Writing prompts should be used as a TOOL to help students learn to write better. Writing prompts help students learn how to:

• Write to a prompt
• Follow directions
• Stay on topic

However, students also need to learn how to:

• Think for themselves    AND
• Get their work done independently

Over-relying on writing prompts for students “who can’t think of anything to write” is a trap that leads to learned helplessness. Don’t teach your students to be reliant on the teacher.

Using Writing Prompts to Teach Different Types of Writing

When students are learning new styles of writing, writing prompts can be very effective. In fact, with every new “style or purpose,” both bridging the gap and modeling will help your students.

Instead of simply using one of the prompts below, you may want to make the process a little more interactive and provide even more guidance and modeling than a prompt alone will do.

You can:

• Brainstorm a list of prompts together.  
• Then you may want to brainstorm for main ideas and details.
• You may want to outline how all the paragraph will fit together.

From time-to-time you may want to write a group essay, however I have usually found it sufficient to teach students how to come up with ideas and then to organize their ideas. Once you have done that, they should be able to write a complete essay or story, quickly and easily.

Remember that “Pattern Based Writing: Quick and Easy Essay” is the fastest, most effective way to get your elementary students and remedial middle school students writing fantastic essays, quickly and easily! 

Be sure to learn more about how to use writing prompts with students here:

1. Using Writing Prompts with Kids: Tips, Tricks, Pros and Cons of Writing Prompts

2. How to Use Writing Prompts in Teaching Writing

Wishing you and your students total essay writing success! Have a great summer!

Summertime Cause and Effect Essay

• My lazy days cause my parents to…
• It gets hotter and hotter and hotter and pretty soon everyone is…
• I goofed off all school year and now I pay the price in summer.
• I worked hard all school year and my parents are really proud of my effort. Now it’s summer.
• Cause and effect of a sunburn.
• Kids have summer vacation, what is the effect for the parents?
• In the pool and at the beach all day, what’s the effect?

Summertime Persuasive Essay

• Summer should be equal in length to the school year.
• Parents must not over program kids during the summer. Summer is our time to relax.
• In this modern age, summer vacation is too long and should be reduced to something more reasonable.
• Summer vacation should be a time for self-learning as opposed to guided learning. Students must engage in learning activities over the summer.
• Summertime is fun time. No work! All fun!
• Families must take at least one family vacation during the summer.
• This is how you should spend your summer…
• Going to camp is terrible, or going to camp is great!

Summertime Process Essay / How-To Essay

• Step-by-step guide to having fun in the sun.
• How to eat a Popsicle in the summertime heat without dripping a drop.
• How to make sure your parents know how you want to spend your summer vacation.
• How to plan out your summer.
• How to have fun at the beach.
• How to stay cool on hot, hot days.
• Steps to making your parents happy during the summer.

Summertime Argumentative Essay

• The real purpose of summer vacation is…
• Summer is better than winter…

Summertime Evaluation Essay

• How summer vacation affects students’ mental attitude for the following year.
• How summer vacation has changed from when the summer was based on the agricultural growing cycle.
• Is summer vacation an outdated tradition that is not valid in these modern times?
• Who needs summer vacation more, teachers or students?

Summertime Narrative/ Personal Narrative Essay

• Remembering summers past.
• A special summer vacation family trip.
• The greatest summer ever.
• My family, my friends, and me… all summer long.
• When the air conditioner broke.
• My parents put me to work.
• Fun times.

Summertime Informational Essay

• History of summer vacation.
• Summer vacation through the ages.
• Things you can do to keep busy over summer vacation.
• Fun ways of learning over summer vacation.
• Different kinds of summer camp.
• Summer around the world
• Movies about hot summers.

Summertime Descriptive Essay

• It was a hot and humid night…
• Describe how it feels on the hottest day of summer.
• See, hear, feel, and taste all summer long.
• Describe how summer is.

Summertime Five-Paragraph Essay

• Three things you must absolutely do in the summer.
• The three stages of summer.
• Summer days – morning, afternoon, and nighttime.
• Three reasons summer is…
• Summer with friends, family, and camp.
• Working, playing, and learning… all summer long.

