ABSTRACT
This chapter defines a journal, shares its history, and describes its value as a classroom activity and in the lives of faculty. Most people would agree with socrates, whose wisdom still rings true in the 21st century. Reflection is the path both to self-knowledge and to greater personal efficacy. Reflection is the process whereby we reconstruct and make meaning of our experience. The chapter describes both the benefits and the reasons for engaging in journal writing in the classroom and in professional life. During the 1600s in London Samuel Pepys began keeping a journal to track his financial progress, but, as his career progressed, it grew to encompass every aspect of his life, from dalliances to matters of state. In the United States the Puritans recorded their spiritual goals and growth in journals, and women pioneers wrote serial letters to their families back home about life on the western frontier.
