These are your journal assignments for the semester. Each entry should be at least one page in your daybook. Two are due each Friday. You may do them in class if you have spare time or at home for homework. They must be done in this order and they must follow normal writing conventions: topic sentence, supporting details and a concluding sentence. Be careful with your spelling, grammar and word choices. Make sure each one is done to the best of your ability. At any point in the nine weeks if you are uncertain about a topic, let me know ahead of time.
1. If you were stranded on a desert island and could only take one object you currently own, what would you take? Explain why this object holds special meaning to you.
2. If you could eliminate one day from your past so that you would never have had to live through it, which day would it be? Explain why in detail.
3. If you could go back in time as yourself to live for a year at any point in history, what year would you choose and where would you go? Why?
4. If you were to receive a letter today from anyone you have known during your lifetime, who would it be from and what would it say?
5. What is the best use of technology in schools? Why?
6. If you could host a dinner party inviting any four people from history, who would you invite and where would the party take place?
7. If you could arrange a concert with any three musicians or groups to play on the same bill, who would you invite? Why?
8. If you could relive one single day from your past exactly as it was the first time, what day would you choose? Describe that day in detail.
9. If you had to name the single most regrettable thing about your country’s history, what would it be and why? What might you have done differently?
10. If you could live the life of any fictional character, which character would it be? Why?
11. If you could insure that your children never have one experience that you have had, what would it be? Explain.
12. If you could see only one movie ever again, what would it be and why?
13. What makes for the perfect teacher? Based upon these criteria, who do you believe to be the best teacher at this school? Explain in detail.
14. Upon graduation, what do you want to be and where do you want to go”? What are your plans as of right now? Explain in detail.
15. Describe in detail your favorite vacation destination. Describe the place using all of your sense and list a detailed agenda for what you would do while there.
16. How do you feel on the first day of winter? The first day of spring? Why?
17. What is your view on the CD burning dispute? Do you believe it is right to be able to download and burn songs? Defend your point of view with specific support.
18. Describe your favorite book. Tell why you read it and what made you like it. Explain what the book was about in general.
19. If you had to write a paragraph or two about someone for whom you care about most, who would it be and why would you choose this person?
20. What types of things could we do to improve SSHS? How do you propose doing this?
21. If money, time, distance and entrance requirements were not an issue, what college would you go to and what would you study? How would this truly help you on your way to achieving your goals?
22. Describe the ideal teacher, the ideal student, and the ideal parent.
23. For many people, music is a large part of their lives; it helps them release their emotions, or to simply set a mood in the background of their lives. If your life were a movie, what would be your soundtrack. Why did you pick these certain songs?
24. If your life as you see yourself were made into a theatrical production, what type of story would be told? A tragedy? A comedy? Maybe a bit of both? Write the introduction to your story, not as others perceive you, but as how you see yourself.
25. As a teenager, you are interested in different things. Take this journal to list and describe as many of your interests as possible. Which are of most importance to you? Explain.
26. Where do you see your life in ten years? Why?
27. If you had a chance to travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
28. Name and describe one thing you would consider a “masterpiece.”
29. Over all your years in school, explain whether you like or dislike English. Then explain why in detail. What parts do you particularly like or dislike?
30. In Thoreau-like style, go out into the woods and describe it using all of your senses.
31. If you had the choice to live at the beach or the mountains, which would you choose and why?
32. Imagine that you became the richest person in the world; what would you do with your money?