Investigating the differences between students' conventional responses to the identification of writing topics and their responses to matters of real concern (as revealed through the use of "lifewriting" processes in the classroom), an exploratory study surveyed 455 eleventh and twelfth grade students at three large urban high schools. Students listed possible writing topics on 3 x 5 cards. After a class discussion about significant places, people, or turning-points in their lives, students wrote their final topic choice on the back of the card. (In the pilot study, three ninth grade classes simply listed their first topic choice.) Cards which contained both responses (61% of all cards) were analyzed, comparing initial and final topic choices. Initial choices included: (1) dreams; (2) fears and frustrations; (3) family relationships; (4) first experiences; and (5) vacations. The students' final topics included drugs, summer holidays, and family and pets, with grade 12 students emphasizing "putting one's life in order,""concern with finances," and "My Very First..." (love or car). Results indicated that students were struggling to find things in their lives to write about. (Appendixes include a handout describing lifewriting, a description of the lifewriting project, and instructions to the teachers involved in the study.) (MM)