds to the partner’s message and adds additional comments. At this time, the student may also add new thoughts. 
• This procedure continues for as long as there is interest and time allows. 
• Journal entries can be any length, even one or two sentences, depending on ability level. 
• Encourage students to spell as best they can, but this is not the place to correct student work. However, respond in ways that show the correct grammatical and spelling conventions. 
• Journals can be exchanged daily or weekly, as can partners.