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Unjournaling: Daily Writing Exercises That Are Not Personal, Not Introspective, Not Boring!
Some people just don't want to share intimate details about their thoughts, feelings and lives―at least not with others in a class or group. That's where Unjournaling comes in. All the writing prompts in this book are entirely impersonal but completely engaging―for both kids and adults. Just a couple of examples of the 200 writing prompts on widely varied Write a paragraph about a girl named Dot, but use no letters with a dot (in other words, no i or j). Why on earth would Yankee Doodle stick a feather in his cap and call it "macaroni"? Come up with a plausible explanation. The book includes sample responses to all of the questions―a helpful tool for anyone who gets stuck with a topic and wants to see that it can be done!
112 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 1, 2013
I am a new 4th grade teacher, and have started using this in my classroom. After three days the students were begging to have more prompts from the book! They won't stop writing which is what every writing teacher wants! I love that the prompts are easily adaptable to a 4th grade level, but I could also see them working in older grades.
May 8, 2020
Nice challenges in this one... not so much story starters, more of a paragraph idea inspirer. 200 prompts, each numbered, and samples for each prompt in the back of the book.
May 28, 2020
2.5 starts. Just OK. Mostly for children.
May 7, 2022
Excellent teaching resource- one of my go to books for starting to get to know my class!
August 30, 2009
While there were some worthwhile writing prompts in this book, I found many of them to be incredibly arbitrary and counterproductive. The point of journaling is to create a flow of language and get out all your thoughts about a particular topic. Instead, I found many of the journal topics in this book to halt thinking and cause you to put your pen down while you're trying to think of something to fit the incredibly narrow, random topic. For brain builders or time fillers, some of them would be OK, but if I want to create a classroom of writers, I'm not going to waste my time with topics like these:
Write a three-sentence paragraph about a dog, using no letters of the alphabet that appear before "m."
Write a five-sentence paragraph of five-letter words. Make the subject of your paragraph an animal.
Write a sentence in which the first word is one letter long, the second word is two letters long, the third word is three letters long, etc. See how long you can make the sentence.
Write four sentences made up of four four-letter words each.
Here are the letters you can use:
e, s, a, t, r, c, n, m, h, w, d
How many sentences can you write using only these letters?
Write a three-sentence paragraph about a dog, using no letters of the alphabet that appear before "m."
Write a five-sentence paragraph of five-letter words. Make the subject of your paragraph an animal.
Write a sentence in which the first word is one letter long, the second word is two letters long, the third word is three letters long, etc. See how long you can make the sentence.
Write four sentences made up of four four-letter words each.
Here are the letters you can use:
e, s, a, t, r, c, n, m, h, w, d
How many sentences can you write using only these letters?
April 1, 2011
Some great prompts in here, but not enough. There are too many I wouldn't use, even as a substitute. Still, this would be very handy to whip out if there is no lesson plan. These prompts don't have to be used in just English class, I think you could find one that relates to any class you are in.
June 8, 2023
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Unjournaling
June 7, 2023 by Kathleen · Comments (0) (Edit)
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A book review of Unjournaling: Daily Writing Exercises That Are Not Personal, Not Introspective, Not Boring by Dawn DiPrince and Cheryl Miller Thurston
A book review of Unjournaling: Daily Writing Exercises That Are Not Personal, Not Introspective, Not Boring by Dawn DiPrince and Cheryl Miller Thurston
Stars: *****
Routledge (2006)
Writing Exercises
112 pages
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.
Summary: Some students just don’t want to share intimate details about their thoughts, feelings and lives―at least, not with others in a class or group. That’s where Unjournaling comes in. All the writing prompts in this book are entirely impersonal but completely engaging for both kids and adults.
Two examples of the 200 writing prompts include:
Write a paragraph about a girl named Dot, but use no letters with a dot (in other words, no i or j).
Why on earth would Yankee Doodle stick a feather in his cap and call it “macaroni”? Come up with a plausible explanation.
The book includes sample responses to all of the questions―a helpful tool for anyone who gets stuck with a topic and wants to see how it can be done!
Unjournaling
This book is listed as grade 7-adult but I’m using it with my grade 3 and 6. I just expect a longer and neater answer from my older student. It would work just as well with my highschooler as well and I may use it next year with her for English class.
I like the idea of getting the kids to write more but without making it hard or personal. I didn’t always like my journal at school because we had to write about our day and the teacher would write comments back. Sometimes I didn’t like her commenting on my personal thoughts.
The book is laid out in a fun way, haphazardly. You can see inside the book at Amazon to see what I mean and see some more sample prompts.
My kids didn’t necessarily enjoy writing time because they really dislike it in general. However they did appreciate being able to choose which one they wrote about instead of being told what to write about. It’s a nice combination of making lists, poems, paragraphs, sentences and such. Some are shorter and some are longer.
Half the book is the 200 prompts and the other half of the book are sample answers for each prompt if your child is completely lost on how to start. I’m not sure it’s needed but it’s better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it.
I recommend using this book in your homeschool or classroom or for adults who want to practice their writing skills.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
Unjournaling
June 7, 2023 by Kathleen · Comments (0) (Edit)
Spread the love
A book review of Unjournaling: Daily Writing Exercises That Are Not Personal, Not Introspective, Not Boring by Dawn DiPrince and Cheryl Miller Thurston
A book review of Unjournaling: Daily Writing Exercises That Are Not Personal, Not Introspective, Not Boring by Dawn DiPrince and Cheryl Miller Thurston
Stars: *****
Routledge (2006)
Writing Exercises
112 pages
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.
