CONFLICT JOURNALOVERVIEW AND PURPOSE

Your conflict journal will record various ideas, observations, questions, reflections, and real-life analysis that are related to your learning about conflict resolution strategies and tools, including reading assignments, discussing ideas in class, and participating in role plays.

The purpose of this assignment is to encourage you to participate actively in the exploration of conflict resolution, to connect ideas and your experiences, and to identify and think through your own reactions to what you are reading, experiencing, and learning.The conflict journal assignment will increase your sense of involvement in the course, encourage you to develop your skills in critical thinking, and make your study of conflict resolution applicable to your everyday life. The journal is intended to reveal some of your reactions, thoughts, and questions about conflict resolution and its relationship to your own world of experience

Unlike a class notebook (which is usually quite impersonal, consisting of class notes, reading notes, etc.), a diary (which is usually very personal), or an academic paper (which is can be very abstract and impersonal), the journal should be something in-between — your way of analyzing your own thoughts, ideas, observations, and discoveries about the material you are reading and studying as you move through this course.

REQUIREMENTS

1. You must write 10 journal entries.
2. Five entries must refer to class content before Reading Week (before Feb. 15).
3. Five entries must refer to class content after Reading Week (after Feb. 19).
4. You cannot write about the same class or concept more than once.
5. Each entry must be a minimum 400 words.
6. Each entry must begin by stating the class date to which your journal refers, the reading to which it refers, and the date on which you are writing the entry.
7. You are strongly encouraged to send me 1 draft journal entry by Feb. 25 so I can give you feedback about whether or not you are on the right track.
8. Your entries must move beyond summary and description to analyze a concept in relation to your experiences.

PLEASE VIEW THE CONFLICT JOURNAL TEMPLATE UNDER THE ASSIGNMENTS FOLDER FOR A SAMPLE OUTLINE OF A JOURNAL ENTRY. We will also spend class time working together on the steps to developing a journal entry that meets the criteria of the assignment.
GENERAL GUIDELINES

? Start soon: we will work on a sample journey entries in class throughout the term, but you should begin recording your reactions to course readings and class content, which will be the foundation of your journal entries. The journal is intended to be a record of your thoughts, ideas, and observations as the course progresses, not an end-of-term summary of things. Make notes about ideas for journal entries as soon as you can after the ideas occur to you. Then, as soon as possible, complete your more formal writing for the entry while the idea is still fresh. Immediacy and spontaneity will make your journal more lively, more meaningful, and easier to complete by the due date.

? For each entry, begin by stating clearly and specifically the area(s) of the readings, class discussion topics, and/or role plays to which that journal entry relates. The successful journal writer will also explain how the content of each journal entry relates to course content and will effectively demonstrate an understanding of key ideas by using course concepts and terminology, where appropriate.

? Your journal entries must be written in full sentences and pay attention to organization, grammar, and proper writing mechanics, although the writing style can be somewhat informal.

? Make sure the words you use are your own, and give proper credit for any ideas that are not your own. An important goal is for your writing to convey your own understanding of a topic, and excessive reliance on quotations and/or close paraphrasing works against this purpose.

CONTENT REQUIREMENTS:

You may include description, analysis, and commentary about nearly anything that relates to our conflict resolution course content. (Important: For any type of journal entry, remember to begin by mentioning clearly which text passage, class discussion point, or role play that triggered your response.) Here are a few content suggestions:

? Write entries about your reactions to things you read in the course readings, hear in class discussions, and/or experience in role plays — anything that evokes a response in you: surprises, excites, puzzles, angers or enlightens you; sparks special interest; raises a question in your mind; or answers a question you’ve wondered about before taking the course.

? Make connections between course content and ‘real life’: descriptions and/or analysis of ordinary examples of disputes or conflictsyou experience, hear about, or remember as you go about your daily life — things that exemplify or relate to an idea you’ve encountered in the course. For example, you could write about a specific communication or conflict pattern you have observed in strangers in a public setting, in your friends and family members, in yourself, or in co-workers, and then explain clearly how your observations relate to ideas in the course.

? [Special note:Feel free to exclude any topics that feel too personal or private, and please do not divulge information that might violate the privacy rights of someone else. In this journal, you are not being required to reveal your innermost secrets or to overstep the bounds of your own or others’ privacy. Instead, look for ways that even the most ordinary and obvious things around you might relate to your study of conflict resolution.]

Suggestion (but not required):

? Later in the course, consider reviewing your previous journal entries to see if you have new insights, revised opinions, and/or information that sheds new light on a previous entry. If new ideas occur to you about a previous journal entry, add further commentary. This can be done by using the ‘comments’ function in Word or writing a new entry under a previous date/subject entry. Be sure to add to, rather than replace, the original entry; in this way, the evolution of your thinking on the subject can be traced. Just be sure to write in the date of any added commentary. If your revised ideas or new insights go beyond what would fit in a small marginal note, you may want to consider including a final “capstone journal entry”– an extra entry that includes a more detailed comment on a previous journal, comments on several of your previous entries, or general reflections on how your views may have changed since the earlier weeks of the term.

GRADING CRITERIA Evaluation will be based on the following criteria:

? Your explanation of the connection between your journal topics and our dispute resolution course content: The successful journal writer includes a clear explanation of how the topic of the journal entry relates to the content of this course, and demonstrates understanding of key ideas by appropriate use of relevant course terminology in presenting descriptions, explanations, and interpretations. (Important note: A studentwho describes personal experiences that somehow “seem about conflict or resolution,” but who makes little or no effort to relate those experiences to course content and terminology, would receive a very low rating on this criterion)

? Depth of treatment of topics, with evidence of your efforts at critical thinking, analysis, and reflective engagement with class discussion and/or role plays: The student who simply summarizes or paraphrases ideas from the course readings, class discussions, or role plays, without adding anything else to the ideas, would receive a low score on this criterion.

Critical thinking: As you write, ask yourself whether you are engaging in critical thinking about the topic at hand. Critical thinkingincludes habits such as:
o being open to new information while remaining reasonably skeptical,
o becoming aware of biases and assumptions your own and others’ thinking,
o actively searching for alternative interpretations and considering information from more than one perspective,
o distinguishing between ideas that are supported by evidence and those that are simply emotionally appealing, and
o accepting complexity and avoiding oversimplification.

Analysis: Analysis involves examination of something in terms of its constituent elements — breaking it down into its more basic ingredients. As an example, a student who notices they have a particular conflict style, discusses its characteristics and consequences, and then goes on to identify how that style potentially impacts their ability to address a particular conflict would be engaged in analysis.

? Evidence of careful and sustained personal effort in completing the assignment, with variety and breadth of topics represented across the entries. Perhaps the best way to achieve a high rating on this criterion is to work on your journal frequently throughout the semester — jotting down ideas as they occur to you, making a first draft, and then honing and revising the entry sometime before it is turned in. Even if the end-of-semester deadline is met, a journal with too few entries — or shallow and skimpy presentation of topics – suggests an effort that is too little or too late. Working across the semester will encourage you to generate a greater variety of topics, instead of focusing on too narrow a range of topic areas in your entries.