Midterm Journal Assessment Form

As you reflect on your entries, do you notice any patterns? Do you find any tensions between your thoughts in one entry and your ideas in another? Are their contradictions in how you’re thinking in one entry and how you’re thinking in another entry? Or are there entries where your method of reasoning and contemplating switches within that one entry?! Note: Tensions; shifts; and contradictions in our thinking and method of reasoning can sometimes aren’t inherently bad. These points can be productive for further exploration.

Compare and contrast your first entry and your latest entry. Are their similarities to the types of questions and topics you’re focusing on? Do you notice any differences or changes in what and/or how you’re observing and thinking through your observations?

Are their questions, texts, and / or content that you wished you had of been able to focus on and/or explore in your journal? Why?

Based on the content of your journal entries thus far, pose two critical questions related to this course that you might explore in your final project?

Describe the medium and form of your journal at this point of the semester. What does your journal look like? What does your journal feel like? What does your journal smell like? What does it sound like when you open your journal? (And yeah, if you want to describe how your journal tastes, go for it!) What type of material are you using for your journal? Are you using a marble notebook or a three ring binder or a collage book or a handcrafted notebook made out of paper you pressed yourself with natural fibers from your favorite t-shirts? How else can you describe the specifics of your journal (as opposed to a journal similar style journal made from similar materials)?

How does the physical form of your journal affect your experience of thinking and writing in your journal?

How does the physical form of your journal affect the way you or (a fictional) someone else might read your particular journal entries? What kinds of connections does the physical form of your journal encourage? What kinds of connections does it discourage?

When do you journal? Do you journal at a consistent time? Do you do your entries all in one sitting or over several smaller bits of time? Do you listen to music or eat or sip tea when you journal? Do you have any pre, during, or post writing rituals?

Where do you journal? Describe the physical space(s) you journal in (think: lighting; size; privacy; comfort; noise; aesthetic; temperature; etc.).

How long do you spend on your journal entries? Do you edit and/or revise your entries?

What types of non-word based journal entries / contributions have you included in your journal? (ex. doodles, highlights, collages, etc.)

Reflect on how you felt about doing this assignment in the first two weeks and how you feel about doing the assignment now? Has your physical, mental, and/or emotional experience with your journal entries changed in any way? How so?

What about your journaling process would you like to modify for the second half of the semester?

What about the way you approach the content of your journal entries would you like to modify in the second half of the semester?

What about the overall shape, medium, structure, form of your journal would you like to modify in the second half of the semester? How? Why?

What about the ways you reflect on and make connections between entries would you like to modify in the second half of the semester?

What about your journaling experience do you hope to adjust in the second half of the semester?

What about your journaling process, content, form, reflection, and/or experience do you currently feel good about and hope to continue and/or develop further in the second part of the semester?