JOURNALS

---

Class 8-A

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.

Journal Rules: A journal response is complete if you write more than half of one page. You may hand a journal in late only the next school day after it is due. Late journal responses count only for half credit… …except you do get to hand in your journal late once at "no charge". 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 for half credit. 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.

---

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

---

#1: Introduce Yourself
Here's the place to more formally introduce yourself to me. Tell me about your…

• PAST: Your family, where you were born, where you've been, etc.
• PRESENT: Describe yourself. What kind of person are you? What things do you like? What things do you dislike?
• FUTURE: What are your plans for the future? Career plans? What would you like your life to be like in 10-15 years?

#2: Perfect Student/Perfect Teacher

• First, define what a perfect student should be. How does a perfect student behave? What does a perfect student do? What qualities does a perfect student have?
• Second, define what a perfect teacher should be. How does a perfect teacher behave? What does a perfect teacher do? What qualities does a perfect teacher have?
• Third, define what a perfect class would be. What would happen in the class of your dreams? What would the class be like if you were in charge?

The Giver Journal Topics
#3: The World's Problems

• List what, according to you, are the world's worst problems. If you can, rank them (very worst on top, then the next worst, then the next, etc.)
• Then, try to say what the cause(s) of the problems are.
• Finally, write what you think some solutions are to these problems.

#4: Feeling Sharing
In The Giver, each night after dinner the members of the family share their feelings. For this journal, pick three days this week, and for each day, write a feeling (or more than one) you had that day. Say what the feeling was, what situation caused it, and how you feel now about it.

#5: Assignments For Your Friends
The children in The Giver, when they are 12 years old, receive their Assignments for life. Look at the students in 8-A as if you were an Elder. Pick some people in the class, and tell what their characteristics are, and what their Life Assignment should be (based on their characteristics). If you want, you can include yourself; what are your characteristics, and what Assignment should you receive?

#6: Memory Department Story
First, imagine there is a Memory Department Store--a place where you can buy (and sell? and trade? and repair?) memories. For your journal, design an advertisement for this memory store. NOTE: Here, the "more than ½ of one page" rule does not apply. Use a whole page of your journal, but just draw and write the advertisement. You don't have to write sentences or paragraphs.

#7: Rules
Free write on the topic: Rules. Just go ahead and write!
However...if you need some help coming up with what to write...here are some questions you can answer: Do rules make life easier, or harder? What are the important rules that affect your life the most? Are rules & laws necessary or unnecessary? Why do we have rules, if it is our human right to be free? Think about The Giver, too. Are their rules good or not?

#8, #9, #10: Choices
For your topic choices for Journals 8, 9, and 10, CLICK HERE.


Research Project Journal Topics
#11: Your Topic
Tell me about your topic. Why did you choose it? What do you already know about it? What kinds of things do you want to learn about it? What research plan do you have? (Will you find most information in non-fiction books, in magazines and newspapers, on the Internet, in encyclopedias, or where? Will you have to look anywhere outside of our school library? etc.)

#12: Research Update (Write after you've been researching for a week or so.)
How is your research going so far? Tell me what you've done since you chose your topic. What have you looked for? What have you found? Have you learned anything new yet? Have you had any problems yet you've had to overcome? Had you had any lucky breaks in your research? What is the best source you've found so far?

#13: Inside Your Research (Write after you've done most of your basic research.)
Imagine you are any person or thing you have read about so far in your research. Write about your life or experiences as that person or thing. Write in the first person (using the pronoun "I" as you write). For example, if you are researching the topic of the Red Cross, you could imagine you are a soldier wounded on a battlefield. If you are researching the Olympics, you could write as if you were the Olympic torch. Be creative!

#14: A Puzzle or Game (Write after you've done most of your basic research.)
Now that you've done some research and know some things about your topic, make a puzzle or game for me that uses information you've discovered in your research. (You can make a word search, a crossword puzzle, anagrams, or any other kind of puzzle or game, based upon the information you've found in your research.)

#15: Your Project (Write after your project is completed.)
Review the quality of your project. Tell me what you think are the strengths and weaknesses of it. What are you most proud of? What did you learn about your topic? What new things did you learn about researching-on the Internet, in books, or magazines? What would you do differently if you were to do your project over again?


Anne Frank Journal Topics
#16: If You Were In Hiding
Quickly, this morning, you and your family had to go into hiding. You had to leave behind your friends and others, without telling anyone where you were going. You will be in a place with simple furniture, a bed, a radio, and simple food will be brought to you. You may not ever leave, and you will be there for a couple of years. You were allowed to bring one average-sized suitcase. You may NOT bring anything electronic; you may NOT bring a pet; you may NOT bring any people other than your immediate family.

• What will you put in your suitcase to bring with you?
• What kinds of things would you do during the day?
• What things would you miss most in the outside world?
• What people would you miss most in the outside world?
• Miep can occasionally bring you a small, special item. What would you ask for?

You can try writing this journal entry as a letter or diary entry or story, if it helps your creativity.

#17: Kindness
Who is the kindest person you know? Describe that person. How kind are you? What is the kindest thing you've ever done? How could you improve, to make yourself kinder? [Behind these questions is a big question: Would you ever be so kind that you'd risk your life and reputation to help a stranger, even if you weren't Jewish, or if you weren't Muslim, or if you weren't homosexual, or you weren't Christian, or if you weren't in the group that was being threatened, and you could safely just do nothing and stay out of it? Is your kindness brave enough?]

#18: The Inside You, The Outside You
Anne Frank says, "…the mean Anne comes to the outside and the good Anne stays on the inside…" Write a journal entry where you describe the you that is on the outside, the one people see. Then, describe the you that is on the inside, that most people do not ever see.

#19: Good At Heart (Answer this one when you're done reading the play.)
Anne Frank says, "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart." You know that history books, and the newspapers and television, are full of terrible things. Are people good at heart? Does everyone have evil inside their hearts? Is everyone a mix of the two? Or are some people good and other people evil? Is anyone all evil? Is anyone all good? Feel free to give examples, from your own life, from the news, or from history.

Two Old Women Journal Topics
#20: Some Questions About Age (Answer as many as you'd like.)

• What do you think is the best age to be?
• Can you think of any examples of "ageism" in society (against older or younger people)?
• What are the worst disadvantages of growing old?
• What are the best advantages of growing old?
• Do you look forward to your seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth decades of life? or fear them?
• What are the best advantages of being the age you are now?
• What are the worst disadvantages of being the age you are now?

#21: Teach Me
One of the advantages the two old women have in the book is their knowledge (how to make snowshoes, how to carry fire, how to keep warm, how to fish and hunt, etc.). But everyone has knowledge. What is something you know how to do well? Try to think of something you know how to do, but you think I probably don't know how to do. In a journal entry, tell me how to do that thing. Write the instructions for me. (For example, you could write about how to play a particular video game...or how to play a particular sport...or how to make a favorite dessert...or how to speak Japanese...etc., etc., etc.)

Back to TallMania's home page.