• Journal writing topics for high school students allow them to improve their writing and explore new ways of thinking.journal image by Ewe Degiampietro from Fotolia.com
  
  Teachers can assign journal writing to help students improve their writing, critical thinking and creative skills. Journal writing can also help students reach goals in the classroom and other areas of their lives. It's important to choose journal topics for high school students that they can relate to and explore with deep interest.
  
  

Literary Analysis

• Journal writing provides a way for students to effectively explore both obvious and underlying meanings in literature. Journals can be used to assess a student's progress with reading material. Teachers can ask students to summarize the chapter, list the characters and think about what the author is trying to communicate.
  
  

Record Keeping

• Journaling to record daily activities does more than encourage students to hone their writing skills. It can also teach valuable life skills depending on the journal topic you choose. For example, journaling can be used to keep track of the money you spend or the food you eat daily. Teachers could also instruct students to maintain a science journal detailing observations of things like plant growth or phases of the moon.
  
  

Another Point of View

• Writing from the perspective of another person can be an exercise in creative thinking. Journal writing is an exercise that can encourage this. There are many ways to approach this type of topic. Teachers can have students keep a journal pretending to be a historical figure in a different turn of events. For example, students could pretend to be the historical explorer Columbus having reached a destination he didn't intend to visit. Another idea is to keep a journal from a pet's point of view, or describe what it's like to be a being living on another planet.
  
  

Define Hero and Describe Heroic Qualities

• High school students can write about someone they know or a fictional character that they consider a hero. This topic encourages self expression. The purpose is to encourage students to write freely without worrying about editing, correcting or critiquing the content.