“Any kind of journaling has power, Clement says, ‘because it allows you to leave whatever is in your head on the page. That makes room for new thoughts, ideas.’”
The article, “Journalers Say Writing Salves Physical and Emotional Ailments” is the perfect summation and testament to this semester’s blogs. The article focuses on how journaling can help people work through physical and mental challenges in their lives, but I would argue that any creative writing can have same the effect.
The article cited several studies supporting the claim that journaling can help salve physical and emotional pain.
Two decades of studies byUniversity of Texas at Austin psychology Professor James Pennebaker found that journaling for 20 minutes three days a week can lower blood pressure, reduce missed workdays and visits to the doctor, and increase immunity.
A 2002 study in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine found that University of Iowa students who journaled about their emotions and tried to understand stressful events saw improvements in their relationships, personal strength, spirituality and appreciation for life.
A 1999 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that writing helped reduce symptoms among people with asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.
These are just more examples that creative writing is therapeutic. It can help with physical illness, mental illness, and it can just help us have a more positive outlook on life. We all need some kind of outlet no matter who we are, and how good our life is. We all have stress and need a place to release it!
The important thing is a journal is a place where writers are not judged. They do not have to have profound thoughts. They do not have to write about anything in particular, and they certainly do not have to worry about a grade. They are free to express themselves. The paper is theirs!
This article also gives ideas for journaling such as; The Gratitude Journal, The Travel Journal, The Healing Journal, The Self Discovery Journal, and The Well-being Journal. Each journal is designed with a specific purpose, and the article gives tips on how to keep such journal and the individual purpose of each type of journal.
So since we know all the therapeutic benefits of creative writing and creative expression, why don’t we use them more in the classroom? Giving students time for free-writing in journals, or spending time on creative writing not only strengthens the student as a person, but also strengthens them as a writer. I think we should allow time for students to free-write in a journal. This free-writing could even serve as ideas or prewriting for future papers in the classroom. If we want students to grow as person we need to equip them with tools, such as expressive writing, and if we want students to become better writers, then we need to give them time to write! Journaling and creative writing can give us both!
Haller, Sonja. “Journalers Say Writings Salves Physical and Emotional Ailments.” The Lansing State Journal. 28 March, 2007.
Now for a message on Blogs!
I loved that blogging was introduced to me! Thanks Prof! The RSS aggregator is AMAZING! This is such a useful tool that I would have never known about! I am definitley going to use this in my classroom! It would be a shame not to. I think blogging would be a great way for students to share their writing with other students and the world! I think it is powerful to know that someone other than a teacher will read my writing. I think it makes me a lot more conscience of my own voice. I also think it would be a great way for students to get feedback on their writing. You could use blogs to do workshops! How cool is that? It also teaches kids some cool stuff about technology, and that is so important these days. Technology is such a HUGE part of our everyday lives, so it should be a part of our classrooms.
Mandy, I wish I had known about your blog earlier in the semester because I looked at the same issue and found the same results as you did. Check out my blogs for Eng 310 if your interested on my findings! I completely agree with you that journaling time is needed at least 3 times a week if it can’t happen everyday. Based on the benefits that I’ve found my classroom will start everyday with a writing journal, a couple of days students will be given a prompt, but other days I will let them write whatever they want to write about, or they can draw a picture if they so choose. I am glad that your results coincide with mine. I wish that more people were aware to the problem of depression in teens and were open to the idea of letting students journal. I think that too many teachers see it as a waste of classroom time, but I would say, “if students are not given the chance to release their emotions on paper, where do you think they will do it?” I love the idea of personal journals in the writing classroom!