A writing prompt must be real
Authentic tasks encourage learning

An authentic expository writing prompt provides the only way you can legitimately tell students to "write what you know." That's because an authentic prompt requires students to write about your course content.

No matter how little Joey may appear to be taking in of your English class, he probably knows—or can quickly find out—more about what you are discussing in class than about any other topic you think will interest him.

Educational researchers have found that having students write on topics directly related to the subjects they are studying in class is a far superior way of teaching writing than having students write on subjects unrelated to their academic work.

What's authentic in English class?

I don't know exactly what your curriculum covers, but I am sure they will include some topics related to each of these categories:

• Grammar and usage.

• The writing process.

• Oral communication.

• Literature.

You may also have to teach other topics, such as media literacy or research skills.

These are all authentic writing topics for your students because they are part of your actual curriculum. Prompts that you develop on one of these topics from your curriculum will be authentic.

By contrast, writing assignments you develop on subjects outside the English language arts framework are inauthentic, or, as the kids say, bogus.

Authenticity is wise use of your time

Forget the students for a minute. Think about yourself. Having students write on topics that are outside your course curriculum is a poor use of your time.

Does the football coach have the team scrimmage so they'll learn teamwork? Of course not. His goal is winning football games. His players may learn teamwork while they practice football, but he doesn't devote a unit to developing teamwork. He keeps his mind on his goal.

The same principle should apply to teaching writing. All the "practice" you have students do, every writing prompt you give, should move them toward accomplishing your major objectives for the year.

Authentic essay topics are a better use of your time than having students write about "the best thing in the ditch." (An English teacher I once met considered that her top-of-the-line prompt.)

Authenticity is good for students

In addition, authentic prompts are a better use of students' time. When students write on authentic subjects, they find out how much they actually understood — or failed to understand — about what you attempted to teach them.

If you give students formal assignments dealing with class topics, they will be required to plug the gaps in their information by doing some study and research.

A side benefit to this is that students won't be able to get by with the pseudo research that pastes material copied from the Internet into a paper. They'll have to learn to use sources correctly. That will make their college instructors very happy—and keep students out of plagiarism difficulties.

Unless you are a lame-brained masochist, there's no earthly reason to use anything other than an authentic prompt.