Tools for a Writing Classroom: The Daily Prompt Generator
Welcome to WritingFix's very FIRST interactive tool for writers, originally posted on April 14, 2001
This is the page that actually started the WritingFix website. In 2001, we posted the first fifty prompts with a button that allowed you to randomly receive one. Seven years later, we feature over 500 prompts.
During our Northern Nevada Writing Project's Invitational Summer Institute, we encourage our participating teachers to use Sacred Writing Time in their classrooms. SWT is time set aside each day for students to respond to a prompt, or for students to freely write about a topic that is currently on their minds. The prompts on this page are excellent ones to offer your students during your own version of SWT. They are also excellent prompts to offer yourself, if you're trying to write daily.
Why do they all begin with a question? Each prompt purposely begins with a question. If students have trouble starting a piece of writing based on the prompt, encourage them to pretend they have been asked the question, and to let their first sentence be their answer to the question that's been posed.
Want a printable version of these prompts? Visit Corbett Harrison's Always Write Website to see how you can have a printable version of the prompts found on this page e-mailed to you.
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If you like this page at WritingFix, here's more you might enjoy:
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The Daily Topic: A Yahoo Group
Did you know you could have six random prompts e-mailed to you weekly from this prompt generator? All you have to do is join the Yahoo Group called "The Daily Topic." Click here to sign up for this free service. |
A printable version of this page's prompts:
Would you like a printable version of these 500+ prompts? Corbett Harrison, who created this prompt generator for WritingFix, is offering a 30-page document which features 504 of the best writing prompts from this page on a single document. Click here to visit Corbett's website for details. |
NEW! Join the WritingFix Community by Sharing a Favorite Prompt:
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| Got a prompt that you believe will inspire student writers? Send it to us at prompts@writingfix.com, and we'll consider posting it on our chalkboard below. Please write "Topic Idea" as your e-mail's subject line, and be sure to let us know where you are from when you send the prompt! |
Our Writing Prompt Chalkboard:
I have a couple good writing prompts to add:
1. Write about someone who had an embarrassing moment. (Fiction or Nonfiction)
2. Think about your favorite TV show or movie. Become one of the main characters and write a diary entry based on the last episode or, if a movie, based on a specific scene. Start with "Dear Diary,"
--Heidi Grassi, Nevada
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If you are an only child, what would your life be like (hypothetically) if you had siblings?
If you are a sibling, what would your life be like (hypothetically) if you were an only child?
--Trina Grant, Alabama
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1. Ever notice how two people can hear the same statement, and react two completely different ways? Think about running into an old friend, and how they might react to two versions of your greeting. They might remember you as a nice, interesting person if you say something one way, or they might remember how annoying you were one time if you say it differently.
2. Once in a while you come across a special one, and you think, "There is an old soul." Write about your pet or make up an animal friend that has more than just affection behind their eyes.
3. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What kind of person can catch your gaze for reasons other than their looks? Are they more beautiful in their personality and presentation, or are they simple, fearful, and only pleasing to the eyes on the outside?
What's the difference?
--Hannah Jacobson, North Carolina
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Suppose pencils were never invented...
--Carla Annese, New Jersey
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1. Write a funny** story involving socks.
**You can change 'funny' to any emotion--sad or angry or mushy, etc, and 'socks' to any normally boring overlooked topic, but for some reason, socks seem to work best as a prompt.
2. You wake up tomorrow morning and you're in your favorite book (or cartoon or movie or tv show). What happens?
3. Create a new character for your favorite tv show or book. Convince the creators that your character should be included in the next edition or episode. How? Why? What does this character offer that isn't already there? Why should it be there?
--Audrey deLong, North Carolina
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Send us your favorite classroom writing prompt to us at prompts@writingfix.com, and we'll consider posting it on this chalkboard. Please write "Topic Idea" as your e-mail's subject line, and be sure to let us know where you are from when you send the prompt!
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