1. mgulley3@mix.wvu.edu
Getting to Know You (And the Content!)
Morgan Gulley
Pre-Service Teacher, West Virginia University
Purpose and Passion
• I love working with journals in the classroom
as it builds classroom community.
• I wanted to establish personal connections
with my students through journaling and
discover how writing about content
connected to academic growth.
• How does journaling affect student learning in a 7th grade
history class?
Literature Review
• “…not only do strong student-teacher
relationships help increase student academic
achievement, but they are also crucial to the
social-emotional development of students”
(p. 47, Capern & Hammond, 2014)
• “…journal writing enhanced student learning
as reflected in test scores” (p. 46, Connor-
Greene, 2000)
• “dialogic classrooms tended to reduce
achievement differences across race,
ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and school
track” (p. 53, Johnston, 2012)
Taylor County Middle School
A WVU Collaborative Professional Development
School in Taylor County, WV
• 5-8 middle school
• ̴700 students, 97% white
• My class: 7th grade World Regions
• 3rd period - 24 students, varying ability
• 14 boys, 10 girls
• 4 students with IEPs
Implications
• I plan to incorporate journal writing, both
personal and content related entries, in my
future practice.
• I want to make sure that students have a sense
of critical literacy even in a social studies
classroom.
• A goal of mine is to have lasting, personal
relationships with all of my students.
Methodology
• Prompts were given to students
• Personal entries on Mondays
• Content related entries on Wednesdays and
Fridays
• Discussed entries as a whole group after
students were finished writing
• Journaling occurred for 8 weeks during the
first semester
Results
• Students who journaled had less F’s at the end of the semester than students
who did not.
• Students in my focus class built positive relationships with me and each other
establishing a positive classroom community.
• Test scores improved over the course of the semester.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
A B C D F
Class Semester Averages
3rd period 4th period 7th period 8th period 10th period
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
A B C D F
Test Scores
Mesopotamia Test Egypt Test
Research Question
Context & Participants
Contact Information
Morgan
Gulley