Journals: Writing In The Pressure Cooker

Journals: Writing In The Pressure Cooker

Journaling is a great way to develop writing skills. Like everything else, practice makes perfect. Needed attention to such areas of writing as creative writing, critiquing, opinion writing, or just writing about a personal experience helps us become better at using our language to the best of its ability. We hone our vocabulary and grammar, and create an outlet for the constant flow of ideas we encounter. Yes, writing is perfect for all of this, but it is not something that can be forced.

Mandatory written assignments make writing a grueling task. High school students fret enough about test scores, independent study units, essays, assignments, not to mention their own personal issues from jobs to relationships to their futures. Point being, high school pressures in addition to life's obstacles all pile up fairly high for students. The last thing they want is to add another item to the 'to do' list.

Students at Washington High School at class, train...

Creative writing class-fine arts center (402690951...

Noisy class during first day of Creative Writing L...

I love writing. In fact, I keep two online "blogs" that I update on a regular basis, as well as a hard copy journal. When it strikes me, I write about anything that happens to be on my mind. Writing is an outlet for me when I need to get something off my chest. I feel it is a way to express myself, even if nobody ever reads the words I choose. I do not feel that writing is something that can be forced, when it is to be purely creative, or have any personal flair to it. At least in my case, if I am told to write something, the words never flow as they would if I were to sit down by choice and write what was on my mind. When filling out my option sheet, I was tempted to...