Teacher Journal Challenge

One of my teacher friends told me that she plans to retire at the end of the year. Last year, I had an impulse to start journaling my thoughts as I progressed through the school year. I left the school not having written a single journal entry. I am trying to preserve my memories by posthumously journaling about my years in the classroom, but lament that I didn't do it sooner. It would have been amazing if had I written things as I was experiencing them. Alas, the grind of teaching put me in such a state of exhaustion that I had nothing left to write with at the end of my days. 

My teacher friend is in the English department, so maybe she has more intrinsic motivation to write--motivation that I lacked in the history department. Maybe she can succeed where I failed? 

I reached out to my English department friend to ask if she would consider journaling. I shared that I wished I had journaled through my years in the classroom before I left. 

"Two people have given me journals in the last week!" she replied. 

I asked if I could give her a weekly prompt for her journals. She said yes. I am thrilled. 

If sharing my journal prompts is good for one teacher, why not share them with more? The idea for this blog series is born. 

The goal is to publish a new journal prompt each week on Thursdays. I will enable comments so that  you can post your own response to the blog, should you choose. 

Week 1 Journal Prompt: 

As you transitioned out of summer and back into work, what went well? What was challenging about the shift? What did you look forward to, what did you dread?

When I texted that to my friend, she immediately asked, "Did AI write that?"

"No! I did." I replied.

Upon reflection, I agreed, it did seem like it was written by a bot. It is a little, generic, or mild as is the AI writing style. So if you want something a little "spicier," I will provide a second prompt. For the slightly spicier version of the back to school journal prompt, here's a "hot salsa" prompt:

What's the latest micromanaging policy from admin that you will not miss one iota when they change their minds or their attention moves to the next "shiny monkey" later this year or next?