DEVELOPING A LEARNING PLAN



General Journal Prompts;

Journal Topics and Prompts:

The interactive journal, the conversation between advisor and student, can be used for many things: it is a place to share thoughts and feelings, practice writing, get to know yourself, document your work and learning, express and develop your talents, and reflect on who you are and where you are going. Here are some suggestions for when you get stuck in what to write about:

Describe in detail:

Your favorite place in the world * A challenge * Where you find safety * What you hunger for in your life * A dream you’ve been having * What events changed your life * A friend of yours and what they are like * How you got your name and what it means to you * A day someone close to you died * Your pet * Your mentor * How you are like and unlike your parents * your favorite character from a book * a hope * a fear * your dream house * your best or worst vacation * your favorite meal * your most embarrassing moment * your first romance * your dream house * the most important lesson you ever learned * the most important skill a person can have * the three objects you would take with you on a desert island

Define:

Freedom * Love * Joy * trust * Fear * Friendship * Obligation * Perseverance * Work * Play * Responsibility * Trust * Education * Fame * Government * Laziness * Honesty * Kindness * Entrepreneurialism * Sensibility * Rage

Argue for or against a controversial issue:

recycling, abortion rights, gay marriage, gun control, birth control, the high pay for professional athletes, labor unions, school prayer, speed limit, unmarked police cars, minors tried as adults, the death penalty, televising an execution, subliminal advertising, welfare, absolute freedom of speech, school dress codes, reparations for African Americans, taxes, “nice guys finish last”, “good fences make good neighbors”, pornography, legalizing marijuana, lowering the voting age, banning violent video games, being vegetarian, the theory of evolution, lying, divorce, suburbia, whether any individual is indispensable, for a four-day work week, life is a line or a circle.

Respond to the following quotation: (First explain what it means. Do you agree or disagree with the author? Can you give an example and explain why?)

|The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning. |John Dewey |

|Never doubt that you can change history. You already have. |Marge Piercy |

|You can't sway someone's opinion by argument, you have to do it by example. |Cuba Gooding Jr. |

|Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by his heart, and his friends can only|Virginia Woolf |

|read the title. | |

|Trust begins with a personal commitment to respect others, to take everyone seriously. Respect demands |Max De Pree |

|that we first recognize each other’s gifts and strengths and interests; then we must integrate them into | |

|the work of the [school]. Only then can we reach our common and individual potentials. To take people | |

|seriously requires us to listen seriously. | |

|Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued. |Socrates |

|Don't forget to swing hard, in case you hit the ball. |Woodie Held |

|Language exerts hidden power, like the moon on the tides. |Rita Mae Brown |

|He who builds to everyman’s advice, will have a crooked house. |Danish proverb |

|Anger is always---always---fear in disguise.” |Spider Robinson |

|Confiding a secret to an unworthy person is like carrying grain in a bag with a hole. |African Proverb |

|When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.  Live your life so that when you die, the world cries|Cherokee Expression |

|and you rejoice. | |

|Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire. |W. B. Yeats |

|Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to |Chief Seattle |

|himself. | |

|Choice has always been a privilege of those who could afford to pay for it. |Ellen Frankfort |

|I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done. |Marie Curie |

|One hundred percent of the shots you don't take, don't go in. |Wayne Gretsky |

|I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.  |Booker T. Washington|

|If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant |Bishop Desmond Tutu |

|has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your | |

|neutrality. | |

|I never wanted to be famous; I only wanted to be great. |Ray Charles |

|Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can |Zora Neale Hurston |

|any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me. | |

|Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. |Jimi Hendrix |

|You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. |Indira Gandhi |

|Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by fighting back. |Paul Erdos |

|When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before. |Mae West |

|In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. |Martin Luther King |

| |Jr. |

|If you don't stand for something, you will fall for something. |African Proverb |

