Teaching Thinking Through Journaling

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Journaling is an incredibly useful technique for teaching thinking skills. It is underused in business (except for nursing) perhaps because it is often associated with emotions - which we rarely deal with in the business world. (We like to stick to facts and rules and processes.)

Journaling is a helpful thinking tool for a number of reasons:

• It causes us to reflect on what has happened, (which, again, is not something we often take time to do) and reflection often leads to introspection and insight.

• It increases vocabulary skill by forcing us to put our thoughts in to cogent words.

• It allows us to analyze a situation more objectively by writing it down, leaving it be, and then revisiting it a few days or weeks later.

• It contributes to emotional intelligence (through introspection and objectivity).

• It can allow us, as trainers, to gain insight into someone's critical thinking

If you'd like to add journaling to your curriculum, here are some questions to have your learners answer. Giving them questions helps to overcome the angst of "what do I write?" The more they become able to answer these questions, the more they will be able to expand their responses and break free of the questions.

• What happened?

• Why did this happen?

• How did _______ affect the situation? (people, policy, activity, etc.)

• How did I react to the situation?

• Was my reaction based on any assumptions?

• What new insight or knowledge have I gained?

• How will my new insight / knowledge affect my future work?

• Is this insight / knowledge / future work context specific - or are their broader implications?