I think one of the most difficult tasks about designing a literature course is selecting effective writing assignments. By effective writing assignments, I mean writing assignments that not only fulfill the learning requirements of the course, but writing assignments that students actually care about. As a student I can remember rolling my eyes every time I was asked to write in a journal, or do free writing at the beginning of class. I didn’t take the writing tasks seriously because it always seemed like busy work, so now I can sympathize with students when I think about the attitude I had about journal writing. I think Blau outlines good ways to introduce journal writing to students, in ways that are practical and meaningful.

First, it is important that students understand that a journal or reading log is not just a place for them to summarize what they read, but they should use the journal to document questions that they have about the text, as well as possible answers. It is also a good idea for students to use their journals to explore writing ideas for their future papers. When I was assigned a reading log for my English class as a student the writing that I did was outside of the classroom, and I was not required to bring the journal to class. After reading this book, I think that it should be a requirement for students to not only bring their journals to class, but to routinely share their writings to their classmates. I think if you clearly show students how their journal writing can assist them in future assignments, and help them work through questions they have about the reading that they are doing, they will embrace this type of assignment more readily.

One of the things that I appreciated about Blau’s book was that while he discussed the writing assignments he uses in his classes, he also described the problems teachers can face implementing such writing assignments, and evaluating them. I have always liked the idea of using reading logs, but have struggled with determining how to evaluate them. I like the idea of having students write a reading log audit as a way of monitoring their progress, because it makes them accountable not only for their reading but it also forces them to be reflective about the choices that they are making while reading and writing. I also think that students will take reading logs/journals seriously if they know up front that their journals may be read in front of the class.

It is easy to feel defeated in the classroom when a new teaching technique or writing assignment is not received well. Given this, I was also glad to see Blau acknowledge that, “many of the most interesting problems we face as teachers never go away” (151). I think that teaching will always involve some form of experimentation.  A tasks that works well for one class, may fail miserably with another group of students, so you are constantly testing new things out in the classroom to see what fits.