Running Head: MULTI-GENRE WRITING PROMPTS
M@ny Write W@ys 2 Write!
Multi-Genre Writing Prompts to Improve Writing for Secondary Students
Charles Owens
Vanderbilt University
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Abstract
This paper reviews and synthesizes the relevant literature of the Writing Workshop
(Clippard & Nicalse, 2009; Calkins, 1994), genre theory (Bahktin, 1979), and the efficacy of
teaching multi-genre writing (Chapman, 1999; Paine & Johnson-Sheehan, 2011; Purcell-Gates,
Duke, & Martineua, 2007) to improve the writing abilities of secondary students. Based on these
research findings, a curricular implementation of a daily writing assignment is recommended,
especially for English instructors needing resources for teaching struggling writers. More
specifically, multi-genre writing is a learner-centered writing curriculum because of the way it
relies and builds on the identity (Ivanic, 1998) of each learner. While drawing upon the
dispositions of these learners, they gradually become more sophisticated writers as each one
builds versatility (Dean, 2008; Paine & Johnson-Sheehan, 2011; Purcell-Gates, Duke, &
Martineau, 2007) in their writing. Finally, environmental enhancements are presented and
formative assessments (with an emphasis on revision instruction) are recommended for this
multi-genre writing curriculum.
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Costigan (2008) stresses an authentic Language Arts curriculum must enhance student
engagement with reading, writing, and speaking because these are the ways in which we all
wrestle with being human and how we attempt to understand the world. In other words, our lives
shape our literacy, but our reading and writing trajectories also enhance our daily lives.
Unfortunately, literacy development has grown complicated by this era of high stakes testing.
Although there are a variety of factors, some teachers teach writing rigidly for a state-mandated
test and many teachers lacking a strong writing background struggle to improve their students’
writings (Paine & Johnson-Sheehan, 2011; Vetter, Myers, & Hester, 2014). Writing is taught to
meet a statewide benchmark and does not resemble this transformative power Costigan speaks
of. Because of these trends, this paper recommends a curricular implementation of a daily multigenre writing prompt for struggling student writers. This recommendation is made after
carefully analyzing the relevant research of this field, which is integrated throughout this paper.
This curriculum asks students to draw on life experiences for their daily writing assignments and
to explore new writing genres such as poetry, dialogues, comics, lists, ballads, horoscopes,
fairytales, and even jokes. This curriculum may seem counter-productive in this era of highstakes testing in which only one type of essay is assessed; however, multi-genre writing
gradually develops strong writers (Paine & Johnson-Sheehan, 2011) who are equipped for any
type of testing as well as collegiate or vocational prep. For Costigan (2008), this scholastic gain
supplements the deeper understanding the each student develops about themselves as well as a
greater understanding of the world in which they live.
Rationale
According to Graham and Perin (2007a), about a third of high school graduates are not
prepared for collegiate composition courses and many adults enter a vocational career and
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quickly realize they struggle with the writing demands of their respective careers, which may
never improve if they do not enroll in some type of remedial writing course. Brandt (2011)
points out that dynamic changes in the economy are a motivator for schools, students, parents,
states, and communities to raise expectations for literacy achievement; therefore, it is important
to identify what constitutes high quality writing instruction so students are not restricted by their
literacy abilities. When considering the devastating trends of waning writing abilities (Nation’s
Report Card, 2011) and the role public education plays for vocational trajectory, many educators
have asked the question, “What can I do to improve my students’ writing abilities?”
A Daily Writing Assignment
The most important feature an English instructor can implement for improving writing is
simply assigning a writing task every day (Clippard & Nicalse, 2009). This ongoing activity has
been used in the Writing Workshop (Atwell, 1987) for years. In the Writing Workshop model,
students write on a regular basis for a structured amount of time while gradually revising and
editing a draft until it becomes a completed (or published) piece (Calkins, 1994). Within this
daily assignment, students are able to gain regular practice with their writing as well as gradually
discerning their personal writing constraints (Clippard & Nicalse, 2009); thus, it is up to
instructors to lead students into this arena where they can be confronted with their abilities and
limitations. In other words, gains in writing sophistication and an awareness of one’s
deficiencies are only discovered if instructors ask students to write daily (Jones & East, 2010).
Other tasks in the Language Arts classroom such as covering canonical texts, grammar
instruction, speech practice, vocabulary development, etc., are also important, but writing
development requires intentional, well-designed planning (Calkins, 1994). To this end, there is
quantifiable improvement in writing sophistication from a daily writing task, mainly because
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students become more confident about their writing as their abilities improve through these
assignments (Jones & East, 2010).
