40 days of Journaling

Journaling CriteriaCopy into your journal

• Unless otherwise noted, all journals should be a minimum of 1 paragraph (10 to 15 7th grade sentences). Journals that use only simple sentences will not receive full credit.

• Journaling is limited to 15 minutes at the beginning of each period, and if you don’t finish you are responsible for completing on your own time.

• Write each journal topic and question at the top of EACH page.

• If you are absent, YOU are responsible for getting the journal topic. Ask a friend.

Day 1

• “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” –Malcolm X 1925-1965

• Think about what you’d like to do in the future. Detail how your education so far has prepared you for this. What other educational endeavors will help prepare you for that journey.

Day 2

• “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865

• Do you agree with Lincoln’s statement? Using real world events, give an example (with evidence) that supports your stand.

Day 3

• “Books that help you the most are those which make you think the most.”—Theodore Parker, 1810-1860

• Do you agree or disagree? Why or Why not? What book has helped you the most? Provide evidence of how the book helped you. If you disagree, what book could you write that would be of help to you?

Day 4

“The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.” –Horace Walpole, 1717-1797

Describe the difference between those who feel and those who think. Provide real life examples to support your statements.

Day 5

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”—Henry Ford, 1863-1947

Describe a goal that you have set for yourself. What obstacles must you overcome to achieve the goal? Who will help you, What will help you and/or How will you overcome the obstacle?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 6

“It is better to be alone than in bad company.”—George Washington, 1732-1799

What do you think Washington meant by this? Give a real life example of your opinion.

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 7

“Limited, too, must be limited in order to be possessed.”—Edmund Burke, 1729-1797

Do you agree or not? What would happen if people were free to do whatever they want? Why should (not) liberty be limited? Remember to provide evidence.

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 8

“I pay the schoolmaster, but it is the school boys who educate my son.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882

Students learn much from textbooks, but they also learn valuable lessons from their classmates. What lessons have you learned at school that have nothing to do with books? Provide evidence.

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 9

“A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books.”—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882

**Do you think this is true? What would you miss if you abandoned the study of books for ten years in exchange for a single conversation?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 10

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”– Leo Tolstoy, 1828-1910

What are some ways that you feel the world needs to change? Describe how you can make these changes start to happen by altering your behavior or thoughts.

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 11

“Now, gentlemen, let us do something today which the world may talk of hereafter.”—Admiral Collingwood, 1750-1810

**Collingwood spoke these words before the Battle of Trafalger. If you could use your talents to do something that the world would remember, what would it be? How do you imagine people would talk about it afterward?EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 12

“A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.”—Marcus Aurelius, 121-180

Do you agree with Aurelius? Explain. How do you think people’s worth should be judged?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 13

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”—Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

*How much do you think intelligence really contributes to a person’s success? What are the other factors that you believe contribute to success?EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 14

“Short is the road that leads from fear to hate.”—Giambattista Casti, 1721-1804

**Why would fearing another person cause a person to hate? According to Casti’s statement, we can get rid of hatred by erasing fear. Write about an experience you have had with hatred, how could erasing fear have stopped the incident?

Day 15

“What were once vices are not the manners of the day.”—Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 4 B.C. (?) – A.D.65

**Is society becoming more tolerant of bad habits? What types of behaviors should be tolerated, and which should be considered inappropriate.

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 16

“Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.”—Thomas Alva Edison, 1847-1931

**Do you agree or disagree? Explain. Give examples to defend your stand.

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 17

“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” –John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963

**If one of your ideas could live on forever, what would it be? What impact would your “idea” have on society.

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 18

“My opinion is that you never find happiness until you stop looking for it.”—Chuang-Tzu, 4th-3rd century B.C.

**Do you agree with this statement? What kind of happiness do you feel most people are looking for? Do you think that when you attain that you will truly be happy?

Day 19

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.”—Mark Twain, 1835-1910

**What “good” book(s) have you read? What advantages did they give you? Explain.

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 20

“Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.”—Booker T. Washington, 1856-1915

**What responsibilities do you believe middle school children have? At what age should children leave home and take responsibility for their lives?

Day 21

“The life which is unexamined is not worth living.”—Plato, 428-348 B.C.

**Do you agree with Plato’s statement? Explain why you would choose to live an examined or unexamined life.

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 22

“Character is simply habit long continued.”—Plutarch, 46-120

**What makes a person have good character? How would your homeroom teacher describe your character? Is that a true reflection of who you are

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

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Day 23

“The difficulty in life is the choice.”—George Moore, 1852-1933

**When you are faced with a difficult choice, how do you handle making the decision? How have the choices you have made concerning your school work affected your grades.EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 24

“My life is my message”—Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948

Gandhi was a spiritual and political leader who urged the people of India to use nonviolence to attain independence from British control. Think about the life message of another well-known person and tell what message his or her life sends.

Day 25

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.” –Mark Twain, 1835-1910

What advantage do you think Twain is referring to? Explain. Do you agree? Why or Why not?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 26

“Talk less and say more.”—Vermont Proverb

How can a person talk less and say more? Give an example of a person who you know that does this?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 27

“We are tomorrow’s past.”—Mary Webb, 1881-1927

How do you think you will remember your life as it is now? What story will you be able to tell your grandchildren 50 years from now.

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 28

“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.”—Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784

How has perseverance made the difference in your life or in the life of someone you know?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 29

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”—George Santayana, 1863-1952

Give a(n) example(s) of past events that should never be repeated. What are the lessons (learned) from those events?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 30

“And if you mean to profit, learn to please.”—Charles Churchill, 1731-1764

Can a person be successful only by pleasing others? Explain.

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 31

“The real price of everything is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.—Adam Smith, 1723-1790

Think about various possessions (car, house, electronics, etc). What is the true price in acquiring them? What about the items that don’t have monetary value (happiness, respect, friends)?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 32

“It is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.”—Adalai Stevenson, 1900-1965

What does Stevenson mean by this? Explain some of your principles. Is it hard to live up to them?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 33

“Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.”—Anne Frank, 1929-1945

Agree or Disagree? Is laziness ever attractive to you? What kind of work gives you satisfaction?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 34

“The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.”—George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950

What do you think makes a person respectable? What role does respect play in your life at school, home, and in society?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 35

“Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.”—Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784

Do you agree that self-confidence is required in order to be successful? How does a person gain self-confidence? What is the difference between self-confidence and arrogance?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 36

“Solitude: A good place to visit, but a poor place to stay.”—Josh Billings, 1818-1885

Do you agree or disagree? Explain. What do you Billings thinks solitude is not a good place to stay?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 38

“For an idea that does not at first seem insane, there is no hope.”—Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

What does this statement mean? What accomplishments do you think were based on ideas that at one time seemed “insane”? Do you have “insane” ideas you hope to accomplish one day?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 39

“Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.”—Plutarch, 46-120

What did Plutarch mean by this? When would silence be a sign of wisdom? When might speech be a sign of ignorance?

EQ: Why is it important to effectively express yourself through writing?

Day 40

“The end justifies the means.”—Hermann Busenbaum, 1600-1668

If the only way to reach an important goal was to lie, cheat, or steal, would you do it? Have you already done it? Is there any accomplishment that could justify using dishonorable methods?