Summary: Some students just don’t want to share intimate details about their thoughts, feelings and lives―at least, not with others in a class or group. That’s where Unjournaling comes in. All the writing prompts in this book are entirely impersonal but completely engaging for both kids and adults.
Two examples of the 200 writing prompts include:
Write a paragraph about a girl named Dot, but use no letters with a dot (in other words, no i or j).
Why on earth would Yankee Doodle stick a feather in his cap and call it “macaroni”? Come up with a plausible explanation.
The book includes sample responses to all of the questions―a helpful tool for anyone who gets stuck with a topic and wants to see how it can be done!
Unjournaling
This book is listed as grade 7-adult but I’m using it with my grade 3 and 6. I just expect a longer and neater answer from my older student. It would work just as well with my highschooler as well and I may use it next year with her for English class.
I like the idea of getting the kids to write more but without making it hard or personal. I didn’t always like my journal at school because we had to write about our day and the teacher would write comments back. Sometimes I didn’t like her commenting on my personal thoughts.
The book is laid out in a fun way, haphazardly. You can see inside the book at Amazon to see what I mean and see some more sample prompts.
My kids didn’t necessarily enjoy writing time because they really dislike it in general. However they did appreciate being able to choose which one they wrote about instead of being told what to write about. It’s a nice combination of making lists, poems, paragraphs, sentences and such. Some are shorter and some are longer.
Half the book is the 200 prompts and the other half of the book are sample answers for each prompt if your child is completely lost on how to start. I’m not sure it’s needed but it’s better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it.
I recommend using this book in your homeschool or classroom or for adults who want to practice their writing skills.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 28, 2020
Ugh. This is the worst. I asked our librarian to choose several writing prompt books because there's a chance my summer Creative Writing course will make. As I don't know any truly good prompt books I just asked her to use her best judgment.
Apparently her best judgment on this one was dreadful. The prompts in this book are trite, immature, and not very useful for getting at meaningful writing or thinking. Also over half of the book is, I'm not even kidding, an "answer key" to show you the "right" way to respond to such fascinating prompts as:
- List 10 words that use ph to make an f sound...then use all ten words in a paragraph (p. 24)
- Write a sentence with every single word beginning with either a or t (p. 41)
- Write a paragraph about a girl name Dot, but use no letters with dots (i, j) (p. 9)
and about 30 "rhyme" prompts. Really, what college level skills are we applying when asking someone to write a paragraph that has at least 3 rhymes for "stripes" or 5 rhymes for "bee?!"
I would say this book is written on a 5th-8th grade level, maybe, and that the idea - "Daily writing exercises that are not personal, introspective, or boring" - might be a good concept but it isn't played out effectively in this book. I ended up pulling 5 prompts out that I think I can manipulate to be useful. I'm glad I have two additional prompt books to look at, hopefully at least one of those will be worthwhile.
Apparently her best judgment on this one was dreadful. The prompts in this book are trite, immature, and not very useful for getting at meaningful writing or thinking. Also over half of the book is, I'm not even kidding, an "answer key" to show you the "right" way to respond to such fascinating prompts as:
- List 10 words that use ph to make an f sound...then use all ten words in a paragraph (p. 24)
- Write a sentence with every single word beginning with either a or t (p. 41)
- Write a paragraph about a girl name Dot, but use no letters with dots (i, j) (p. 9)
and about 30 "rhyme" prompts. Really, what college level skills are we applying when asking someone to write a paragraph that has at least 3 rhymes for "stripes" or 5 rhymes for "bee?!"
I would say this book is written on a 5th-8th grade level, maybe, and that the idea - "Daily writing exercises that are not personal, introspective, or boring" - might be a good concept but it isn't played out effectively in this book. I ended up pulling 5 prompts out that I think I can manipulate to be useful. I'm glad I have two additional prompt books to look at, hopefully at least one of those will be worthwhile.
June 10, 2020
Great writing prompts for Middle school and high school. They allow the students to write creatively
May 31, 2009
While I enjoyed the 200 writing prompt Ideas. I was a little concerned and ultimately turned off by the Answer Keys. I am sure that to some these are a great reference and might be useful in helping a parent or teacher in what might be expected when using some of the ideas from the Book. I Feel that the whole Idea of using such an open ended writing Style in your program is that there are no "right" answers.
I feel this would be a book best for Teachers in a classroom setting or for a parent looking to Spice up a current program.
I chose personally not to incorporate it in My Homeschooling Program.
I feel this would be a book best for Teachers in a classroom setting or for a parent looking to Spice up a current program.
I chose personally not to incorporate it in My Homeschooling Program.
January 30, 2016
I have never seen my children write so fast or be so estatic about a writing prompts book. The author of this book has the touch with my children! Great and unique writing prompts. I recommend this book to all who homeschool or teach writing.
May 18, 2009
I'm incredibly excited to use this in the classroom next year!
June 10, 2013
Using this this year to get kids to write. Not getting reams out of them, but they are really creative, interesting and usually funny prompts. We're all enjoying it.
December 27, 2012
Great prompts for writers
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews