a Voyage to the Interior

[Richard Stone]

Richard Stone walked into his classroom, and placed his briefcase on the desk. Grabbing a marker from his drawer, her walked to the white board and across the top wrote: “Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.” ― Christina Baldwin in two lines on the board. Getting a different coloured pen he wrote Journal topics:, and under that he wrote the following:

R.E.S.P.E.C.T
Write about a person who you consider to be a hero, someone who has inspired you, or someone you have great respect for. Be sure to explain who they are and why they have earned your respect.

Desert Island
Our class has just won a trip to Hawaii because of the hard work that you have done during the past few weeks. Unfortunately, the airplane we travel on has mechanical difficulties and crashes on mysterious tropical island. The bad news is you are the only survivor and you will be there for the rest of your life. The good news is the island has an unlimited supply of food and drinking water and you can have 3 people and 3 objects brought to you on the island. Which 3 people and what 3 objects would you choose and why?

Technomania!
Are you a fan of technology? How has technology changed your life in the past two years? How has it changed the way we communicate as a society? How has it impacted your education?

IssueFest- Take a Stance!
In an article you just read about a plan that is being proposed to pay students for achieving good grades in school. Are you for or against this plan? Take a stance on this issue and support the stance you take with ideas and examples.

2020 Vision
Create a 2020 vision for your own life using a 2, 5, 10 plan… where will you be in 2 years from now, where will you be in 5 years from now, and where will you be in 10 years from now. Be sure to include some information about your personal life, your academic life, and your career life in each of the 2 year, 5 year, and 10 year phases.

Walking back to his desk, he lifted the cardboard box from the floor and placed it on the chair. Opening the box, took out a stack of journals and spread them out on a desk that looked like it was holding the door open, with a sign tapped to the door that said 'pick one' and an arrow pointing toward the journals.

When the bell sounded, Richard moved the desk and closed the door to signal the start of class. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen. He greeted with a warm smile. "As you all entered, you would have collected a journal. If you didn't, please do so now." He paused so that anyone who had missed the subtle hint to pick up one of the books could do so. "This topic is going to be on journal writing. I'm hoping that you took the time since you entered to read the board, and maybe some of you have taken the incentive to actually do what I am about to request. I would like for you to pick one of those topics and use it for the first entry in your journal."

He fell silent to give the students a chance to take in what was on the board and to pick which of the five they wanted to write about. "Some of you may already keep a journal, while this will be a new experience for others. For the next while, this is how we will start our classes, no matter what else we are doing. When you arrive, there will be five topics that you can choose from and then you will spend ten minutes writing. While there is no pass or fail on what you write, please remember to date each entry. Your journal is the story of your life, something your children may even read in the future." He smiled. "Ok, I'll be quiet now and let you all write. You have fifteen minutes, so don't rush through it." He walked over and sat down at his desk, pulling out his own journal, as he may as well do the task he had set for them.

Tag:
Anna Jones
@mouse
Marguerite Girardeau
@samantha
Serenity Oliver
Thomas Oliver

OOC: the link is for no more than a guide of what the journals look like and what colours it comes in, I don't care what colour everyone chooses, and you can all have the same colour if you want. The link is just a visual because I like visual guides.

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity walked from one class and down the hall to the next, a smile curving her lips as she felt an arm fall on her shoulders and she leaned against her brother's taller form. "Your favourite subject, little bro." she said teasingly.

Walking into the classroom she came to a stop, grunting as Tommy walked into her. "Jerk." She muttered as she grabbed two black journals and handed one of them to him, raising an eyebrow at his hurt look and laughed at his comment. "Hi Mr Stone." She said as she smiled and walked over to her normal seat at the front of the room.

She turned her attention to the board and arched her eyebrows as she tried to work out what they would be doing. She looked down at the black journal and nodded as it all seemed to fall into place.

After the teacher had explained the lesson, she nodded her head as she opened the journal and carefully dated the top of the page and on the inside of the cover she wrote a quick book blessing, just a little incantation to keep her book protected from negative thoughts and eyes. She then looked at the board, her lips pursed together as she went through the five scenarios they were given and finally settled on the technomania option, a smile played on her lips as she decided to go a little further back than she thought the man had meant, she would go all the way back to before technology was even invented.

[Thomas Oliver]

Tommy bounced out of one class and a grin split his face as his eyes landed on his tiny sister - ok she wasn't that short, but tiny in comparison to him - and he dropped an arm around her shoulders. "I love English." He protested with a pout. "I may not like some of the opinions, but I like the class."

He wasn't paying enough attention to what was happening and ended up walking into his sister as she came to a sudden halt. His eyebrows shot up at her word. "If you gave me a little warning." He said. He looked at the black book that was handed to him and he pouted. "But I wanted a pink one." He quickly left the table before she could call him out on it.

"Blessings of the day to you, good sir." He greeted their teacher with an elaborate bow as he headed to a desk at the opposite end of the room to his sister.

When they had been given their work to do, he turned his attention back to the board and raised his eyebrows as he decided which one he wanted, and then settled on the idea of a desert island, though before he started writing, he planned out who and what would be sent to him, other than his sister and his book of shadows, that is... He paused for a moment though and wondered if the people coming were allowed to bring things of their own.. Of course, before he wrote anything, he opened the book and wrote a protection spell in the front cover of the book, and then smirked as he wondered what Mr Stone would think of that, as he had no illusions to the fact that they wouldn't be handing these journals in for his perusal at some point.

[Deleted]

Sam walked into the room, quickly picking out a notebook, choosing a red one. She really was not fussed by the colour of it. She seated herself down towards the back of the classroom, she placed the notebook on the desk, fumbling around in her rucksack for her laptop as she read the potential topics on the board.
Samantha switched her laptop on, swiftly clicking on microsoft word in order to start making notes. The list of topics at the moment did not ignite her inspiration or her imagination. She glanced around the classroom, looking at the other students, recognising them from either earlier classes or from having bumped into them previously.

Sam felt distinctly under the weather at the moment, she typed a few sentences down on a topic which she picked at random. The topic she selected was on her hero or at least one of them. She possessed a wide selection of potential heroes in which to pick from, she found herself sitting quietly thought that would not be much of a surprise for anyone, as she thought about who to pick.
So many of them earned the honour of being written about by her, in the end Sam felt that the only proper choice was picking her riding instructor back home in the United Kingdom. Sam began to write about her quietly.

[Marguerite Girardeau]

Meg walked into class calmly, glancing at the board and seeing what looked like a lot of writing. She felt intimidated at first, and apprehensively picked a light blue notebook out of the box before finding herself a seat near the middle of the room. It didn't take long for class to start, and she listened as their teacher told them what they would be doing with the journals. She sighed softly in relief when he told them they only had to pick one topic to write about, and not all three. That would certainly make things a little easier!

Picking up her pen, she opened the journal to the first page and began writing about the second prompt. Three people to be stranded on an island with? Well, she'd want her mother of course. She also wrote Erik's name, though he intimidated and annoyed her sometimes, she could not deny that he seemed to have an infinite knowledge of the world. He would probably be their best hope of surviving, or even getting rescued. Finally she wrote that she'd want her friend Christine as the third person. She'd left her behind in France and had been missing her a lot lately, so perhaps being stuck on a tropical island with her would be fun!

As for the three objects, Meg had a little more difficulty. Her pointe shoes were a no brainer, she wouldn't go anywhere without those. But what other two objects would she want? Did Normy count as an object? Or did they have to be inanimate? She furrowed her brow in concentration, taking almost the entire fifteen minutes just to decide on two more objects.

[Deleted]

Ellaer arrived in the classroom excited, though she forced herself to walk normally as she entered the classroom. The first thing she noticed was the pile of journals and, wondering what it was there for was about to walk past when she noticed the sign. So she took a green one for Pat and continued into the classroom.

Ellaer took a seat near the front, a seat away from the girl that was sitting beside the only boy so far. It didn't take long for Mr. Stone to start the class and once he did, Ellaer realized her mistake. She hadn't read the board, assuming that it was some sort of 'terms of service' or rules.

She started to read the topics when he paused and quickly chose the desert island one. After reading the instructions, Ellaer began to write. The first two people were easy, obviously it would be Pat and May. The third was harder. Briefly she thought about putting down her brother Dean, but quickly decided against it since he was as much of a horse person as she was. Mom? No, she would miss dad. Dad was eliminated for the same reason, Louis was a possibility but was sometimes annoying. Big brother version. Another horse would be fine but don't people go crazy without other people? She thought she had read about that somewhere.

Finally, Ellaer put Louis down and the third person. Next she put driving cart + harness, saddle, and plain paper because Louis liked to draw. She did hope that she was never abandoned on a deserted island however.

Ellaer finished writing/thinking a bit early and took advantage of the extra time to put her name on it as she waited for the remaining time to tick.

[Anna Jones]

Anna walked down the hallway to English class from her last class. Honestly, she wasn't the biggest fan of English, but she was required to take an English course, so she basically had no choice in the matter. "Hi!" Anna greeted the teacher as she walked inside the classroom. Yet again, she didn't know anybody so she just took a seat towards the back of the classroom after picking up a hot pink journal. Based on the topics available on the board, she decided to write about the technology opinion.

Anna was already beginning to write when the teacher was explaining what they were going to do. She nodded, and then continued to write her journal entry comparing the pros and cons of each stance on the matter. In the end, though, she decided that she was a fan of technology, and she explained how it impacted her education. Then, she finally explained how technology positively improved her life in the past two years.

