Journal Topics

1. "If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time." Zig Ziglar

What are your goals for this year - academic, social, personal?

2. Who are the heroes of today? What are the traits of a hero?

3. Should school be mandatory?

4. Discuss the situation where President Obama was called a liar during his healthcare speech.

5. If you were a superhero, what would be your name and your superpower and how would you use it?

6. Respond to the following quote: "Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that

you do it." Gandhi

7. Would it be good or bad to have immortality?

8. If. . .

9. I should. . .

10. Open a book, close your eyes, and point to a word on the page. That's the jumping off point for your journal entry.

11. What do you think of the "Balloon Boy" situation?

12. What is on your bucket list? What are the things you want to do sometime in your lifetime?

13. Do you believe in ghosts, witches, and psychics?

14. What do you think about Invisible Children?

15. Describe a good relationship you have; what makes it good? Describe a bad relationship you have? What makes it bad?

16. "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." Frederick Douglass

17. Kids shouldn't be allowed to have jobs until they graduate from high school. Do you agree or disagree?

18. Be careful what you wish for. Discuss a time when this was true.

19. In 1984, Winston and Julia have a forbidden love affair. They must create intricate plans just to see each other. Would you ever risk your life to see someone you truly loved? If you were in love with someone who was forbidden to you, either by law, your parents, or another authority figure, would you still find ways to see that person? Why? How?

20. Describe your perfect day.

21. "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." Abraham Lincoln

22. "Happiness is a china shop; love is the bull." H. L. Mencken

23. "All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream." Edgar Allan Poe

24. "Time is what we want most, but what we use worst."  William Penn

25. "After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box."  Italian Proverb

26. "I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure--which is: Try to please everybody."  Herbert Bayard Swape

27. "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."  Vince Lombardi

28. If you had to give a one-word answer to the question, "Why is life worth living?", what would it be and why?

29. "The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision."  --Helen Keller

30. You wake up in the middle of the night to a loud thump in your closet and a bone-shivering growl. . . .

31. One theme in Of Mice and Men is the importance of friendship. What qualities do you look for in a friend?

32. Children's stories, nursery rhymes, and cartoons are often violent (including Alice). Do you think kids are affected by this? Were you?

33. Describe the dream George and Lennie from Of Mice and Men have for their future. What is your dream for the future?

34. How was the college fair? What are your plans for the future? What are you doing or will do to prepare for this future?

35. Try not. Do or do not, there is no try. -- Yoda

36. Do you judge others by higher or lower standards than you judge yourself? What are some things you value about yourself? What do you value in others?

37. "Only she who attempts the absurd can achieve the impossible." -- Robin Morgan - novelist/feminist

38. Which musical artist is over-rated? Why? Which artist deserves his/her fame? Why?

39. "Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about." --Benjamin Lee Whorf

40. If you had to give up one of your senses, which one would you give up and why?

41. In A Christmas Carol, what is the key moment that transforms Scrooge? Or which ghost do you feel is the most influential?

42. "Each person must live his or her life as a model for others." --Rosa Parks

Do you agree? Do you live your life this way? Does anyone you know?

43. If you had the gift of magic for one day, what would you do?

44. "If we are told to love everybody, even our enemies, what value does that put on love?" --Fight Club

45. Do you believe in luck or do you believe people make their own luck?

46. Define Coward.

47. Revenge

48. "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." --Albert Einstein

49. "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." --Mark Twain

50. "If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission."

51. Don't judge me by my past; I don't live there anymore."