#5 Senior journal (if you lost your handout)

Choose from any ONE of the suggestions in lists A, B, C, or D.

Write a minimum of 1 ½ pages, double-spaced typed. Talk to me if you have an original idea for an alternative assignment.

A. Stating your opinion

Comment intelligently on a national or international current event or issue

Comment on an essay, editorial, column, etc. from a publication (may be electronic media)—attach that article

Review a book, movie, poem, story, song, restaurant, or concert, that you have recently experienced

Explain why a favorite quotation has a special meaning to you

B. Storytelling

Tell a short, true story worth retelling, real or invented

"Every picture tells a story"—focus on a photo or painting and tell the story behind it

Rock riffs—using a popular song, write a story, character sketch, imaginary conversation, poem, etc. Provide the lyrics to the song with your “riff.”

C. Style and story "parts"

Dialect/slang (write a short scene in which your characters speak exclusively in dialect, slang, or jargon) as always, “Keep it classy, St. Mark’s”

Description of a setting (and try to create a dominant mood)

Interior monologue (first person point a view in which the narrator reveals what he or she is thinking as the event or plot unfolds)

Character sketch sketch in words or actually draw a real or invented character

D. Poetry and songs

Write an original poem or song (include some author “notes” in which you discuss your process