Journaling for Middle School Students

I am currently creating a Sustainable Journaling Program for middle-school students with the hope of making it available as an after-school program for schools in NYC.

A journaling practice can facilitate Social and Emotional Learning in the following ways:

• self-management - developing positive habits which helps them to know that they can set and achieve positive goals

• self-awareness - creating space for structured reflection which can help with both understanding and managing emotions

• relationship skills - providing spaces in which students can connect and listen to their peers, helping them to establish and maintain positive relationships

• responsible decision-making - reflecting on the day’s events and reading previous entries can allow for tracking, seeing patterns and comprehension of consequences

• social-awareness - the clarity afforded by the practice of recording experiences and feelings can facilitate both awareness and the ability to be more present to others.

If you work in education with this age group, are excited by the idea of helping young people to develop a journaling practice and can volunteer an hour to offer your input for this project, I would love to set up a Zoom call with you at a time that is convenient for you. I will be looking for schools in the Tri-State area that would be interested in hosting a pilot program for this project.

Please feel free to send me an email - I’d love to hear from you.