After about seven minutes of writing she was already done with the prompt, so she sat back in her chair and relaxed. Then, Anna realized that she had neglected to put the date on the paper, and quickly reminded herself to do that in the future. She needed to make a habit of it, considering that she would have this class for the next month and a half of school.

[Richard Stone]

"You won't need that today, Sam." Richard quickly said as he watched the student take her laptop out. "It's pen and paper today, and I have handouts, so you don't need to worry about memorizing notes." And sure, there were journal programmes online, even apps for mobile devices, but he wanted them to write out their thoughts.

When he had finished his journal entry, the book was closed and tucked back into the top drawer of his desk. Rising to his feet he walked over to the board and erased the topics, as the students were all writing so that didn't need them any more. He then wrote across the top: Why you should keep a journal: And then waited until the time was up. "There are many reasons why you should keep a journal, and here are the bullet points for the why. The rest of the explanation with be in the handouts you'll get at the end of the class." He grinned, knowing that he could hand them out now, but then he wouldn't get any creative answers from the students when he asked them why they thought they should keep a journal, not really caring in the slightest if they did or didn't want to, and he wrote down each point as he spoke, putting each on a new line. "*Your journal has the potential to be both therapist and a dear friend who listens without judging or interrupting and is open 24 hours a day. *By getting into the habit of consciously and attentively looking back over your journals, you’re able to track your personal patterns of behaviour that help you achieve goals and respond effectively to challenges. *Journaling is inexpensive, accessible and is easily self-managed. *Journals are creative portals. Because you’re in dialogue with your inner life when you write in a journal, you solve problems and get creative. *Journals give voice to your dreams and aspirations but are also safe spaces to release negative feelings, hurts and disappointments that could get in the way of those dreams and aspirations being realised. *Keeping a journal requires us to write out our goals. *Writing requires us to think through the why’s and the how’s. *A journal proves we have solved problems in the past. * Keeping a journal naturally reminds us to articulate next steps. *Writing reminds us to think beyond the obvious. *Even a private journal provides accountability. *A written account allows our story to inspire others." He capped the pen again as he turned to face the students. "Can you think of another reason to keep a journal?"

[Serenity Oliver]

Ten minutes may have possibly been too long a time to give Serenity, as it allowed the girl to really get into the whole technomania thing, and what she felt were the negative side of things, how the written English language was being reduced down to nothing more than a few letters to replace and entire word and that email and texting was now the more popular way to communicate than to write a letter, e-cards were replacing actual cards, how the whole concept of pen and paper was becoming less and less common; the fact the one of her fellow students had brought a laptop to take notes on was a perfect example of that, but she didn't put that thought into the journal.

She placed her pen down on the blank page to the left of the page she'd just filled in, and folded her hands on the desk as she turned her attention to Mr Stone as the man began to speak again, she nodded as he mentioned handouts and knew that she could give him her complete attention rather than having to take notes. She listened attentively as he spoke about reasons that people should keep a journal, nodding her head. "They make us own up to our own mistakes." She said in reply to his question. Yes, it was the same as accountability, but the wording was a little different.

[Thomas Oliver]

By the time Tommy had finished his entry, it probably was more like Treasure Island or an episode of Survivor, but he was happy with what he had ended up with. The other two people were other youngsters from their coven, a boy and a girl, and changing it from his book of shadows, he changed it to a large leather-bound book, ink - as they could find sticks or feathers on the island to write with - and a knife.

Turning his attention to Mr Stone as the man too centre-stage again, he could agree with all the things the man said and wrote on the board, though journaling was all that and a little more to him, and not so easy to put into words. He rolled his eyes at his sister's words, though again true, as she had just reworded something that had already been said, but then most of what was on the word was pretty much just the same thing over and over again put in a different way. "It helps you discover your inner you." He said with a confident smile as he moved the page-keeper to the next page and closed the journal, happy that the ink was dry enough that it wouldn't mark the opposite page.

[Cassian F. De Fiore]

On his way through the door Cassian snatched one of the journals laid out for today's class (one with an orange cover to be specific) and shuffled past his already seated classmates on his way towards the back of the classroom where he took up a seat at his usual center-row desk. Once comfortable he gave the topics left on the board by Mister Stone a look-over and was quick to decide what one he wanted to write as his first entry. He then set to work retrieving a freshly sharpened pencil from the tin in his book-bag and dating the top corner of the page he'd be working on for R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Though his spoken English was very good, Cassian did have a bit of trouble when it came to reading and writing the language, making this his weakest academic subject. It didn't help that he had difficulty asking for help when he needed it, but thankfully he'd been able to get by so far and was slowly but surely advancing. Part of him hoped that the extra time taken to jot down a journal entery every day would help with that, but he supposed that like with any other skill that only time and hard work would tell.