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Benefits of the Five-Minute Journal

Donna Louden

The five-minute journal is a form of focused freewriting with which I start each meeting of

my composition courses. A few minutes before the beginning of class, I write a topic on the

board and place a small alarm clock on the instructor’s table at the front of the room. As soon

as my students arrive, they write a response to the topic, knowing that five minutes after the

official start of class, the alarm will sound and I will erase the board, collect their assignments,

and put these papers away. After this point, journal responses placed on the table are late and

receive half credit, 50 percent. Certainly, I am not doing anything original: Writers and writing

teachers appreciate how timed exercises like this one develop written fluency. Three

composition textbooks at hand suggest and describe freewriting in some form as an initial stage

in the writing process (Axelrod and Cooper 579-580; Hacker 7; Reid 34). However, the five-

minute journal has numerous additional benefits, particularly as an assessment tool, that make

it a worthwhile activity in composition classes, especially those for non-native speakers of

English.

The advantages of frequent writing practice are already well understood but merit further

consideration before a discussion of other uses of the five-minute journal. Written fluency--

facility in expressing oneself through writing--is of particular concern in my classes. I teach

ESOL, English for speakers of other languages, at the University of Texas at El Paso. Almost

all of my students are Spanish speakers, and thus do not need English to communicate with

one another in my classes. Because the university and the surrounding community are

Spanish/English bilingual, these students lack the total language immersion experience from

which foreign students benefit at other universities. The five minutes that my students spend

freewriting can be the only time in their day when they are required to think in English.

Even if my students were better motivated to use their developing English, they would

continue to benefit as writers from the practice provided by five-minute journal. A composition
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class does not necessarily provide enough writing practice. For example, in two of my courses,

I reserve only about forty days out of a fifteen-week semester for composing essays, including

the final exam. I provide intermediary deadlines that require parts of and completed rough

drafts to be turned in before an essay is due; nonetheless, students tend to write these

assignments immediately before submitting them, rather than writing a little each day.

Therefore, forty days represents a maximum possible amount of time. I estimate that many

students compose my assigned essays in as few as twelve days total for the semester.1

Although I also require an out-of-class reader response journal, about one third of my students

ignore this assignment. If they are to be successful writers, these students need time to write in

class. Students tell me they feel the journal helps them complete written assignments in all their

classes more quickly, easily, and confidently.

In addition to increasing students’ written proficiency, I use the five-minute journal as a

means of communication. This assignment provides a frequent and valuable opportunity for me

to respond to what students are saying without the added concern of how they are saying it. I

write a comment of one or two sentences on every journal that is long enough to communicate a

message. I like to make my comments positive--encouraging, congratulatory, empathetic,

admiring, complimentary, and so on. Alternatively, I may write a response that summarizes

what the student has written, reflecting the message back to him or her. In short, I let my

students know that I welcome what they have to say, and I observe that they in turn enjoy

reading my comments.

Through some prompts, I encourage students to explore ideas during the planning

stages of the writing process, for example in topic selection and thesis formation and

development. Such prompts include the following: “Which topic do you think you will write

about in your concept essay? Explain your reasons for choosing this topic,” and “Explain some

1
For this estimate, I assume one day of writing in class and one day of writing out of class
apiece for four essays, three days of writing in class for a midterm essay, and one day of writing
in class for the final exam essay.
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ideas that you intend to use in your evaluation essay.” With these prompts and my comments

on their responses, I am able to guide students to make feasible and personally meaningful

prewriting choices that will lead to greater success. I look for the best ideas in the journal

responses and encourage students to develop them further in their essays.

The journals also let me know when students need extra attention from me. It is often

through the journals that I find out about circumstances that can interfere with a student’s

success in the course. These circumstances might be problems with the class itself, such as

conflicts with classmates, difficulties understanding the course material, or frustration at

receiving low grades. Additionally, a student may experience a personal crisis such as a family

emergency, loss of the use of a car, or unexpected job demands. Students may not consider

approaching an instructor for help with schoolwork when they confront these kinds of difficulties,

but with the journal, I may know when to approach a student individually to offer assistance that

can help him or her continue to succeed in my class and perhaps at school in general.

The five-minute journal makes a meaningful contribution to my composition pedagogy

and strengthens my relationship with my students. Furthermore, because I use this assignment

at the beginning of class, I encourage students to be responsible and involved in my courses.

Receiving a grade for each day of class, students are motivated to come to class and to arrive

on time. ESOL students are ambivalent about the program’s attendance policies, but they are

sensitive to the grades they receive. In other words, if they receive a lower grade “merely”

because they are frequently absent or late, they feel unreasonably punished. On the other hand,

they find the consequences of 0’s and 50’s in my grade book reasonable if undesirable and

make the necessary effort to maintain their grades.

In addition to needing extra incentive to attend class, some students require a surprising

number of reminders as well as considerable motivation to do their homework, and the journal

helps provide the support they need. By arriving on time for the journal, students are present for

the discussion of upcoming assignments that I provide immediately afterward. Although I

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distribute a handout listing the homework for the semester, many students do not remember to

check this handout unless they see me refer to it when I explain the assignment for the following

day of class. It is also helpful that I require students to turn in their homework at the beginning

of class when they turn in their journals. Seeing classmates’ homework in the stack of papers

on my table, a student will remember to turn in an assignment that would otherwise have

remained forgotten in a backpack. I have observed students quickly leafing through the papers

to reassure themselves that they did the right assignment and completed it correctly. More

frequently than I would like, the journal reminds students that they neglected to do homework.

Without this reminder, such students would tend to think that they are doing better in the class

than they actually are.

