Visual Journaling as a Method for Critical Thinking in Writing Courses

Introduction Assigning out-of-class readings and reflections in my undergraduate rhetoric and composition courses was often one of the more challenging aspects of my curriculum design. Throughout any semester, I was sure to provide students with prompts to reflect, between classes, on their writing processes, but my students often submitted mechanical, voiceless, summarized thoughts on readings and their experiences writing. To me, it appeared that the majority of them viewed these out-of-class assignments as tasks to complete as quickly as possible without pushing themselves to think critically. Csikszentmihalyi (1996/2013) noted that people are “born with two contradictory sets of instructions: a conservative tendency, made up of instincts for self-preservation, self-aggrandizement, and saving energy, and an expansive tendency made up of instincts for exploring, for enjoying novelty and risk—the curiosity” (p. 11). While the first tendency requires few outside influences to motivate behavior, “the second can wilt if it is not cultivated” (p. 11). My out-of-class assignments seemed to encourage students to conserve energy for activities other than critical thinking; thus, I knew something needed to change.