JournalingJournaling is a great way to get gifted children to write about their thoughts and feelings. The teacher can simply suggest a topic or write an opening sentence to encourage her students to start writing. Some students prefer to write about a topic they chose. Whatever works and gets them writing. Gifted children are deep thinkers that are often concerned about important issues. Allowing them to communicate their point-of-view is good because they can organize their thoughts and ideas on paper and read what they have written. Also, getting to write about their family and friends opens up their world and allows the teacher to read about what is going on in their lives. It can be therapeutic for them as well. Journaling helps with language skills, grammar, spelling, hand writing and organizing. You don’t have to be a perfect speller or worry a lot about handwriting. It becomes a safe place for gifted students to be who they are, without being judged or criticized. The objective is to let the imagination free and communicate thoughts and feelings. The idea is to make it fun and get the student to want to write as often as possible. Teachers can encourage their students to be descriptive about places they’ve been or use their imagination to describe places or situations they think about. Ideas can include such things as what happened on the weekend, if you could travel anywhere where would you go, if I were president I would, if I won a million dollars... There are so many possibilities. Students come to look forward to the time they sit down and write what's on their mind. This is a great way to help students open up, use their imagination and practice writing their thoughts and feelings.
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