Due to this research, educators can act by implementing a daily writing time as a central
part of the English curriculum at the secondary level. Instructors understand the importance of a
well-structured curriculum and classroom activities should be designed with an end point in
mind (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). With the increased pressure around testing (Vetter et al.,
2014), the end point for many instructors is a student body that can write well enough to pass the
state standardized tests.
Regarding curriculum, Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (1999) have synthesized years of
research in the fields of education, psychology, and neuroscience in order to provide a blueprint
for the very best designed learning environments, one of which is the knowledge-centered
environment. This realm addresses ways of learning new skills, facts, concepts, or principles and
subsequently being able to transfer them (Bransford et al., 1999). These new pieces of
information and the types of activities necessary to learn them are typically transmitted through a
classroom curriculum and many instructors rely on the Common Core Standards (2014) to
determine what ought to be learned. The Common Core (2014) has a large section dedicated to
the teaching of writing at every grade level; thus, instructors should be strategic about how they
design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) the writing curriculum in their classrooms.
Of course, instructors can be creative about how to integrate this daily writing
curriculum, but the easiest way to implement this exercise is having a structured time in which
all students write everyday. Because of Jones and East’s (2010) research, instructors should
consider reserving a block of time dedicated to writing. A bell-ringer (or bell work) is an
academic task that students begin the moment the bell rings in the classroom, it should be
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established at the beginning of the year, support the overall academic design of the class, and
doubles as a classroom management tool (Boettner, 2011). As mentioned, there is gradual
improvement in writing sophistication from a daily writing task (Jones & East, 2010), so
instructors should leverage this classroom management tool and begin class with a daily writing
assignment. For example, a teacher focusing a unit on The Great Gatsby can integrate writing
prompts that solicit daily practice of the themes and motifs found in the novel (Appendix A).
The expectation for this class is that while they are gradually moving through a canonical text,
there is a simultaneous, intentional effort to improve their writing. In this case, the instruction
for a canonical text is actually strengthened as students discover parallels between their lives and
the text through the bell-ringer writing prompts.
Genre Theory and Teaching Genre
In addition to writing daily, the writing curriculum should also ask students to write
across genres. Dean (2008) defines genre as a category of artistic composition, such as music or
literature, which is marked by a distinctive style, form, or content. In terms of writing, a genre is
a specific type of literature possessing a particular style, form, and set of boundaries. Romano
(1995) advocates a single topic can be discussed in a myriad of ways through multiple writing
genres. For example, one of Romano’s student wrote several pieces about John Lennon through
the mediums of prose, poetry, ballad, newspaper article, and song lyrics (1998, p.122).
Like Romano, Kress (1994) stresses that writing improvement must include genre
knowledge, specifically for its ability to engage language structures. To this end, Kress (1994)
emphasizes that genre instruction is as important for developing student writers as developing
their control of spelling and punctuation. Among other benefits, genre writing develops an
awareness of genres that makes students more critical, reflective, and adaptive in their writing
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and even their reading, it develops a more critical lens for discussing texts, it increases
vocabulary width, it creates opportunities for engagement and creativity, and it helps build
flexibility and meta-cognition through the recognition of a genre trait and being able to transfer it
(Paine & Johnson-Sheehan, 2011). In other words, genre prompts walk students through various
exercises that increase their writing skills and abilities to think about their writing. Over time,
there is quantifiable evidence that practicing with genres increases each student’s writing
versatility in terms of vocabulary width, sentence structuring, and meaning making (PurcellGates et al., 2007), which are resources that can be drawn upon in English class and elsewhere.
Langer (1997), a social psychologist, points out, “The larger our repertoire and the less we are
attached to any specific procedure or strategy, the more flexible our thinking is likely to be.”
Thus, each encounter with a new genre increases a student’s linguistic repertoire as the student
practices writing with more and more styles exploring multiple categories, avenues, and
boundaries. Romano (1995) sums up this agenda for an increased writing versatility for all
student writers, “I want students to develop a willingness to be bold with language, to press
forward with words. I want them to be versatile, daring, and practiced enough to interact readily
with their writing and to do so with imagination, logic, and originality” (p. 102).
