JOURNAL WRITING FOR OUTSIDE CREDIT

Please put your name, date, and day on each page if they are turned in separately. If you turn in a notebook, please place your name on it.

  1. You may do a thorough journal write daily, if you wish. New day, new page.
  2. You must write about topics being taught in class or ones I have covered previously that you are familiar with. (See example below)
  3. A portion of the journal write must have a personal reflection/evaluation which includes how you can improve next time.
  4. This is not a place to just whine and complain but a place to solve. Please keep that in mind while writing.
  5. You will receive ½ hour credit for each well-written paper. Please turn in two at a time so I only have to fuss with 1 hour increments. You may turn in as many as you like.
  6. What you write will be kept confidential unless I think you will do harm to yourself.
  7. Please read my comments.
  8. You may also include a Hassle Log as well.

 

Example: 22-Aug-05 Monday Today was a rough day for me. It began with Mom and me fighting in the car. My external trigger was that she said I was not doing my chores well enough and my internal trigger was “I work my bee-hind off for you!”

My physical cues were that my fists were clenching and I got teary-eyed. I didn’t respond very well because I was tired from not sleeping and run down from partying all weekend. I didn’t want to cry in front of her and show weakness but I was really hurt. She knows how to ‘push my buttons’ and that annoys me. I started screaming at her things I regret. I got out of the car and slammed the door.

The short term consequences  were that I feel guilty for yelling and she got mad at me for yelling and slamming the door. She told me I had an early curfew tonight for being disrespectful. The long term consequences are that we have a broken relationship and I am in the habit of yelling back when I feel defensive. This is not a good pattern for dating or marriage. I need to change my actions.

The social skills I could have used were: listening (I could have asked her to clarify what she meant), apologizing for something…anything, and I could tell her I will work harder at being more thorough when doing my chores.

I did apologize later but it took me awhile.

 

Reflection: Basically, I need to ask questions when someone (particularly my mom) has a criticism of me, then I need to think about it without being defensive. I just need to slow down.