|Do, or do not. There is no 'try'. |Yoda ('The Empire |

| |Strikes Back') |

|One cannot learn to swim in a field. |Spanish proverb |

|I am not young enough to know everything. |Oscar Wilde |

|I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. |Galileo Galilei |

|Well done is better than well said. |Benjamin Franklin |

|The downhill path is easy, but there's no turning back. |Christina Rossetti |

|You must be the change you wish to see in the world. |Ghandi |

|To be nobody-but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best night and day, to make you everybody |e. e. cummings |

|else--means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. | |

|You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth. |Shira Tehrani |

|He who holds the ladder is as bad as the thief. |German proverb |

|It's the way you play that makes it . . . Play like you play. Play like you think, and then you got it, if |Count Basie |

|you're going to get it. And whatever you get, that's you, so that's your story. | |

Autobiography Journal Entries:

1) Make a list of the top 5 most important events in your life. Put them in order of 5 to 1 and describe why these were impactful and why you put them in that order.

2) Take one of the five events and write that event out as a story. What happened in what order? What things did you hear, see, smell there?

3) Describe a scene that is particularly important to you. Think of a place that reminds you of something important, emotional, or has significance.

4) What nicknames have you had? How did you get them? Did you like them? Why or why not?

5) What is your first memory of your family?

6) What is the moment in your life you are most proud of? Why? What does this say about you? What words would you use to describe yourself?

7) Write a description of your room, standing from your doorway, with enough detail that a person who has never been there could draw a picture of it. After writing the details out, describe how your room reflects your personality.

8) Write about a person who has had a great effect on your life - a family member, guardian, mentor, advisory, or friend. How did this person influence your life?

9) Write about some first times -First time you did something you didn’t think you were capable of; had a relationship you cared about; stayed away from home; traveled outside the country; went camping; were alone in a big city or the country; did something you regretted; etc.

10) Are you religious? Spiritual? What role does this play in your life? What beliefs do you hold about what happens after we die? How does it influence the way you live?

11) What challenges and obstacles have you had to overcome in life? Have you had any major illnesses or operations? Were there hardships in family life, economic, social, psychological?

12) What would your dream day be and why?

13) What is on your “Bucket List”?

14) What song has influence you most? What effect did/does it have on you? What do you think this means about you?

15) What makes you laugh?

16) What is your worst habit?

What is the best compliment you’ve ever received?

What would you do if your girlfriend or boyfriend tattooed their name to your body?

What three things do you do to irritate your parents?

What three qualities do you look for in a friend? (Put them in order of importance).

Write one of the quotes of the day in your journal and explain what it means to you. Do you agree or disagree with the author?

Compare your living room to a friend’s? How is it similar? How is it different?

Could you give your life for another? Under what conditions?

What quality about yourself do you like the most? Why?

What quality about yourself do you dislike the most? Why?

Is there anything that should not be taught in school?

What makes you jealous?

What should people never make fun of?

What do you carry in your pockets? What does this say about you?

If an alien from the planet Blastron came to your house and wrote a report about spending a day with your family, what would they say?

Who is your hero?

What ideas, people, works of art, or events inspire you? Describe one and explain.

How does your life impact others?

How have you ended relationships?

Where do you come from?

Who is your best friend? (why?) Worst enemy? (why)

What makes you beautiful?

Pick a favorite quote from something you are reading copy it in your journal and describe why you chose it.

Choose a word, sentence, or passage you think is important from the book or text you are reading and reflect on it.

Draw a diagram of your family tree

Use other entries to tell stories or describe the people in your family tree.

If I was trapped on a desert island and I could take three things; they would be ________, __________, and __________ because…

A favorite story about me is…

A time I was betrayed was…

My street is…

If I could design the perfect school, I would include __________, I would exclude _____

My worst nightmare is …

The things I am grateful for are…

My friends say that I am… because…

I remember…

I believe…

I cringe when…

The best smell in the world is…because

The top 20 cool things for kids today are…

A time I felt rejected was…

Some Online Resources:

StoryCorps - amazing questions and short stories recorded here.