Genre Theory. Multi-genre writing is grounded in genre theory and Bakhtin’s (1979)
semiotic research is the cornerstone of this theory, illuminating that each genre is situated in a
context within a discourse community where daily communication is a primary genre while
school asks us to read and write through secondary genres which are more complex. Thus,
teachers typically ask students to write in a register that is not perceived as useful or meaningful
for their daily activities (Chapman, 1999). Instead, students should routinely be asked to
incorporate their own words and meanings into their writings (Paine & Johnson-Sheehan, 2011),
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which links back to the Writer’s Workshop. In the Writer’s Workshop, students are asked to
write about topics relevant to them and teachers are encouraged to leverage student writing
happening outside of the classroom (Calkins, 1994). As mentioned, there are five examples of
bell-ringer writing prompts included to illustrate how to apply this to a classroom (Appendix A);
importantly, these prompts span across genres. Specifically, students are asked to think about
their dream car and compose a series of writings on this topic (Appendix A). Though these
writings are meant to tie in with a unit on The Great Gatsby, students are invited to think about a
topic that is relevant to them, transportation, which simultaneously develops their writing
abilities (Paine & Johnson-Sheehan, 2011).
Models for Teaching Genres. The initial model proposed for teaching genres was threefold (1) examine a model text, (2) imitate the text as a group, and then (3) create individual
representations of the text (Martin, Christie, & Rothery, 1987). However, later theorists have
stated there is a value for students to investigate the context of a genre first before attempting to
attempt its form and boundaries (Martin, 1999) because many theorists question the ability of
students to understand a specific genre they have not experienced yet in life (Petraglia, 1999).
Still, Freedman and Medway (1994) point out that school writing may imitate and even mimic
features of a given genre but it cannot ever be that genre, it still remains scholastic writing alone.
Thus, there are a wide range of voices recommending different paths for genre instruction
and it is difficult to translate these findings into tangible classroom practice. The most balanced
form of classroom application seems to blend both the teaching about each genre with the
expectation of the writing assignment. Soliday (2005) details the balancing act in this way:
The first approach includes making tacit knowledge explicit by designing rubrics,
describing the purposes of form, and providing maps of textual features such as
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annotated models. Though of course these approaches will overlap, implicit
learning includes modeling genre through class talk, offering regular feedback,
and sequencing assignments. (p. 80).
Still, Gee (2012) suggests that acquisition occurs in context while the learning occurring in
school allows students to learn aspects of genres such as language and form through strategies
and reflection so that they understand the concepts related to genres. After scholastic exposure,
students are prepared to interact with genres more authentically or take on the next genre outside
of school (Gee, 2012).
Practical Approach for Teaching Genres. Since every classroom will fall short of
these researchers who argue for differing genre instructional trajectories, Dean (2008)
recommends a few guiding principles to keep in mind, such as connection (where genre practice
and context should be as connected as possible), creativity (where each genre is both constrained
and boundless in an attempt to allow the creativity for the writer), rhetoric (where the writer pays
attention to the situation and strategy unique to each communicative action), and reflection
(where meta-cognition occurs and students understand their own relationship to each genre).
Additionally, teachers should plan carefully for the selection of which genres they teach because
they cannot all be covered in one academic year. Instructors should begin with antecedent
genres (those previously known by the class) while referring to the Common Core (2014) and
state standards when initially choosing genres (Dean, 2008). Then, teachers should introduce
unfamiliar genres, and finally intertwine genres from previous prompts into a single piece (Dean,
2008). Chapman (1999) has a few more recommendations such as (1) emphasizing ideas
initially rather than form, (2) begin by immersing students in a genre, (3) focus student attention
on the genre as a way of thinking and communicating ideas within a particular context, (4) point
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out how a genre’s text features and how it speaks to an audience, (5) encourage students to
explore a genre through their own writing, (6) use a process approach to writing such as
prewriting, drafting, editing, (7) and keep in mind that genres predict but do not determine
structure.
Scaffolding the instruction is a major concern for knowledge-centered environments
(Bransford et. al, 1999) and Donovan and Smolkin (2008) point out that scaffolding multi-genre
writing is key for successful acquisition, which they go on to detail six levels of multi-genre
writing scaffolds that are helpful for classroom application.
Instruction
Level
Scaffold
Level:
6
Text Features:
Produce text with instruction of text structures / features through
planning strategies of organization, drafting, editing, and revision.
Produce a known text, usually retell / rework a story just told with a
5
visual aid available at all times during the writing.
Produce an unknown text with a visual aid or link back to a previous
4
Middle
writing.
Produce a recurring writing, such as a learning log or daily journal.
3
Produce a specific writing, usually recalling a memory or finishing a
2
Low
story stem.
Produce a writing without instructions or free write.
1
Table 1. Six Stages of Instructional Scaffolding for Multi-Genre Writing (Donovan & Smolkin,
2008).
