Get Thoughts to Paper
Quick writing activities serve an important purpose in the classroom. Learning to get your thoughts onto the paper is not an easy thing for many students and a writing prompt can often help with that. By providing think time, discussion time, then writing time.
Writing prompts are really thinking prompts. If you have students who are reluctant writers or students who need to add more detail to their writing, try giving them some thinking time, discussion time, and THEN… writing time.
Prompts as Exit Tickets
Oftentimes, I will start a lesson with a read aloud, followed by a discussion. Afterward, I’ll present the class with a writing prompt. We will have some quiet think time, discuss the prompt, and then write. This is a perfect exit ticket for a lesson! Many times we think of exit tickets for math, but a quick writing prompt can assess understanding of concepts taught in ELA, Science, or Social Studies. The objective is to get our thoughts from our head to the paper in a coherent way.
Meaningful Classroom Decor
When decorating for the seasons, I enjoy using writing prompts on banners. It makes the decor meaningful and the students have more ownership of the room because it’s their own words adorning the walls.
Learn more about my decorative banners.
Morning Work
Some classes do well with writing prompts as morning work. It gets the class engaged and they know what to do as soon as they enter each day. Journal prompts could work for you if you have students arriving at different times throughout the morning.
Whenever you decide to use writing prompts, remember that this time is often important writing motivation to help kids get their thoughts to the page. Thinking, discussing, and then writing can set your kids up for success!
Need more than a prompt?
Read more about rubrics or read about ways to engage your students in the narrative writing process.
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