If you ever have trouble getting started on an assignment or writing a journal entry, try one of these. ENJOY!
According to a study done by Search Institute in 1996, surveying 271 sophomores at CHS, only 22 percent felt that we provide a "caring school climate." What can we do to improve this? (or write a description of a classroom with an uncaring climate. )
Though my students are often rebellious towards religion, the study found that 73 percent attend church every week. Do you? Why or why not? Write a poem about a church service.
Only 37 percent of those surveyed felt that they had empathy, sensitivity, and friendship skills. How do you feel about yours?
Five teenagers are in critical condition in a Massachusetts hospital today because they overdosed on Baclofen, a mail-ordered muscle relaxant. These are "nice kids," according to one local resident. Write their story.
Twenty-five years after 18- to 20-year-olds won the right to vote, young people remain the least likely group to cast ballots. In 1992, 43 percent of Americans aged 18 to 24 voted, compared with 70 percent of those aged 45-64. Why?
A girl in San Jose writes, "I've seen my friends' lives fall apart because of methamphetamines. They don't eat, they become paranoid, and they are jumpy and nervous. I'm hooked myself. The worst thing about this lousy drug is the addiction. I always crave it." Play Ann Landers and advise "San Jose."
Words to Live By: (Write your reactions or write a story with one of these as the theme.)
"If it's going to be, it's up to me."
"Believe in something big. Your life is worth a noble motive."
"Tolerant people like themselves better."
"Freedom is not fearing what you feel."
"Rambo was a psychopath; Rocky had courage."
"The greatest gift you can give someone is the need to be needed."
Look around the room.
Write a story about an object. For example, here's what Mike Sieler wrote about a fly stuck in
Styrofoam:
Eric watches the door with the fascination of a dog staring at its treat and waiting desperately to be
freed ftom his kennel. As the door opened, Eric could smell his freedom.
The bell rang; he was set free. As he ran through the door like the wind,
so too did the tortured fly. Eric was running as fast as he could but the
Styrofoamed fly was gaining on him, killing all in its path. Eric looked back with glee, only to turn back
dead.
Make up "vanity plates" (personalized license plates) like these:
Vanity fare
A dentist drives around with a plate that reads SORE2TH.
--Contributed by Katie Scarborough
Plate seen at a car show for classic Mustangs: WO HRSY.
--Contributed by Cecille Thompson
Spotted on a Mercedes-Benz in California: WAS HIS.
Make up "Daffy Definitions" like these:
DIPLOMACY: Letting someone else have your way.--Lester B. Pearson
COMIC BOOKS: The opera of the print media.--William Rotsler
BABY-SITTER: A teen-ager who must behave like an adult so that the adults who are out can behave like
teen-agers.--John R. Fox
William Strauss and Neil Howe, in The Fourth Turning, say that the rhythms of history indicate that a crisis is coming for America, but that we can craft a new civic order, as previous Americans have done. We could have a rebirth of civic trust, and a respect for virtues like loyalty, integrity and civic honor. We need to clean up the culture, stress duties over rights, use technology to bring people together, and develop kinship to have a safety net. Do you agree or disagree?
What do you think of Woody Allen's statement, "It's not that I'm afraid of dying. I just don't want to be there when it happens."
An HIV-positive talk-show host, David Brudnoy, believes that AIDS will retreat from an invariably fatal to a usually chronic condition. He says that living with AIDS has been "enlightening, enriching, life-enhancing and liberating." How can this be?
A popular book this year is The Rules, about the behaviors that will help a woman catch a man, like playing hard to get. If you had to write a book on the CHS Rules for dating, what would you say?