High
To see this translate to classroom practice, students can begin with a story stem and then finish it
(Appendix A, Day 1), which is an example of tier 2 scaffolding (Donovan & Smolkin, 2008) but
this is better than asking students to free write without a prompt (tier 1). Students can refer back
to previous writings and build on them (Appendix A, Day 4), which is an example of tier 4
scaffolding (Donovan & Smolkin, 2008). Other writing prompts can incorporate a model text
(Appendix A, Day 5), which is an example of tier 5 scaffolding (Donovan & Smolkin, 2008).
Finally, the most advanced scaffolding (tier 6) for multi-genre writing is providing instructional
strategies for planning, organizing, drafting, and revising (Donovan & Smolkin, 2008). Though
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this is not illustrated explicitly in the appendix, educators can greatly improve their writing
instruction by developing strong instructional strategies in these areas.
Mastering Genre Writing. As for proficiency, Chapman (1999) stresses genres are
learned and mastered through engagement, exploration, personal connections, participation in a
discourse community, apprenticeship, collaboration, and talking about texts. To reach the
writing versatility Paine and Johnson-Sheehan (2011) speak of, students should be asked and
encouraged to experiment with alternative word choices (semantics) and word orders (syntax) in
order to make meaning, change meaning, and enhance meaning. They should be asked to play
with different registers of writing such as poetry, journal entries, haikus, image poetry, haibun,
narrative, fiction, non-fiction, autobiography, and many others. Students should also have the
opportunity to integrate mixtures of these forms amongst each other (such as incorporating haiku
into a narrative) in order to create writings that are relevant and completely new to them (Dean,
2008).
One example of how this translates to classroom practice is by asking students to take the
modifying words (adjectives and adverbs) from a writing prompt and transfer them to another
prompt (Appendix A, Day Four). This exercise allows students to see how their modifying
words interplay with nouns, articles, and adjectives. Word play and word exchange are solicited
as students create powerful selections that are unique, such as “The ferocious, red teacher”
(Appendix A, Day Four). Further, students can create a structured writing, such as a Haiku about
their dream car or about an automobile bumper sticker (Appendix A, Day Five). Again, this
invites students to play with language while they are forced to come up with modifying words or
eliminate them in order to get the syllabic structure the writing prompt demands. In this way,
students are asked to bend and play with linguistic features in order to accomplish a written task.
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In addition to seeing examples of multi-genre writing prompts, educators are encouraged
to pull from multiple genres (Appendix B) when designing multi-genre writing prompts for their
students. As discussed, instructors are encouraged to (1) start with antecedent genres, then (2)
extend their prompts to new ones, and finally (3) intertwine two or more genres amongst each
other in a single prompt (Dean, 2008).
Designing the Writer’s Workshop Environment
In addition to a strong, well-designed curriculum, the learning environment should also
be considered when considering an aggressive writing curriculum. Classroom norms can
encourage or discourage participation and each individual classroom environment has a unique
body and a mechanism that either encourages or discourages participation (Bransford et al.,
1999). Often times, a style may work for one class and not work for another. Considering the
importance of the learning environment, the language arts classroom is by its very nature a decontextualized arena (Gee, 2012). The act of learning and mastering new vocabulary, the strict
spelling rules, and the meticulous grammar and punctuation rules are a wholly scholastic
endeavor (Freedman & Medway, 1994); thus, the environment does not alter itself easily for
more socially situated settings that can enhance the learning of English, specifically the value of
taking a science lab out of a classroom and into a forest beside the school to conduct its
experiments. Instead, Language Arts teachers typically have to stay within their classrooms and
rely on visual aids (posters, dry-erase boards, slideshows, etc.) to enhance the learning
experience. To this end, there are many great graphic organizers and visual aids pinned by
teachers on Pinterest as well as classroom materials available through Scholastic Books and
Harcourt for teaching writing. Burke, Harste, and Short (1995) have also published a few
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modifications for improving the Language Arts classroom and detail a space filled with literacy
aids such as writing folders, visual aids, and a reading theatre.
Ward (2006) encourages instructors to re-conceptualize their classrooms as a writing
workshop, by filling it with pencils and notebooks, and arranging the desks in a large U-shape so
that writings can be shared to the whole class, but making it easily transformable to small group
settings so students can collaborate in small clusters. Ward (2006) also recommends taking
students to alternative settings such as a forest, gymnasium, church, cafeteria, factory, etc., as a
classroom outing to be used as inspiration for daily journal writings; this learning is multi-modal
because it relies on audio, visual, and kinesthetic experiences that are integrated into the writing
process. Though this is not an exact example of a socially situated learning environment, it does
serve as inspiration for the creative writing process, which is something writers (and writing
instructors) yearn for (Burroway, 2010). There have also been great strides in recent years of
integrating technology into the Language Arts classroom and understanding the value of playing
around with technology in class (Sheridan & Roswell, 2010); thus, English classrooms will
steadily have more technology interacting with the writing instruction.
