THE PROCESS:

Students were given a

journal entry: What is fate?
What is free will? Give an
example from your life.
Students wrote their examples
on the white board under the
fate side or the free will side.
Discussion followed.
This picture shows student engagement in a journal entry,
connection of learning to a text, and the beginning
process of a writing assignment.

QUESTION:
Will weekly journal writing
motivate students to increase
achievement, connect learning,
and affect writing skills for
formulating a final product?
INQUIRY GOALS:
To see if journal writing increases essay
writing skills, comprehension, and better
scores on the final assignment.

CONTEXT:
During this inquiry project I taught the
text Oedipus by Sophocles to three 11th
grade English courses at Ferndale High
School in Ferndale. My focus was on
increasing their writing skills through the
use of journal entries that included
support with specific evidence and
textual examples.

After reading Oedipus

aloud, students had a total of
three journal entries that week:
- Do you think Oedipus is
exerting free will or is fate
determining his path? Aim for
three examples.
- Discuss in detail one example
(possibly from yesterdays
journal) of free will or fate that
Oedipus exhibits.
- Discuss in detail ONE MORE
example of free will or fate that
Oedipus exhibits. (If your stance
was that Oedipus was a victim
of fate, choose another
example of fate from the text).

Students were given the

prompt, discuss whether
Oedipus is responsible for his
own downfall or is a victim of
fate, and an outline to use on
the exam. The outline asked
students to do the following for
each body paragraph: Discuss
your reason for the position you
chose, give specific examples
from the play, use one quote for
support properly cited.

Issue #: [Date]

RESULTS AND REFLECTIONS:

Dolor Sit Amet

Not all students put effort into their journal entry responses, but the
ones that did were able to use the information from their journals
on their outline, and did.
Students that used an outline on their assessment consistently
scored higher.
Students journal entries served as a rough draft for their
assessment.
Most students used the material from their journal entries on their
outlines, but some students came up with new ideas.
If I were to do this again, I would have students turn their journal
responses into me daily for an accuracy grade. The students that
did not have thoughtful responses, I would dock points, and I
would leave feedback encouraging improvement in a specified
area.

QUOTES FROM STUDENTS JOURNALS:

Fate is to put your belief and trust in something unexplained. For example in God.
Free will is to work rationally on your own, believing in your own ideas and acts.
Oedipus tries to escape his fate of killing his own father and marrying his mother by
leaving Corinth. Oedipus thinks he is choosing free will by leaving his home, but he is
actually assisting his fate. The story teaches that Oedipus fate was sealed from the day he
was born and he cant change his fate in any way.
The prophecy given to Laius and Jocasta is another example of unavoidable fate. Even
though it wasnt their own choice to get rid of their son, their reaction to the prophecy set
up the events for the future.

RESOURCES:
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Helped develop the process: Burke, J. (2008). The english teacher's companion: A
guide to classroom, curriculum, and the profession (3rd ed.). Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemaan.
Helped connect prior learning to new learning: Farrington, M. (1997). You know
more than you think you do: A new guide at "write what you know". The Quarterly,
19(3).
Helped build engagement and discussion, which led to an enhanced final
product: Denne-Bolton, S. (2013). The dialogue journal: A tool for building better
writers. English Teaching Forum, 51(2).
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