Two free writing prompts
For high school English classes

Typically English teachers assign students to write about literature. Savvy English teachers give writing prompts drawn from across their curriculum. They know such authentic prompts

• Promote learning of content.

• Emphasize the importance of topics other than literature.

• Appeal to less artsy students.

• Connect English to other classes.

• Tie English to contemporary events.

On this page are two free writing prompts that writing teachers (including homeschool teachers) may use or adapt in their high school classes.

A link to the free writing prompts downloadable pdf file you can photocopy for students to use is at the bottom of the page. This page includes information for you that is not in the pdf.

Please remember that copying other material on this website for any purpose is not legal even if you include my copyright information and a link to this site.

Free writing prompt #1

The first writing prompt deals with the use of language. It takes a rule from grammar texts and attempts to get students to think about how it applies in real life.

You would use this prompt when you were teaching the concepts of active and and passive voice in your class grammar study.

This is a prompt designed for writers who are either

• Working to become competent, or

• Have reached competence but not fluency.

There is adequate structure so beginners can handle the writing aspects of the assignment even if they struggle with the topic concept.

The prompt begins with a statement of the context for the assignment. Students can easily turn this material into introductory paragraphs for their essays.

Next, the assignment is described in broad terms. Note the orange underlining indicates the prompt topic, the teal indicates the assertion about the topic that the writer must have in his or her thesis statement. As you keep reading, you'll notice that the topic is mentioned several times.

Next comes details to help writers develop their essays appropriately. For beginning writers, essay development is one of the more difficult aspects of the writing process.

The lightbulb below indicate options students may use in developing responses to this particular prompt.

The students' three choices include

• One that students can develop by logical inferences from the definition of passive voice.

• One that students can develop by doing research.

• One that students can develop by creative fiction writing.

Providing outlets for imagination within the context of expository writing encourages students who dislike literature to see value in fiction. At the same time it gives creative students a chance to do some writing they enjoy.

The directions in each writing prompt should tell students what you expect in terms of format. The directions below are only those that pertain to this specific essay. You would want to add information about your standards for all writing in your class.

I find it is better to specify a maximum word count than a minimum count, even better to specify a range.

Click to see the thesis statement that responds to this first of the free writing prompts.

Free writing prompt #2

The second prompt topic is a vital but often overlooked skill: asking questions. Students have to

• Distinguish between good questions and poor ones.

• Create imaginary but representative sample questions.

This second prompt is designed for students who are competent writers, not beginners. You can tell that because

• Students have wide latitude to frame their thesis as they wish

• The prompt does not restrict the number or types of points students must make.

All that freedom makes this a difficult prompt for the inexperienced essayist.

For an instructor, however, this prompt is useful because it requires students to use several different kinds of skills that are part of both the ELA curriculum and normal life outside those classes.

Instead of giving students context, the prompt lets students observe the context for themselves through an inductive process.

The writing prompt requires students to write a how-to article for online reading. Part of their preparation is to think about the features that promote easy online reading. Students may do research if they need or choose to.

You could have students pair off and work in two-person teams for the prep work. Students may get more value out of discussing the good and bad questions in teams than by working solo. Also teamwork may help students whose grammatical sense is weak.

The writing prompt tells students that they must use their prep work from part 1 in their answers.

Students are responsible for determining what the online article format entails before they start their writing.

The length and title requirement set out in the prompt are typical of online articles. That gives any would-be writers an opportunity to do an authentic (and potentially publishable) piece of writing.

Click to see the thesis statement that responds to this writing prompt.

A final observation

If you read this page and the one on middle school writing prompts, you may have have realized that you can raise or lower the grade level of a prompt by changing the assignment details.

For example, to make a writing assignment more challenging, you could require students to

• Use more types of sources.

• Develop their thesis by inductive analysis of specific information.

• Use skill or knowledge from more than one course component, such as literature and grammar.

Naturally, you can make an assignment easier by a narrower range of requirements.