Developing Identity through Multi-Genre Writing
In English class, learners have to learn a sophisticated way of writing and reading, which
differs from the communication learned at home (Gee, 2012) and many learners feel they are not
engaged in an authentic way. Ivanic (1998) states that many students feel they need to “change
their speech” (p. 29) or “take on a different identity” (p. 30) in order to complete academic
assignments and many students face school with feelings of alienation, difficulty, and a crisis of
confidence. “Writing is an act of identity,” Ivanic (1994) stresses, “in which people align
themselves with socioculturally shaped possibilities for self-hood, playing their part in
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reproducing or challenging dominant practices and discourses, and the values, beliefs, and
interests which they embody” (p. 32). In other words, the very act of writing is an intensive
interplay with one’s identity and the world in which one is interacting; thus, any good writing
curriculum must probe a person’s internal dreams, goals, and disappointments due to the very
intimate nature of writing itself.
Ivanic (1994) goes on to detail a case study of student writing by reviewing two of her
papers, one for a science course and one for a women’s study course. In the women’s study
course, the student identifies with a few radical feminists and owns much of her writing
throughout the course by writing in the first person and often inserting humorous insights and
editorials. Her writing is very natural, well-developed, and scores a superior grade. In her
science course, however, she writes in a way that Ivanic (1994) characterizes asks for
acceptance. Her analysis hides behind the works of other scholars and she is ambivalent about
her identity as an authority while distancing herself from the writing most of the time, which
results in a barely passing grade. In her science paper, Ivanic’s (1994) student admits she felt
she was “playing a game” (p. 144) by accommodating to conventions. What is clear from the
case study is that the science paper was a difficult, foreign task where the student had to simulate
authority in order to write, while the women’s studies paper allowed interaction with classroom
material and the ability to respond to it. The women’s studies paper was a holistic task allowing
growth and development of the whole student (the writer) while the science paper was a lesson in
struggling to speak intelligently (the writing) to a specific audience. The implication is, which
type of writing are we demanding from our students, especially adolescents struggling to write?
Though this discussion about writers and identity is rooted in psychological development,
it ties in with educational theory by questioning how well instructors know their learners.
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Teachers who embrace a learner-centered environment pay attention to the knowledge, skills,
attitudes, and beliefs learners bring to the learning environment and recognize the importance of
building on the conceptual and cultural knowledge that students already know (Bransford et al.,
1999). In these learning environments, information about a student’s prior knowledge is
determined through observing, questioning, and conversing, and this type of instruction is
marked by a sensitivity to the cultural and linguistic practices of all students (Bransford et al.,
1999). In other words, good teaching requires a look at the developmental stage as well as sense
of identity embodied by each learner in order to tailor instruction to each student’s strengths and
tastes.
Because multi-genre writing is based on the idea that writing is social and it responds to
situations, this writing model is designed for individualization in any given setting (Dean, 2008);
thus, a multi-genre writing curriculum is an ideal choice for a learning environment concerned
about individual learners. Romano (1995), an advocate for multi-genre writing, stresses its
unique ability to reach every learner:
Multi-genre writing requires that creativity and imagination [are part of the] research.
Personal stamps are what I want to see. When they understand their individuality is
valued, the modus operandi in classrooms becomes risk-taking, that priceless straying
from the path. (p. 130)
To answer the previous question about which type of writing instructors must solicit from
students, Ivanic (1994) recommends that all writing done in school must be socially situated and
should reflect the given socio-economic, gendered, age, skill level, etc. of a community before
asking a student to write. In other words, the writing should look and feel like the students
writing it. Students should write passionately about their own lives (including social restraints
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and difficulties), which is too diverse for a single style of writing to work; therefore, every genre
must be available to them in order to capture individual ideas and forms of expression (Romano,
1995). Coe (1994) stresses student writing cannot be decontextualized if it is to be meaningful
and expected to develop; this insight is helpful when constructing a learning environment
concerned for its learners.
The Writer’s Workshop model should be mentioned again because it also builds student
writing abilities with a belief that confidence is essential to skill improvement (Atwell, 1987).
Not only is writing daily valued because it gives students writing practice, it is also valued
because it gradually builds up confidence about writing (again, this is internal identity work).
