Middle School

Each time Mikey filled one journal, we would let him pick a new one from a pile of composition notebooks at home. Then, we’d let him choose how to decorate his journal. As he got older, his journal decorations became simpler. This one was just covered with leaf duct tape. Some of his journals were even pre-decorated with a cover he liked from a local store like Walmart or Whole Foods (they carried journals made from recycled paper with fun covers).

In the beginning, Mikey was sharing his journal with a whole classroom full of elementary school kids who were getting to know him.  We made sure those first journals had covers that reflected Mikey’s personality and shared details about him as a person.

By the time he was decorating this journal, he was spending most of his time in his special ed classroom with a small group of students who knew him well. The typical kids who spent time with him were close friends who made a point to take time out of their day to sit with Mikey and read his journal.

Those kids already knew Mikey very well so the cover of the journal was less important for building connection.  The kids already cared about Mikey and knew details about his life and personality, so we could take less time crafting a cover. We just let Mikey do it however he wanted.

And, leaves were the choice for Journal #8! Go, Mikey!