Other Journal Activities:

Write an Reflective Log describing what you did and what you learned in any class today

|What I did |What I learned |Why is this important to me or the world? |

| | | |

• Vent

• Analyze a Poem

• Make lists (your favorites, your most despised, etc.)

• Review a Movie or TV show

• Draw a picture

• Make a collage

• Compose a song

• Explain the Lyrics of a song (try )

• Discuss a current event

• Explain a Math problem

• Talk about something that is on your mind

• Every person has the right to…

• How do you feel right now? (devise a rating system and explain where you are on it and why).

• Sketch a self portrait.

• Ask me (your advisor) a question. What questions do you have for me?

• Write a recipe for yourself

• Write a table of contents or index to yourself.

• Describe a current event that you have seen or read about and explain your reaction to it.

• Compare and Contrast: wisdom and knowledge, learning and teaching, two movies, two books, two tv shows, two friends, two paintings, two generations, two genders.

• How is a person’s life book? A person like a city? A life like a party? A home like a country? An eternity like a moment? An advisory like a family?

• Describe a person who is… (list an adjective) Go to the site () to get basic information to frame a story – write a story with the info.

Continue this sentence as a story: (from Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists)

1. "Get that thing away from me!" the girl yelled.

2. "That will show them," I thought as I hammered the last nail into place.

3. Everyone had a partner but me. What was I supposed to do now?

4. For the most part, Grandpa was a nice man who liked best of all to…

5. Goats, sheep and chickens belong on the farm, not in the middle of...

6. "Get out of there as fast as you can!", I yelled to my brother as...

7. Have you ever noticed that some days seem much longer than others?

8. He didn't look like a genius, he looked more like...

9. He was afraid, but he called upon all his courage as...

10. Her eyes were glazed with a fever, making her...

11. I had always wanted a puppy.

12. I looked around the room. Nothing seemed unusual, but then…

13. I never expected that one day I'd open my closet and find...

14. It was three times as large as me, but I was going to try anyway.

15. I never thought I could do it, but…

16. If this was the truth, then the truth was wrong because...

17. If time could stand still or even go backwards, I would…

18. It was a weird thing, hairy and smelly and limp, but I loved it because...

19. It was Christmas morning, but I was not anxious to...

20. My dog jumped up and started barking...

21. It was my best friend's deepest secret and it would be a hard one to keep...

22. What would you do if your best friend said...

23. I knew it was going to be an unusual day when my mom came into my bedroom and said...

24. It was quiet.... too quiet. That could only mean that...

25. It's hard to know what a computer will do when you plug it in during a thunderstorm....

26. It's lost! What could I do now that…

27. Late one night the neighbor knocked on the front door and asked....

28.  I looked up at the stars, and I thought I saw ...

29. She was a funny old lady, but I knew she had come to tell me...

30.  I knew if I didn't get nervous, I could make the shot.

31. She was peering through the window, counting the cars that went by, wondering...

32. Everytime my favorite TV show comes on my mom always says, ...

33. Something brushed against me and my surprise turned to horror as I saw...

34. The boy appeared at the door of the cabin, looking ...

35. The castle stood at the top of the hill, close enough to see that in a high window stood...

36. The communicator lay silent in his hand and he realized he had lost contact with...

37. This was not home!  The grass was orange and in the sky we saw...

38. The horse pawed restlessly at the ground, a beast eagerly waiting for...

39. The spaceship was out of control and only one person could save us....

40. The waves crashed across the sand and I knew....

41. The wind whipped around the corner, moaning and warning me that...

42. There is nothing better than…

43. They were in the grocery store, in the freezer section, when it happened.

44. This was it. The moment I had dreaded for two weeks. The moment when....

45. Three seconds left on the scoreboard clock -- only three seconds before....

46. Today is the day I turn myself into a new person, a person whom...

47. Today was the day! I finally was going to …

48. We watched in horror as our friend turned the corner and bumped right into…

49. What was I supposed to do? I knew what my friend had done was wrong, but…

50. "Where did everyone go?" I shouted, but there was no answer.

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