Journaling for Self-Awareness: A Powerful Tool for Teaching Self-Monitoring in High School Classrooms

Posted In Writing On May 23, 2025

Incorporating journaling for self-awareness into your classroom is one of the most effective student engagement strategies you can use to teach the executive function skill of self-monitoring. In fact, journaling for self-awareness not only improves student confidence and academic performance but also strengthens students’ self-control, emotional control, and ability to evaluate their own actions—key aspects of executive function.

Why Journaling for Self-Awareness Works

Executive function instruction helps students develop crucial cognitive skills. Self-monitoring is especially important for helping students become independent learners who can adapt to challenges and take ownership of their learning. Journaling for self-awareness invites students to reflect on their learning experiences in meaningful ways that build metacognition—thinking about their thinking—and lead to lasting growth.

The prompts below are specifically designed to help high school students build self-monitoring habits using journaling for self-awareness. These executive function strategies are adaptable, promote student empowerment, and support your efforts in teaching executive function skills through engaging, reflective writing activities.

Prompt 1: Reflecting on Success

Self-monitoring is the ability to view and evaluate oneself. Think about the last time that you showed good self-monitoring skills. It could have happened in class or at home. Maybe it was when you reviewed your work before turning it in, kept track of your grades, or knew how to succeed on the test. Describe your thoughts and feelings before and after you used your self-monitoring skills.

This prompt strengthens executive functioning by helping students recognize what success looks like and feels like. It reinforces the importance of using executive function tools like checklists, rubrics, and feedback loops to self-correct and improve performance.

Prompt 2: Asking for Help

Asking for help can be a difficult thing to do sometimes. Think about a time when you had trouble asking for help. Maybe you didn’t know why you failed your test, made mistakes on your math problems, or didn’t understand your preferred learning style. Describe your thoughts when you realized you needed help and how you felt after receiving it. Be sure to provide enough details so your readers understand what it was like to evaluate your abilities and get the help needed.

This reflective exercise supports executive function intervention by helping students identify barriers that may prevent them from seeking support. It directly addresses self-monitoring habits by having students reflect on how important self-awareness is and how it can help them seek support when it is needed.

Prompt 3: Fictional Writing for Self-Monitoring

Think about and select a situation when you wished you had a time machine to change how you studied for a test or the amount of effort you gave in a class you did not do well in. Then, write a story about a fictional character who travels back in time to help you use self-monitoring strategies for your selected situation. Make sure you include enough details so your readers can understand and follow your story.

This prompt engages creative thinking while teaching executive function skills. Through storytelling, students reflect on their struggles and gain insight into executive functions, helping them solidify their understanding of self-monitoring and how it plays out in real-life situations.

Prompt 4: Strengths and Growth

Think about what areas of self-monitoring you do well and what areas you need to work on. Explain how gaining additional self-monitoring skills could help you during school. Provide enough details so your readers understand how improving your self-monitoring skills could help you next semester.

Use this journal to guide students in goal-setting and self-assessment. It is a practical way to integrate executive function lessons into your routine while promoting student confidence, building awareness, and helping students improve their academic performance.

Prompt 5: Persuasive Letter to a Peer

Imagine a student in your class who shows poor self-monitoring skills. Write a letter to this imaginary student to convince them to improve their self-monitoring skills. Include enough details to support your opinion and convince the reader that learning these skills will help the student succeed.

This writing task is an excellent way to teach students to articulate the value of executive function learning. It encourages perspective-taking and reinforces how solving executive function challenges benefits everyone in the learning community.

Putting It All Together in Your Classroom

By incorporating journaling for self-awareness regularly, you’re providing your students with executive functioning tools that foster introspection and independent learning. Whether used as bell-ringer activities, homework assignments, or part of a broader executive function curriculum, these prompts give students the structure and voice they need to grow.

Need More Resources?

• Click here for journal prompts for grades 1–4
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• Explore our best practices in executive function instruction

Journaling for self-awareness is more than a writing activity—it’s a critical component of effective executive function instruction. By helping students reflect on their experiences, monitor their behavior, and set meaningful goals, you’re empowering them with lifelong learning skills.