Summertime Compare and Contrast Essay

• Summer for kids compared to summer for adults.
• Summer before air conditioning compared to summer now.
• A working summer compared to a fun summer.
• My perfect summer compared to how my parents want me to spend my summer.
• Summertime for young kids compared to summertime for older kids.
• This summer compared to last summer.
• What makes summer good? What makes summer bad?
• Summer for teachers vs. summer for students

Summertime Story Ideas

• Back on the farm, on the hot summer days…
• The Global Warming Summer of Dry, Hot, Heat
• An amazing summer with dolphins.
• Splish, Splash, Crash!
• Warning: Record Heat!
• The Snowy Summer
• Straight A’s and Fun!

Have a great summer!

But not all paragraphs are good… let alone perfect. In fact, it doesn’t take much to make a seemingly good paragraph go bad. I have rounded up two paragraphs that I am sad to say have gone bad. One we can salvage… the other is just plain bad. That second one has no future. We will simply have to scratch it and start over.

This Paragraph Can Be Saved

If you have even one detail that is not about the topic sentence, then it IS NOT perfect. Notice how “Detail B” is out of control off doing his own thing. “Detail B” is not talking about the “topic sentence.”  The solution with this paragraph is to edit or revise.

Detail B has gone bad!

Example:
Over the weekend my family and I went to the park. I played on the swings with my little sister until she was all tuckered out.  I hope next weekend I can see the new “Space World” movie.  The best part of the park was the wonderful picnic my mom packed. Going to the park with my family is always a lot of fun!

Warning! Danger! This is a Bad, Bad Paragraph

This is a collection of disconnected sentences. Some may claim that it is a paragraph… but it is not. It tries to be one… but it can’t. It’s an imposter…. a fake. There is no main idea to this paragraph. This will be difficult for others to read. It’s sad to see good sentences turn so bad… start over.

So sad...

Example:

Over the weekend my family and I went to the park. It was fun. I want to see the new “Space World” movie. My birthday is next week. I hope one day my parents let me have a dog. Well, that’s all I have to say.

Be sure to read the next post which is “Biggest Teacher Mistakes in Teaching Paragraphs.” Hint: Don’t spend too long teaching paragraphs!

(“Pattern Based Writing: Quick and Easy Essay” spends just the right amount of time on paragraphs before making the jump to complete essays!)

The State of Affairs for “Beginning, Middle, and Endings” in Student Writing

The sad truth is students aren’t interested in beginning, middle, and ending. No. I’m not sure that they ever were… but in this modern age… it’s passé. It’s boring. It doesn’t pique their interest… and they don’t see what it is so important about it. “What’s so important about… blah… blah… blah…. beginnings, middles… introductions… bodies… I don’t get it…” 

I’ll tell you what students are interested in… playing with time.

Beginning, Middle and Ending? Okay… But In What Order?

Kids love the idea of flashbacks, flash-forwards, foreshadowing and creating suspense or curiosity by holding back information. All that’s interesting to them…

However, it’s pretty hard to teach them those concepts, and it’s pretty hard for students to learn them… that is, unless they have a solid understanding of beginning, middle, and ending.

Beginning, Middle and Ending… the Basics

On a basic level we want students to be thinking about and planning for their beginning, middle and ending in their writing.

Before beginning, prepare carefully.
Marcus Tullius Cicero 

Then we want students to continue to think about these concepts and self-monitor as they write. Even more important though is we want them to “feel the rhythm” of beginning, middle, ending… beginning, middle, ending… both within their paragraphs and within and their entire essay, report or story.

Why? 

As an adult… you have likely learned about the need for…“closure.” Haven’t you ever felt the need for a little “closure?” Was it your imagination… or did you really “need closure?” Well, it turns out there is actually a scientific reason that people simply need closure.

The Scientific Need for Beginning, Middle, and Endings

This scientific reason is called the “Zeigarnik Effect.” The Zeigarnik Effect describes how people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed ones.
Here is one example of the “Zeigarnik Effect” at work. I once began reading a book, but I didn’t really like it. I got busy and never finished the last 30 pages. Ten years later I was still aware that I had not finished that book. I finally went to the library and checked it out so I could finish it. This was for a book I did not really like! It was easier to simply finish the book instead of thinking about it for another 10 years!

