Your journal is one place I get to have a good in-depth "conversation" with you about the issues and ideas that come up in class and in the readings. It's not a private diary; I give you assigned topics to write about. But you have freedom of expression when you write, and no worry that you will be graded on the form, spelling, or grammar of what you write. I am interested in what you think and what you have to say, always. The school day is a busy one, though, so the journal is the one place we'll both always have time to "listen" to each other.

I take your journal very seriously, and spend a lot of time on it--as you will discover. It's my favorite thing to grade, and it will become your favorite thing that I grade.

Hey! You've found a secret link!

Journal Rules:
  • A journal response is complete if you write more than half of one page.
  • If you are absent when a journal is due, you should hand in the completed journal the day you return to class, or it will be late. You can always get the latest topic here online.
  • Once your journal is late, I'd rather good writing than quick writing. Late journals should be handed in as soon as possible, but with no deadline except the end of the quarter and that I want good, thoughtful writing; once it's late, it's late, one day or one week.
  • Late journal responses count only for half credit.
  • If you handed in your journal on time, and a topic comes back to you with an "incomplete" written on it, you don't have any credit for that journal...yet. You can add to or re-write that topic. If you write more than half a page, it will be given a check that counts as late.
  • DO express yourself in the way you want to. If you draw a picture, make a chart, or write a poem in response to my assignment, I'll find a way to count that in the "half page" requirement.
  • Except for Journal #1 and the final topic of the year, one of your topic choices is always to write whatever you want to write. You are not restricted to the topic(s) I give you, even though most people will write on the given topic.

The Topics
(This list grows as the year goes on.)

#1: Introduce Yourself
You may remember, if you had me as a teacher in an earlier grade, my original first journal topic. It's the place to more formally introduce yourself to me. Tell me about your… If you think you'll just be repeating yourself here, you can go ahead and write the alternative Journal #1: Tell me how you're different and how you're the same since the last time you were in my class. What's new? What will never change?

#2: Write on one or both choices:
  1. For the Language & Culture option: Write a "language self-portrait" of yourself. What are your speech communities? When do you use jargon or slang? Relate your language to your culture, gender, and social/economic status. How much of your speech is consciously controlled by you, and how much is so natural that you don't really control it consciously? In your journal entry, try to use the terms from the book correctly.
  2. Related to The Joy Luck Club: Respond to this statement: Parents never totally understand their children; children never totally understand their parents.

#3: Write on one or more of these ideas related to The Joy Luck Club:
  1. Respond/React to this statement: Mothers and daughters have a closer, deeper relationship than boys have with either parent; there's something special about the mother-daughter bond that boys just don't have.
  2. Respond/React to this statement: In most families, the mother has the real power, not the father.
  3. Respond/React to this statement: Children always grow up to be like their parents, even if they try not to.
  4. Respond/React to this statement: Children should always obey their parents; it's a matter of respect.

Journal #4 is to return your progress report, signed by your parent.

#5: Text Type: Review
Write a review of a movie, television show, or book. Remember the common points of a review--don't use the first person; don't say "I think" or "In my opinion"; don't just say it's good or bad; say why--discuss relevant factors such as acting, script, cinematography, etc. Close with a general recommendation. As models, use the examples I gave you in class.

#6: Text Type: Poem
Write a poem. Use as models the ones I handed out in class. Remember, you're using language to express something inexpressible--an emotion, a moment, a person. Please don't rhyme. Use rhythm, symbols, metaphors, similes, repetition, and other language devices to express your feelings.

#7: A Pygmalion Extreme Makeover:
Pygmalion is a story of transformation. I realize that, in a way (and certainly to our own mothers), we are all perfect. However... If you could change physical things about yourself, what would you choose? First think about normal traits (weight, height, hair color, etc.). Then, describe "fantasy" things you'd like to give yourself--the power to be invisible, or to fly, for example.

#8: More Pygmalion Choices: Journal #9 was to turn in a signed progress report for the second quarter.

#10: Some first topics over Orwell's 1984 (These are not choices; they're all related.): #11: More related to 1984. Again, these are all related to each other: #12: Politics (These topics again all relate to each other; it's all one big topic): Journal #13 is to hand in a signed progress report.

#14: More 1984 Topics
  1. What is your greatest fear? Winston's is rats. What would you find in Room 101?
  2. What is the relationship between power and love?
  3. What is the relationship between power and language?
#15: Spring Break
This topic is easy: Tell me about your spring break.

#16: Text Type
Pick a text type from the list you haven't written yet this year, and you don't plan to do for your second Written Task, and write one: It might be a letter, a manifesto, an editorial, anything from the list that would make a journal.


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