Students also become more conscientious about completing their out-of-class work

because through the journal I prompt them to discuss the homework due that day. For

example, I might ask students to narrate an anecdote of an experience similar to one depicted

in a reading assignment. When homework offers practice in a skill, such as conducting

research, I ask what was easy and what was difficult about doing the assignment. Students

have remarked that the journal is like a quiz and may write apologetically when revealing that

they were previously familiar with the ideas or techniques presented in the homework. Many

confess in their journals when they have not done the homework and promise to be more

conscientious next time. Other students who have not done the homework attempt to respond

to the journal prompt by elaborating their best guess. While some instructors may view this kind

of response as a species of lie, I see it as a strategy that may reconnect a student who falls out

of step with the class.

Functioning as a quiz is one way that the five-minute journal serves as an assessment

tool. I also use this highly flexible assignment to encourage students to reflect on what they

have learned and to evaluate my courses. I most appreciate the journal in these assessment

capacities because I can immediately improve my teaching based on what my students tell me.
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The only other way I can get this information is through the end-of-semester student

evaluations, which I do not receive until the middle of the following semester.

I can use the journal at any point in the semester to prompt students to evaluate

themselves. On the day they turn in their first essay of the semester, I always ask them to write

about the good and bad features of the essay that they are turning in. This prompt often

confuses students to the point that many have difficulty understanding what I am asking them to

write. Some invariably write that they expect me to tell them their strengths and weaknesses.

Nevertheless, I feel this topic alerts students to the fact that I want them to develop the ability to

judge their own work. Examples of similar prompts that I use on the day that an important

writing assignment is due include, “In your opinion, which essay was more difficult to write, the

process essay or the classification essay? Explain your reasons for your opinion,” “Describe the

things you did to make your arguing essay as good as possible,” “Describe the things that you

learned in the process of writing your annotated bibliography,” and “What grade do you think

your research paper will receive? Give your reasons for this prediction.”

I do not have to wait until an essay is due to have my students evaluate their

coursework. On the day of a peer review, I might ask them what they anticipate their peer

review partner to say about their essay draft. After the class has finished practicing a difficult

skill, I use a journal topic that requires students to review the lesson, for example “Explain why

you think students find background paragraphs confusing,” “Describe the advice you would give

a new student in this class about how to avoid plagiarism,” and “Discuss the most important

things a writer needs to know about writing a works cited page.” Topics like these add closure

to a lesson. They also allow me to identify any misunderstandings that the class might have,

which I can address before beginning the next theme.

As an assessment tool, the five-minute journal also allows me to begin and end a

semester meaningfully. I often have students introduce themselves to me in the first journal of

the semester, but I also ask them to describe positive experiences they have had in past
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English classes. Although his topic often evokes memories of elementary school and learning

the names of colors, students additionally tell me about their previous courses within our

university ESOL program. I learn which teachers are well regarded among the students, and I

have picked up some useful teaching techniques as well. As a semester concludes, I have

students evaluate both themselves and the class in their journal responses. I prompt them to

discuss what they have learned and to evaluate their performance as students throughout the

semester. To elicit their opinions of the course, I ask them what they wish they had known

about the class at the beginning of the semester, the advice they would give to students just

starting the course, and what they wish the course had taught them. Over the years, I have

made numerous improvements based on student suggestions. Most recently, I have added

speech and vocabulary components and multiple and varied opportunities for extra credit.

I have no doubt that the five-year journal is an essential part of my methodology;

however, when I discuss it with other instructors, they doubt that they can spare the time to

grade the students’ responses. These instructors have a good point. One of the virtues of the

five-minute journal is also a liability. Because this assignment takes only five minutes, it can be

inserted into a day of class without displacing other in-class work that might also have to be

graded. I have a homework assignment and an in-class assignment in addition to the journal

due almost every day of class, so I have to grade the journals as efficiently as possible. A

journal response receives a grade of 100 if it is at least fifty words long, is on topic, and has

been turned in on time. Journals that are late, too short, or off topic receive a grade of fifty.

After many semesters of practice, I have a large number of formulaic responses to what my

students have written. For a class at the maximum capacity of twenty-nine, I take about half an

hour to read the journals for one class meeting.

Considering the benefits that my students and I enjoy, I feel that the time I spend on the

journals is worthwhile, though other teachers do not agree. This disagreement in part

represents a difference in teaching philosophy. I feel that the daily work that I assign keeps me
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apprised of my students’ progress and keep my students in touch with my courses. Other

instructors accomplish the same goals differently. In classes considerably larger than mine,

however, a daily five-minute journal represents an impractical amount of paperwork, but this

exercise still may be worth using less frequently. It is an excellent replacement for a pop quiz

because it is faster to grade and requires little preparation. I have composed the day’s journal

topic while dashing to class. For me, though, the journal has its varied rewards because I use it

at every class meeting.

Requiring minimal resources and a small amount of time, the five-minute journal is a

versatile teaching tool that provides many valuable rewards. I help my students become better

writers and better students while they help me become a better instructor. This reciprocity

empowers us both, and, I hope, increases my students’ satisfaction with my courses as much

as it increases my own. If my the size of my classes and course load were increased to the

point that a daily five-minute journal was no longer feasible, I would be hard pressed to find a

suite of techniques to compensate for the benefits that I and my students would lose.
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Works Cited

Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing. Short 7th ed. New

York: Bedford-St. Martin’s, 2004.

Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. 5th ed. New York: Bedford-St. Martin’s, 2003.

Reid, Joy M. The Process of Composition. 3rd ed. White Plains, NY: Longman, 2000.