What the “Zeigarnik Effect” Means for Student Writers

Do your students jump around in their writing? Do they write whatever pops into their head? Do they not know how to start or end their writing? All this and much, much more is solved with just a little understanding of the “Zeigarnik Effect.”

The “Zeigarnik Effect” teaches students “Don’t start an idea if you are not going to finish it. Your reader does not want to be thinking about an idea that you did not finish 10 years later!” 

The “Zeigarnik Effect” also teaches students “Get rid of ideas that are started and go nowhere. This is called editing.”

The “Zeigarnik Effect” is a Fun Tool that Gives Students a…

First off, the “Zeigarnik Effect” is a fun concept. For students it’s right up there with flashbacks and foreshadowing. 

Second, it’s a tool. Students learn to appreciate “beginning, middle, and ending” and they understand how they can use it to control their writing… and eventually control their reader’s emotional involvement.

Third, once “beginning, middle, and endings” are mastered, the “Zeigarnik Effect” leads to very effective and controlled advanced writing techniques. Students easily learn how to create suspense, curiosity, and interest in their writing… and it’s fun!

No Playing With Time… Until You Master Beginning, Middle, Ending… Beginning, Middle…

We teach students that paragraphs and stories have a beginning, middle, and ending. We teach students that essays and reports have an introduction, body, and conclusion. Students learn that good writing almost always has a very clear beginning, middle, and ending.

This must be mastered.

If you want your students to develop a natural rhythm and flow to their writing be sure to get your free guide to writing at the homepage and while you’re at it, check out the “Pattern Based Writing: Quick and Easy Essay” writing program! You won’t know what you’re missing till you see it!

Every end is a new beginning.
Proverb

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.
Seneca

A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end but not necessarily in that order.
Jean-Luc Godard (French Filmmaker)

The Different Kinds of Paragraphs

1. How-to Paragraph (Process Paragraph) – First, Next, Then, Finally
2. Compare and Contrast Paragraph – Eggplant is both good…and bad!
3. Descriptive Paragraph – It was a dark and stormy night, yet the moon had an enchanting glow.
4. Explanatory Paragraph – There are many reasons that “doctors” consider eggplant to be healthy.
5. Classifying Paragraph – There are two kinds of vegetables. There are bad vegetables and there are so-so vegetables.
6. Narrative Paragraph – It was a dark and stormy night, and Johnny had many chores that still needed to get done.
7. Persuasive paragraph – There are many reasons that parents should let children choose if they want to eat their vegetables.
8. Definition Paragraph – Some people think that being lazy is sitting around all day doing nothing. That is not true. A person might be thinking very deeply, and that is not lazy.
9. Evaluation Paragraph – Vegetables are not as good for you as many people think. In fact, there is much evidence indicating that vegetables are actually unhealthy.

Structure of a Paragraph

• Tell them, tell them, and tell them! Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell them. Then tell them what you told them.
• You transitions smoothly and naturally between ideas.
• All of the sentences in a paragraph are connected. You should know how.

Strategies for Teaching Paragraphs to Children

• What idea does not belong in this paragraph?
• Which of these is not a paragraph?
• Follow this formula or pattern.
• Use this graphic organizer to map out your ideas and then write your paragraph.
• Explain, demonstrate, imitate, and practice.
• Topic sentence. Three details. Repeat topic sentence in a creative way.
• Use these words to create a paragraph.
• Pretend you are talking to someone who has no idea of what you are talking about. Maybe they are from another planet and you need to talk to them in a way that will make them understand… Understand?

Analogies of What a Paragraph Is

• A paragraph is a formula or pattern of ideas that you put together in a special way.
• A paragraph is a family of ideas that are all related and connected.
• A paragraph is a sandwich of ideas.
• A paragraph is a cohesive unit of ideas about one topic or main idea.

