The Game of
Prompt Writing
Kim Buice
SWP Summer 2010
Consider this Prompt
You go into your grandmother’s attic and
find a trunk. You open it. Write about
what you find inside.
“… well meaning teachers hope students will
get better at prompt writing by simply
writing to a different prompt everyday. In
writing workshop, teaching should focus
on good writing in any genre. The
challenge is to teach writing well, and then
teach children to transfer that learning.”
Janet Angelillo
Writing to the Prompt
Traditional Prompt Writing
Encourages conformity.
Decreases independence.
Discourages risk taking.
Decreases ownership.
Produces mediocre writing.
Idea #1 – Teach the Rubric
Organization – Up Close
4
3
2
1
At the beginning
after a while
more time
passes, then
finally
Content & Development – Up Close
4
3
2
1
Voice – Up Close – Your Turn!
3 - Uses precise and/or vivid vocabulary appropriate for the topic
• Phrasing is effective, not predictable or obvious
• Varies sentence structure to promote rhythmic reading
• Shows strong awareness of audience and task; tone is consistent and
appropriate
2 - Uses both general and precise vocabulary
• Phrasing may not be effective, and may be predictable or obvious
• Some sentence variety results in reading that is somewhat rhythmic; may be
mechanical
• Shows awareness of audience and task; tone is appropriate
1 - Uses simple vocabulary
• Phrasing is repetitive or confusing
• Shows little or no sentence variety; reading is monotonous
• Shows little or no awareness of audience and task; tone may be inappropriate
Idea #2 – Teach Them to Read the
Prompt
 Janet Allen – RAFT
R
A
F
T
R - Role – What role(s) will the
student assume as a writer?
A – Audience – Who is the
audience for the writing.
F – Format – What format will the
writing take (comic strip, letter
to the editor, feature article,
poem)?
T – Topic – What is the topic?
What are the question(s) to be
answered?
Let’s Try It
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following
excerpt and the assignment below.
Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of
success and achievement, they must forget the past,
repress it, and relinquish it. But others have just the
opposite view. They see old memories as a chance to
reckon with the past and integrate past and present.
Assignment:
Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn
from the past and succeed in the present?
Teaching Kids to Read the Prompt
Disclose the details about a time
when you encountered a startling
incident with a domestic
quadruped.
If you could relish a respite from
your mundane existence, what
locale would you proceed to?
Depict every aspect in detail.
Idea #3 – Make it a Game!
77% of adolescents play video games
daily
success in video games requires a
complex set of problem solving strategies
we can transfer these strategies to the
“game” of prompt writing
Janet Angelillo
Writing to the Prompt: When Students
Don’t Have A Choice
Gaming Elements & Skills Useful for
Prompt Writing
 Being ready to engage with a topic (game) as an
intellectual exercise.
 Being alert and quick to respond.
 Activating prior knowledge about a topic (game).
 Considering many possibilities (using some,
discarding others).
 Deciding on the type of game or response
needed.
 Revising when necessary – even starting over.
 Meeting and overcoming obstacles.
 Determining the degree of difficulty/amount of
energy required.
Being ready to engage with a topic as an
intellectual exercise.
What if you don’t have a grandmother? Or
she doesn’t have an attic? Can you think
of one you have seen on tv or in a movie?
Take it!
Think about what the trunk looks like –
even if you are not sure – picture it in your
mind
Being alert and quick to respond.
I have to get interested. Maybe I can
sketch some pictures to get some ideas.
No, I can’t say the trunk is empty!
Activating prior knowledge.
Do I have friends or neighbors with attics?
What stories have I heard about
grandmothers? About attics? About
trunks?
I can take anyone’s story and make it my
own.
Considering many possibilities…
A scary story I saw that took place in an
attic?
A pirate’s treasure chest?
A story about my grandmother dying?
Oh, my friend said her aunt saves
EVERYTHING in the attic – what would
that look like?
Deciding on the required response.
Not a description of an attic
Not a story about my grandmother
Not a feature article about types of trunks
I have 2 pages – I’d better get some
details ready.
Revising when necessary.
Revise the plan before I even start writing.
Revise my draft when it is finished.
Check back with the prompt to be sure I
answered ALL parts of the question.
Meeting and overcoming obstacles.
I have more than one idea, so I do some
prewriting with both to decide which will
turn out better.
When I pull something out of the box in the
story, I have to visualize it so I can tell
about it. If I can’t picture it in my mind,
maybe I should pll out something else.
Did we use the same strategies?
In Closing
Katie Wood Ray – “A study of testing
should be a study of process not product.”
Janet Angelillo – “Because writing
workshops focus on strengthening writing
strategies and thereby raise the bar for all
writing, they are the perfect way to teach
students to write well to prompts.”
Resources
Allen, Janet. Tools for Teaching Content
Literacy. Stenhouse Publishers, 2004.
Angelillo, Janet. Writing to the Prompt:
When Students Don’t Have a Choice.
Heinemann, 2005.
Ray, Katie Wood. Study Driven.
Heinemann, 2006.