The Writer’s Workshop model follows four principles of (1) students writing about their own
lives, (2) using a consistent writing process, (3) writing in authentic ways, and (4) gradually
gaining independence (Calkins, 1994). Again, this writing model increases the writing ability of
each student (Troia et al., 2011), but accomplishes this growth while drawing on the strengths,
tastes, and confidence of each learner while gradually enhancing the identity (Ivanic, 1998) of
each learner through authentic writing tasks. Conclusively, there is a strong case of building
upon the primary discourse (Bakhtin, 1979; Gee, 2012) and identity (Ivanic, 1998) of each
learner to use as an academic foundation that can be leveraged to develop more sophisticated
writers (Calkins, 1994). In sum, multi-genre writing assignments are aligned for identity
development for all learners; this curriculum satisfies the environmental criteria of addressing the
needs and individuality of each learner.
Evaluating Multi-Genre Writing
Additionally, instructors need a mechanism for assessing the multi-genre writing
curriculum in their classrooms. Importantly, assessments provide an opportunity for teachers to
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rethink their teaching practices and the most valuable feedback occurs when students can use an
assessment to revise their thinking as they work on a unit or project (Bransford et al., 1999). For
the multi-genre writing curriculum, formative assessments (ongoing assessments, reviews, and
observations to evaluate the learning process and teaching strategies) should be used much more
than summative assessments (end of unit testing to see how much is learned).
In order to develop student writers willing to learn unfamiliar vocabulary and sentence
structures, instructors must cultivate a space where experimentation is permitted and encouraged
(Romano, 1995); therefore, instructors need to be careful about how they go about assessing
student writing. In terms of effective assessment, Lane (1993) is quick to point out “low grades
discourage writing while high grades imply that nothing else can be done to a piece” (p. 129).
Therefore, instructors should understand that writing assignments are instances for developing a
complex craft very slowly and that traditional grades actually discourage writing development.
Instead, gradual writing that is constantly encouraged, such as the writing workshop model,
yields better writing quality than approaches rigidly focusing on mimicry and convention
(Honeycutt & Pritchard, 2005). Because regimented assessments discourage learners from
experimenting with unfamiliar styles, instructors should rely more on formative assessments for
the multi-genre curriculum. Teachers should periodically monitor progress, but do it through
participation grades, credit for experimentation, and credit for blending multiple genres into a
single work (Honeycutt & Pritchard, 2005; Dean, 2008).
In lieu of grading for correctness, instructors should focus on teaching revision strategies
in their classroom. The efficacy of teaching revision strategies was mentioned earlier and
Donovan and Smolkin (1998) point out this is the most advanced tier of scaffolding writing
instruction. There are several resources available for teaching revision in the classroom and
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Lane (1993) recommends everything from conferencing, zooming in (or out) on a topic, using
more details, even asking your paper questions. Instead of focusing on a letter grade or
examining a writing for correctness, instructors should think about ways to rework and re-enter
each writing. Of course, these revision stages also improve writing (Lane, 1993), so writing
instruction should focus on teaching student writers how to improve a piece of writing in lieu of
chasing a grade.
Writing well is lengthy enterprise. Or as Babbage (2010) suggests, perfecting writing
comes from repetitive practice and from working on each sub-skill. Godwin (1980) emphasizes
the writing life is constantly hindered by setbacks and re-writes and “learning when ‘enough is
enough’ is the discipline of a lifetime. Perfection, however that ideal is measured, may not grace
the work, but it should be sought during the process of the work” (p. 253). Considering these
words from published writers, it is wholly unrealistic for writing instructors to demand
perfection, or A’s, from students at their particular development stage. Instead, writing well
requires a lifetime of work and the best an instructor can do in a single year (or term) is to
cultivate some time and space for qualitative writing practice that appeals to the interest of each
learner. To this end, qualitative writing instruction that improves writing abilities requires
writing prompts (Calkins, 1994; Paine & Johnson-Sheehan, 2011) and revision strategies (Lane,
1993). After all, sophisticated student writing and not a well-maintained grade book is the
desired outcome, right?
Still, there are districts that require instructors to submit periodic grades; in this case,
rubrics can be used to assess multi-genre writing. Daily writing prompts can be assessed on a
daily, weekly, or sporadic basis, and students can self-assess or assess each other with the aid of
a very simple rubric (Appendix C, top) designed to give credit for making an attempt at new
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writing genres. Instructors can also design and work toward a cumulative multi-genre writing
project and they can provide a grade on this type of project through the use of a more thorough
rubric that evaluates the text features therein (Appendix C, bottom). And lest we forget, there
are scores of teachers who attempt to teach to the test or tailor their writing instruction for
pending statewide writing tests. According to Costigan (2008), a test preparation curriculum is
not only disengaging and disheartening, it actually creates diminishing student performance on
these tests, which is the opposite of what this instruction sets out to do; in contrast, students
should be exposed to real-life practices of writing multiple drafts, sharing with peers, and
publishing in authentic ways. In other words, teachers who attempt to teach to the test actually
teach with diminishing returns as students practice rote skills all year long and typically do not
score favorably on these assessments. Differently, students who can write authentic stories,
poems, and essays are typically well equipped to reformat them after an authentic learning
experience has taken place, specifically for the four-to-five paragraph “block” essay solicited on
the state writing exams (Costigan, 2008). Again, this reinforces the idea that students who
routinely practice writing about issues relevant to their lives in a relevant register (or genre) are
gradually going to develop a more sophisticated writing style over the course of the year or term
(Paine & Johnson-Sheehan, 2011). Consequently, they will score higher on statewide exams and
become better writers for their aspirations after secondary school.
