Abstract

Dialogue journals are a form of writing in which a student and a teacher carry on a conversation over time. This paper addresses the benefits of using dialogue journals for promoting a positive social-emotional learning (SEL) environment for children in school settings. Educators and researchers have increasingly acknowledged the importance of SEL in schools, and the recognition has been gradually spread around the world in recent years. Despite the increased recognition of the importance of SEL, teachers often appear to feel unacquainted with tactics for promoting children’s social-emotional growth. We provide our readers with a theoretical and practical rationale behind the benefits in the framework of SEL. We also provide practical guidelines for the implementation of the dialogue journals in schools. Further, successful examples of the use of dialogue journals which we have drawn upon during classes in different countries are presented in order to help teachers promote the positive SEL environment for students at school.

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