General Philosophies about Paragraphs

• A paragraph is 3-5 sentences.
• A paragraph is 5- 12 sentences.
• A paragraph is about one main idea.
• All other sentences in that paragraph must support that main idea.
• The sentences in the paragraph must be in a logical order.
• You start a new paragraph when you have changed to a new main idea.
• You can give information about the main idea OR you can explain the main idea OR you can give your opinion about the main idea.
• The topic sentence is usually the first sentence in a paragraph.
• The topic sentence usually contains the main idea of the paragraph.
• Topic sentence, supporting details, concluding sentence.

Main Idea and Topic Sentence

• ??????????

General and Specific

• ??????????

You can get children to repeat everything on this page like clockwork and have it all fly out the window when it is most important. If this happens, the reason is they don’t really understand what a main idea is or what a topic sentence is. They don’t understand “general” and “specific.” You have failed to get their mind around these concepts…

If they don’t truly understand these concepts… multi-paragraph writing will be VERY hard…

Fourteen years of teaching writing and I have perfected a way of making children understand these concepts and not just be able to repeat the words… (Be sure to go to the home page to check out the writing program…)

The most important thing about a writing prompt is for the teacher to have a purpose for the writing prompt. Many teachers don’t think a lot about what their purpose is when they put up a writing prompt.

The thought process usually goes about as far as:

• I want them to write about something that they will have an interest in.
• I want them to write about something that will inspire them.
• I want them to write about something that they will think is fun.

A Little Extra Thought and You Will Get Writing that is More Thought Provoking (Both you and your students will think so!)

The reason teachers use lesson plans is because we want to make the most of our students time. We need to know what it is that we wish to accomplish with our lesson. We want to have a goal, or an objective. If we don’t know where we are going… we will be on the road to nowhere.

Using a writing prompt is no different. We can define our purpose and objectives in many different ways, and I’ll touch on a few.

The Wrong Way to Use a Writing Prompt (a.k.a. Quick! Think!)

Be honest… have you ever gone through this thought process?

“What am I going to have the kids write about? Quick! Think! Hmm… Okay… kids… what you are going to write about today is… hmm… okay… what it is… you are going to write about… umm… what did you… or what… no… describe a time when…”

The thinking that went into your creation of the writing prompt is likely to be reflected in the creation of the writing that the students do. If you don’t think it’s that important, they won’t think it’s that important. Even if they don’t observe exactly how you created the writing prompt, students have a sixth sense for what they perceive as “busy work.” 

Here Are a Few Ways that You Can More Clearly Define Your Purpose, Goal, or Objective When You Give Students a Writing Prompt:

1. You Can Base Your Purpose on the Kind of Growth You Wish Your Students to Experience

• Write in a new and unique way. (In a way they have never written before.)
• Focus on, explore, or expand their creativity
• Break the mold of their previous writing and expand their horizons
• Focus on or experiment with structure
• Focus on or explore word usage
• Focus on or explore the imagination
• Focus on or explore their thoughts
• Focus on or explore their feelings
• Think about their own thinking along with how they learn
• Learn the subject material by writing (Writing across the curriculum)

2. You Can Base Your Purpose on Bloom’s Taxonomy

• You want them to know (facts, information)
• You want them to comprehend or understand (internalize)
• You want them to apply what they have learned or know (use the information)
• You want them to analyze information (what is the significance of this information)
• You want them to synthesis information (kind of like creating new information from old information)
• You want them to evaluate (Is this good/bad, true/false?)

3. You Can Base Your Purpose on Common Essay Structures

• You want them to compare and contrast something (compare and contrast essay)
• You want them to give information about something (informational essay)
• You want them to describe something (descriptive essay)
• You want them to evaluate something (evaluative essay)
• You want them to give the cause and effect of something (cause and effect essay)
• You want them to tell a personal story (personal narrative essay)
• You want them to tell a story that has a point of view (narrative essay)
• You want them to describe a process (process essay)
• You want them to follow a line of argumentative reasoning through to its logical conclusion (argumentative essay)
• You want them to persuade someone about something (persuasive essay)
• You want them to critique something (critical essay)

Check back to read these upcoming articles on “Writing Prompts.”

1. Easy, Fast, and Fantastic Ways to Create Writing Prompts that Will Engage Your Students
2. Teaching Writing Across the Curriculum: Remembering that a Writing Assignment in Any Subject is a Writing Prompt