journaling · Reflective Practice · summer vacation

One Line a Day Journals

Shawnda Fukano

Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes, 30 seconds (470 words)

Primary Audience: Classroom Teachers & Literacy Coaches

This year I am wondering if the old saying “less is more” might be true when it comes to summer journals for my students.

A Backstory: In the spring of 2020 I bought a “One Line a Day Journal” from a local gift shop. It is a five year journal, each page a different date divided into five small sections. The idea is to write down just a couple of sentences every day, only the most important events or thoughts that you want to remember.

During those early pandemic days, a few sentences was all I had the capacity to write, and the few lines the journal provided for each day were doable. I found it to be so manageable (and enjoyable) that four years later I am getting close to completing my original journal and have a fresh one ready and waiting on my shelf.

I have also witnessed my own children start and abandon journals during vacations, school breaks, and holidays. In the beginning they are excited to write down everything that is happening, but they inevitably come to a day where they run out of time to write. Then the next day they get overwhelmed because now they have two days to write about, and before long the whole journal has been abandoned.

As a writing teacher and coach, I have a hypothesis that for some students, writing just a sentence or two every day will be more successful than asking them to write a full page (paragraph, story, etc.) that gets abandoned early on in the summer. So this year I am giving students small notebooks to record just one sentence or two each day during the summer, their own “One Line a Day” summer journal.

Here’s Why: I know that habits are built through consistency, starting small and gradually building up. I would rather my students write just a little bit every day than spend a larger chunk of time writing just once or twice over the course of the summer (or not at all). I also know that paper choice matters. I want the pages of the summer journal to be small so that students see that daily writing is doable, not overwhelming.

The Bottom Line is that a little bit of writing is better than no writing, and a little bit of writing every day adds up to a whole lot of writing by the end of the summer. Plus, as students build their daily writing habit, they might decide to use two (or more) pages some days if they have something especially meaningful to write about.

I am excited to see how my students respond to the idea of “One Line a Day” journals and if it engages more students in summer writing. I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas! Share them in the comments below.

Published by Shawnda Fukano

I am a biliteracy coach at a Spanish-English dual language elementary school and an OCDE Project GLAD trainer. My son and twin daughters keep me pretty busy, but when I have a spare moment you can find me digging in my garden, baking in my kitchen, exploring at the beach, or writing in my journal.

3 thoughts on “One Line a Day Journals”

  1. I love this idea and can’t wait to try it with my own class. I agree fully that we all, adults and students, get overwhelmed by filling up pages or creating stories based on the expectations of others. A little each day will build a habit and inspire our writers to go back and possibly create the next great novel.

    Thank you for sharing.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. “As a writing teacher and coach, I have a hypothesis that for some students, writing just a sentence or two every day will be more successful than asking them to write a full page (paragraph, story, etc.) that gets abandoned early on in the summer.”

    I’m willing to bet your hypothesis is correct!

    Liked by 1 person

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