Month: April 2022

For the last day of tech class, I chose to transcribe a little journal entry by way of a postcard I might send out to someone.

To create the image or “front” of my postcard, I used a newer app that our instructor introduced us to called WOMBO which allows you to create beautiful artwork using AI. Today I entered the prompts schoolwork tornado and wombo made me this

One of my favourite things about journaling is the day I get to purchase a fresh new journal. There is something so satisfying about a crisp new page. I’ve had many journals over the years and I thought I might research a few local places to go and buy journals. I am a big believer in shopping local and when possible will take an opportunity to buy from a local business. A quick google search presented a few options…

From here I was able to do a little research and see which of the local google listings matched my criteria for supporting a locally owned business. The first one I checked out is called, The Papery. Although I have shopped in the papery many times I didn’t know if it was a locally owned business. I wasn’t able to find the information I was looking for on their About Us page but I was able to find this article from the local Times Colonist that highlights the local owner, Michael Rodgers, as well as a recent move. As a side note, I tried to embed the Times Colonist in this blog post but was blocked by a message saying sorry, but this content could not be embedded. I suspect that the Times Colonist has created a block on their content but hope that I am properly crediting them here by using g a screen shot and including a link that will send you their website.

My next search was into Munro’s Books which is an iconic book store located in downtown Victoria, BC. The Munros website had substantially more information about the business and I learned that when the original (and local) owner decided to retire, he transferred ownership of the store to four long-term employees of the famous bookshop. What a feel-good story! Here are some images of the famous Munros bookstore located at 1108 Government Street courtesy of Tourism Victoria.

After completing some research, I am now informed and will never again order a journal from amazon when I have at least two fabulous and local stores to shop from close to home.

When I first think about journaling, an image like this comes to mind

Then I talked to a teacher who was leading their class through a photo essay and I started to consider applying this model to journaling. A photo journal could be multiple photos placed together in order as a way to document one small journey (maybe just one day) or curated over a lifetime to tell a story. I decided to try curating 6 photos from sometime in the fall that might offer a glimpse into what kinds of things I do outside of school. What follows is my photo journaling entry…

As a preservice teacher today I thought I might head into the BC Curriculum resources and see if I can find anything about journaling. A quick search for the actual word journal or journaling didn’t bring anything up so I opted to look a little deeper in the English Language Arts and Career curriculum for something that might support the use of journaling for students. The Following are the highlights of what I found.

Big Ideas

Journaling can support the following Big Ideas from the BC English Language Arts curriculum:

• Language and story can be a source of creativity and joy.
• Using language in creative and playful ways helps us understand how language works.

I see opportunities to use journaling to support the following big ideas in the BC Career curriculum:

• Confidence develops through the process of self-discovery
• Reflecting on our preferences and skills helps us identify the steps we need to take to achieve our career goals.