JOURNAL WRITING TIPS
M. Ordoubadian
4/16/98
ALL SUGGESTIONS AND QUESTIONS ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES MAY BE USED OVER SEVERAL DAYS. JOURNAL WRITING WORKS BEST IF THE WRITER MAKES DAILY ENTRIES, EVEN IF THE SAME SUBJECT IS ADDRESSED FOR SEVERAL DAYS IN SHORT PASSAGES.
THE JOURNAL WRITER IS WRITING FOR SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
Observe some thing, some configuration of objects, some landscape, or some person, some group of people, some situation. The subject chosen should have caught your attention for some compelling reason.
Notice as many details as possible. Close your eyes and remember what you have observed in detail.
Sketch out the bold outlines and/or stick figures of the scene. Label objects or people. Remember colors, textures, sounds, tactile impressions, smells, tastes, and movement.
Describe some aspect or part of the remembered scene in one day’s journal writing.
On the second day, examine your sketch and try to recreate the scene in your memory. Describe some other aspect of the scene or revisit the first writing and add to it. Continue this process for as many days as you have material for writing in the original sketch.
Now reflect on the significance of the subject to you. Consider how the thing/things observed connect to your life and experience. What meaning or insight have you gained from looking at something with such continuing attention?
These same suggestions could also be used in recording a dream and in exploring all aspects of a dream.
Look carefully at the world around you. Choose a focus of attention.
Record what you see in sketches and language.
Reconsider your descriptions and add to them or improve word choices.
Reflect on the significance of the subject matter and/or your description of the subject.
Connect all of this to your own life and your own experience.
Consider some words you heard spoken during the day. The words may have been overheard in public, on some form of the media, spoken directly to you or to another person in your presence, or spoken in a formal speech or lecture. Try to record the dialogue as accurately as possible. Try to remember the tone of voice of each speaker. Describe what you can of the setting, the speakers, and the context of the recorded dialogue.
On a second day, reread the dialogue and the descriptions. Reflect on why you noted these spoken words.
Make any changes that improve the accuracy of the dialogue and the descriptions.
Reflect on the significance of the dialogue and relate it your own life and experience.
From observing and listening to the outer world, you will have discovered a voice that can describe the inner world. One way to enter the inner world is through memory. A memory that comes to mind can be explored in the same way you explored the visual subject matter or the dream. The dream is, of course, another avenue into the inner world.
One way of gaining an ability to explore the inner world in journal writing is also through works of art especially through fiction, dramatic productions, poetry, or song. The suggested questions for The Wizard of Earthsea are an example of journal writing that can lead to explorations of the personal.
JOURNAL WRITING SUGGESTIONS BASED ON THE READING
OF THE WIZARD OF EARTHSEA BY URSULA K. LE GUIN
Try to remember a time when a family member or an older friend taught you some skill (i.e., driving, cooking, working with tools, using an appliance or machine, performing some sort of service or job). Describe the situation and the people involved. Draw any parallels you can between your experience and that of Ged and his aunt. Did you ever try to go beyond what you had been taught to do? Did you come to the point of realizing that the person teaching you had certain limitations? What is the significance of your reflecting on this experience? Have you encountered similar learning experiences since that time?
Have you ever had a mentor who was qualified to teach you in the way that Ogion was qualified to teach Ged? Looking back on your experiences of being taught, you may be reminded of possible mentors whom you rejected as Ged rejected Ogion. Coaches, music teachers, art teachers, co-workers in some job are possible parallels. Although certain teaching situations encourage a mentor/protégé relationship, more often than not, the required participation demanded in the teacher/student relationship prevents a true mentor/protégé relationship based on voluntary association. Such relationships often evolve from the original teacher/student situation. Explore this aspect of the Ged/Ogion relationship.
Think about the General Education courses you are now taking or have taken in the past. Are these courses comparable to the first year of instruction at the Roke School for Wizards? How do general education courses fit into the larger scheme of education?
If you have a vocational plan, can you describe the kinds of things you need to learn in order to enter that profession or field of endeavor? Can you describe these things as Le Guin describes the different courses at Roke?
Ged is recognized as a gifted student because of some naturally endowed/inherited talent; Vetch also has attributes that make him a good student at Roke and eventually a good wizard. Jasper who is talented does not become a wizard but goes out into the world as a sorcerer, a kind of lower level professional. How do you see yourself in relation to your vocational goals? Which of these students is most like you? Do you know people who are like the other types in their attitude toward their work?
As you are reading this novel, observe the teachers and students in your classes. Describe situations that parallel situations in the novel. Have you ever seen a teacher who will go to great lengths to further a student’s education and personal development? Have you seen students whose attitude toward their studies creates problems for the larger community?
Ged’s education goes through several stages:
As you examine your own education, where in this process are you? Explain. Which of these stages have you avoided? Which stages do you imagine you must still encounter? Are there other stages of education in your past life or other stages of education that you imagine lie ahead of you?