By Curtis Brown
Dyanis Popova
Natalie Fuentes
Purpose and Benefits
 Combines both reading and writing activities.
 Supports daily context writing.
 Critical thinking, learning and reflection.
 Multidisciplinary curricula.
 Prompts can be used in different orders and do not all
have to be used in the same lesson to support writing
skills.
 Short, informal, ungraded writing
SPAWN Prompts Defined
 S –Special Powers -students can change an aspect of
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the text or topic.
P - Problem Solving – students can write solutions
to problems posed by the text or lesson.
A – Alternative Viewpoints – students can write
about a topic from a unique perspective.
W - What if? – teacher introduces a change to the text
or lesson and students can write based on that change.
N – Next – students can write about what they think
will happen next.
Using SPAWN Prompts
 The Latest on the Oil Spill by The NY Times
“THE NUMBERS It has been 34 days since the first
explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig. The spills
impact on shore now stretches across 150 miles, from
Dauphin Island, Ala., to Grand Isle, La., officials said.”
Retrieved from
www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/science/earth/25latest.
html
Using SPAWN Prompts
 Students will form discussion groups based on 4
different perspectives.
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Environmentalist
Fisherman
BP CEO
Governor of LA, Bobby Jindal
 After discussion, students will address “Alternative
Viewpoints” in their writing. Write about the oil spill
from the assigned perspective in your journal.
Using SPAWN Prompts
 Students will then address “ Problem Solving” by
suggesting a solution to their problem in writing.
 Students can then share their ideas and solutions with
the groups and the class as a whole.
 The teacher can provide additional tasks modeling the
additional prompts.
 Students with limited writing proficiency can use
illustrations to develop their perspective.