Conclusion
Costigan’s (2008) assertion that literacy is ontological, that it is intertwined with
understanding ourselves and our world is a critical call when reviewing the statistics of upperlevel students who struggle with writing tasks (Nation’s Report Card, 2011). Consequently,
research literature was reviewed concerning the efficacy of teaching multi-genre writing (Dean,
MULTI-GENRE WRITING PROMPTS
20
2008; Paine & Johnson-Sheehan, 2011; Purcell-Gates et al., 2007) to remediate the writing
abilities of struggling writers. Based on this analysis, a recommendation is made for
implementing a daily curricular writing assignment that spans several genres. This curriculum
affirms the interplay between writing and identity (Ivanic, 1998) because the multi-genre writing
prompts draw on the strengths and personal dimensions of each learner while gradually
developing these students into strong writers (Dean, 2008; Paine & Johnson-Sheehan, 2011;
Purcell-Gates et al., 2007). Additional research is needed to determine which genres are best
taught, how much exposure is required, and which experiences are best. More explicit bridges
between researchers and classroom practices are needed when considering there are few aids
provided for teachers who wish to teach multi-genre writing to students. Many educators face
divergent policies on writing instruction (Vetter, Myers, & Hester, 2014) in their schools and
researchers can make more explicit recommendations that are readily understood for classroom
practice by teachers and administrators alike. This paper was somewhat restricted by discussing
each realm of research so briefly and instructors are encouraged to look to the reference section
to probe each thread more deeply.
Lastly, it is the curricular implementation of writing something everyday that stands out
as the single most important element yielding the greatest gain in writing development among
students (Troia, Shin-ju, Cohen, & Monroe, 2011); consequently, educators who doubt their
writing abilities or their repertoire of instructional strategies can confidently turn to a daily
writing task and expect to see gradual improvement from their students; so, pass out those
pencils and paper, and begin writing!
MULTI-GENRE WRITING PROMPTS
21
Appendix A
Bell-Ringer Writing Prompts
Day 1: Copy the following prompt and continue writing for a few moments. It seems like only
yesterday I was in high school, but now I’m 30 stepping out of my dream car … (If you run out of ideas,
what type of car is it? Color? Top speed? Interesting features? Do you own it or are you borrowing it?
Are you going somewhere or returning from somewhere? How long have you dreamed about it? Who
rides with you? How long will you have it?)
Day 2: Write down a bumper sticker you like (or make one up!). Describe the car it is stuck
on—make, model, year, color, condition. Now, open the door and describe the smells and textures.
Name three objects you find in the car and a fourth object you’re surprised to find there.
Day 3: Do you remember that car and the bumper sticker from yesterday? Quick! Look up!
Here comes the owner! Who is it, walking how, wearing what, carrying what, with what facial
expression? Now, the owner says something. What? How do you reply?
Day 4: Review your writing from the past three days and underline all of the modifying words
(adjectives and adverbs) you have used (colors, sizes, how many, how something sounds, tastes, looks,
behaves, or feels). Now, rewrite one journal entry with the modifying words from another entry. For
example: The wonderful, helpful teacher (from one prompt) becomes The ferocious, red teacher (from
another prompt).
Day 5: Haiku poems have 3 lines and typically describe something about the physical world
(nature). The lines have the following syllable structure, 5 / 7 / 5. Read these examples (from Basho
Matsuo) and then write a haiku about your dream car or the bumper sticker from Wednesday.
