Journals are a common companion to Tuesdays with Morrie, since the book invites reflection on relationships, regrets, and priorities. Many teachers use them as part of social-emotional learning. The problem is deciding what a journal grade means.

If you grade for feelings, students learn to perform emotions. If you grade only for completion, you lose the chance to teach them how to think in writing. A middle path is to assess how students reason and use the text, and leave emotional content unscored.

Decide early whether the journal is formative, summative, or a mix. Many teachers score the journal lightly and reserve major grades for essays. That keeps the stakes low and encourages honest writing.

Tell students exactly what you will and will not look for. Trust grows when expectations are clear. Most students write more openly when they know a journal will not be graded on how sad or happy it sounds.

Journal prompts tied to specific chapters

The chapters are organized by topic, which makes it easy to align prompts to the reading. Short, specific prompts produce better entries than broad ones. Consider these.

• After the chapter on regrets, describe a decision you still think about and what it taught you.
• After the chapter on family, write about who in your life you would call a support system and why.
• After the chapter on money, list what you value more than what you own and explain the difference.
• After the chapter on forgiveness, write about a time you wanted to apologize and what stopped you.
• After the final Tuesday, write about the lesson you expect to remember in five years.

Scoring criteria that respect privacy

A simple three-point scale works for journals: the entry shows reflection, connects to the reading, and meets the length. That is enough to give students a signal without turning private thoughts into grades. Avoid commenting on the content of what they shared unless invited.

For teachers with many classes, AI tools like GraideMind can help check that entries meet those criteria and draft brief comments. Since journals can contain sensitive disclosures, teachers should read flagged entries themselves and decide what to do. The tool takes over the sorting while the teacher remains the reader.

Keeping journals safe

Tell students who will read the journal and what you are required to report. Being open about limits builds trust and avoids surprises. Follow your school's guidance on mandatory reporting.

Offer an option to mark an entry as private, meaning you will check only that it exists. Some students write more freely with that choice. Others will never use it, and that is fine.

Using journals to inform later writing

Journals become more valuable when they feed a later assignment. Ask students to select one entry and develop it into a formal reflective essay. They come to the task with material and a direction.

That process also shows students the link between casual and academic writing. They learn that a rough thought can become an argument if they work it through. For many, it is the first time writing has felt like a process instead of a task.