You are here: Creative Journal Writing > Subtopic 2 > Activities

Activity for Making a Table of Contents

Purpose

As an outline shows the content and development of an essay, a Table of Contents illustrates the content and development of a journal.  Most students have no idea if they have met requirements without one, and it serves to help them organize and flesh out what they need to do next.

Some students see this as an unwanted burden, but the instructor who wants to quickly assess if a student has met requirements and wants to support students in organizing their material will insist upon it.

Process

Wait until students have three or four entries, then ask them to develop a Table of Contents to organize their work. When journals are next collected, require it as a part of the assignment.

Step One

1. Discuss Table of Contents as a unifying and organizing device.
2. Show them an example from which they can model.
3. Walk them through the requirements:
• Sections
• Pagination
• Names of Texts and Authors responded to
• Type of Response from Kaston’s twenty suggestions
4. Discuss coordination of page numbers on the Table of Contents with the page numbers on the individual entries.
5. Discuss how with every submission a new Table of Contents should be placed on top of the old for the instructor to see progress and to review his or her comments on earlier work.

Step Two

1. Organize students into their groups.
2. Have students share their Table of Contents and note discrepancies.
3. Ask each group to list two questions about requirements and share them with the class.
4. Discuss and refer back to model.

Remember, most students have never organized a multilevel project before, and they need the support.  What may seem like an easy task to an instructor is not for the average or even above average student.

Objective

A well-organized journal that meets requirements, is easy to follow, understand, and assess, and showcases well-developed, coherent, unified work.