An old silent pond
Autumn in moonlight—
A frog jumps into the pond—
A worm digs silently
Grows silent again
Into the chestnut
MULTI-GENRE WRITING PROMPTS
22
Appendix B
Writing Genres (Hundley, 2007)
ABC poems
Abstract
Acrostic
Ads
Advice
columns
Allegories
Anecdotes
Announcement
Anthems
Apologies
Appendices
Applications
Assembly
instructions
Autobiography
Awards
Ballads
Bedtime
stories
Beginnings
Billboards
Biographies
Blog
Bloopers
Blurbs
Book Reviews
Books
Bumper
stickers
Business card
Business letter
Captions
Cartoons
Character
sketches
Charms
Charts
Cinquains
Collages
Comics
Comedy
Code
Computer
games
Concrete
poems
Conversations
Couplets
Crot
Dedications
Definitions
Descriptions
Dialogue
Diamante
Diaries
Directions
Dual thoughts /
Inner
Dialouge
Editorials
Endings
Endnote
Epilogues
Epitaphs
Essays
Eulogy
Explanations
Fables
Fairy tales
Fantasy
Feature article
Flash fiction
Flashback
Folklore
Footnote
Free write
Game
Ghost stories
Gossip
Graphs
Greeting cards
Haibun
Haiku
Headlines
History
Horoscopes
How-To’s
Hypertext
Information
guide
Inquiries
Instant
message
Insults
Interview
Introduction
Invitation
Jingle
Jokes
Journals
Labels
Legends
Letters
Limerick
Liner notes
Lists
Literary
critique
Love notes
Lyrics
Magazine
articles
Mandala
Map
Memoirs
Memories
Memos
Menus
Metaphors
Monologues
Movie reviews
Movie trailers
Mysteries
Myth
News articles
Newscast
Nonfiction
Obituaries
Odes
Opinions
Orders
Outlines
Pamphlets
Pantoum
Parables
Parallel Poetry
Parodies
Photo captions
Photo essay
Picture book
Plays
Podcast
Poems
Postcard
PowerPoint
Prezi
Pro/con list
Prologues
Proverbs
Puns
Questions
Ransom note
Rant
Reactions
Rebuttals
Recipe
Reflection
Reports
Requests
Requiems
Resumes
Reviews
Rhymes
Riddles
Satires
Sentences
Sequels
Serenades
Serials
Sermons
Signs
Similes
Slogans
Soap Operas
Songs
Sonnets
Speeches
Spoofs
Spoonerism
Sports article
Stories
Superstitions
Tall tales
Tanka
Telegrams
Thank-you
note
Theater
playbill
Thumbnail
sketches
Titles
To do list
Top ten list
Transcript
Translation
Travel
brochure
Travel logs
Tributes
Trivia
TV
commercial
Vignettes
Want ads
Warnings
Wedding
invitation
Wiki article
Wills
Wishes
You Tube
smash up
MULTI-GENRE WRITING PROMPTS
23
Appendix C
Rubric for Bell-Ringer Prompts
Score
2
1
0
Text Features
The writing prompt has been tried and an attempt is made to meet the convention of today’s
writing genre.
The student has written something for the day, but has not attempted today’s writing genre.
The student provides no evidence of writing today.
Rubric for a Multi-Genre Writing Project
Score
Text Features
30
This project has a clearly defined topic (or theme) and sticks to this topic throughout. It
may have a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end, or defies these for artistic effect.
Characters, settings, and relevant objects are described in great detail. Dialogue is coherent
and fluid; it enhances the topic or explains it in a different way. Each writing can clearly be
defined as a specific genre and each sample adheres to the conventions of the given genre.
Six or more genres are used independently as well as mashed into each other. Each genre
picked illustrates the topic appropriately and effectively illustrates the topic in different way
than the other genres. Text has minimal spelling and grammatical mistakes or these
mistakes are artistically intentional to illustrate a point.
This project has a clearly defined topic (or theme) but occasionally wanders away from this
topic. Transitions are apparent but occasionally unclear. Characters, settings, and relevant
objects could benefit from greater detail. Dialogue is used but choppy; it detracts from the
topic or struggles to capture it in a different way. Each writing can be defined as a specific
genre but any given writing sample may struggle with the conventions of the given genre.
Five to six genres are used independently but appropriate integration of mixed genres is still
developing. Genres picked illustrate the topic inappropriately at times or struggle to
illustrate the topic in a different way than the other genres. Text has several spelling and
grammatical mistakes; these mistakes are not artistically intentional for illustrating a point.
This project does not have a clear topic (or theme) or does not stick to a given topic at all.
There are no transitions. Characters, settings, and relevant objects are provided without
detail or not provided at all. Dialogue is not used or is unclear. Text cannot be defined as a
specific genre nor does it adhere to the conventions of a given genre. Less than five genres
are tried and none are integrated amongst the others. The genres chosen do not illustrate the
topic appropriately or in a different way than the other genres in the project. Text has
several unnecessary spelling and grammatical mistakes.
21
20
11
10
0
MULTI-GENRE WRITING PROMPTS
24
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