Part 1: Determining Your Goals

Writing prompts can ask learners to do all kinds of different things. Often, as the person writing the prompt, you will have a goal in mind. 

Maybe you want to see if your student is retaining information from a nonfiction text you read. Maybe you are trying to find out if the student can make connections between characters in two different novels. Maybe you want to see how well the student can apply a theory to a particular example. 

All of these goals could be met through a writing assignment, but if you haven’t stopped to think about that goal, you’re likely going to be disappointed with the results.

If the person writing the prompt doesn’t know what they’re trying to achieve, they’re unlikely to communicate in a way that lets the writer know what to do. Writing prompts without careful consideration become “guess what I’m thinking” questions, and they usually end up in writing that is frustrating for both teacher and student. 

As you determine your writing goals, it’s worth taking some time to think about what goals are appropriate for the student’s particular age, abilities, and level of engagement with the material. 

How Deep Should You Go? 

There are two popular tools educators use to determine the levels of learning. These are Bloom’s Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge. There’s a good post going over the differences between the two here, but for the sake of simplicity, I’m going to be pulling mostly from Bloom’s Taxonomy to help illustrate some possible goals for writing assignments. 

Bloom’s Taxonomy operates as a pyramid with the each level getting more cognitively demanding. 

In order from least cognitively demanding to most, Bloom’s Taxonomy focuses on the following: 

• Knowledge/Remember- student’s ability to recall, list, or name information
• Comprehension/Understand- student’s ability to restate, explain, or describe information
• Application/Apply- student’s ability to apply, relate, or demonstrate information in use
• Analysis/Analyze- student’s ability to classify, experiment with, or examine information
• Evaluation/Evaluate- student’s ability to judge, validate, or criticize information 
• Synthesis/Create- student’s ability to design, construct, or invent using information

Good assignments (especially project-based learning activities) will ask learners to do more than one of these tasks at a time, and teachers can use tasks from lower levels of the pyramid to help prepare or guide students into higher levels (this is called scaffolding). 

When you’re deciding how deep you want your writing prompts to go, you should take into consideration your learner’s age and development, personal interest in and familiarity with the subject, and past experiences. 

Generally speaking, the further up on the pyramid you go when creating a writing prompt, the more difficult the writing task will be. 

Examples 

There’s a really great collection of verbs for each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy available here. These can be incredibly useful for creating writing prompts that ask writers to do what you want them to do. 

Knowledge

If you would like learners to simply show that they can recall information from a reading or video, you might create prompts from the knowledge level. 

• Define nocturnal as a term referring to animal behavior. 
• What does it mean when we say a country has a democratic government? 
• Why did the owl have trouble delivering Harry Potter’s letter from Hogwarts?

These writing prompts usually focus on specific terms or concepts from a reading. The types of writing they produce will generally be short and straightforward. Often, writers will reproduce definitions from their readings using language that’s as close to the original as they can recall. 

These are good for checking to make that learners were paying attention or actually did the reading. They are usually not so good at getting learners to make deeper connections or really understanding concepts. 

Comprehension

When you want a reader to show that they understand what they learned, you’re going to ask them to put ideas in their own words or somehow interpret it. 

• Identify three characteristics of a nocturnal animal. 
• Describe what a country with a democratic government looks like.
• Why did Harry’s aunt and uncle try to keep the owl from delivering Harry’s letter?

Comprehension questions and knowledge questions often look similar, but notice that a comprehension question is asking a reader to paraphrase information in their own words. They have to do the work of a knowledge question (remembering key details and definitions), but then they also have to translate that information to show they truly understand it. 

Application

Tasks that ask writers to take information and transfer it into a different context or apply it to a particular problem fall into the realm of application. 

• Using what you know about the habits of nocturnal animals, predict which living environment would be best for a pet hamster. 
• How could the concept of democratic government be used in your homeschool co-op/sports team/etc.? 
• Rewrite the scene from Harry Potter where Harry gets his letter, but imagine that his aunt and uncle are supportive of his going to Hogwarts. 

These tasks go beyond simply checking comprehension and into stretching writer’s creativity and critical thinking skills. They are no longer repeating existing information; they have to create some ideas of their own. 

Analysis 

When writers are asked to come up with classifications for information and compare pieces of information across texts or disciplines, they are being asked to do analysis. 

• Compare the habits of a hamster and a gerbil.
• Compare and contrast the practices of a democracy, a monarchy, and a republic. 
• In both Harry Potter and Children of Blood and Bone, the main characters find out that they are destined to fulfill an important role. Compare and contrast how each of these characters reacts to that discovery. 

These tasks often require sophisticated memory recall, the ability to locate key details and quotes from different sources, and mature writing techniques to draw meaningful and organized connections between concepts. 

Evaluation

A task that asks writers to make a judgment or assessment of the information they are taking in is one of evaluation. 

• Compare the habits of a hamster and a gerbil and then make an argument for which one makes a better pet. 
• Compare and contrast the practices of a democracy, a monarchy, and a republic and then make an argument for which one is the most effective form of government. 
• Explain how the main characters in Harry Potter and Children of Blood and Bone collaborate with others to reach their destinies. Who does a better job of building meaningful friendships?

These tasks often ask writers to break information down into pieces and to compare them (tasks required in analysis). In addition, evaluation asks writers to come to conclusions about that information and often takes the form of argumentative or persuasive pieces of writing. 

Synthesis 

Writers who are tasked with combining ideas from different sources into a new concept are synthesizing. 

• Create a complete care plan for a pet hamster including habitat, feeding plan, play, and socialization. 
• You and 200 other people have been shipwrecked on an island for months. You have worked together to take care of your basic needs, but the people have turned to you to come up with a plan for governance going forward as you all build a new society. Formulate a plan for your new government. 
• If the characters from Children of Blood and Bone were suddenly transported into the world of Harry Potter, in which house would each of them be placed. Explain your answer by creating the text of their sorting ceremony. 

As you can tell, questions that ask writers to synthesize are usually much more complex. They are going to produce longer, more involved writing assignments that will need to be completed over multiple sessions—or even as part of a large, semester- or year-long project. Successful completion of them will often require several smaller writing assignments from the lower cognitive levels in preparation. 

Part 2: What NOT To Do 

A large part of figuring out whether you have a good writing prompt is knowing what to avoid.  This part will explore some types of writing prompts that are unlikely to get you the level of depth or the interaction you’re hoping to get. 

Do not use yes or no questions. 

This can be especially hard when you’re using writing prompts as a way to merely check for reading comprehension. It can also be difficult when you ask a question hoping for explanation but leave it open for a simple one-word answer. 

Consider these examples: 

• Do you think hamsters make good pets?
• Is America a true democracy? 
• Should Harry Potter be considered a role model?

All of these questions have the potential to be great writing prompts. However, as written, they can all be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” Some writers are very literal in their interpretation of writing prompts, and others just need a little more guidance on how they are supposed to approach the question. A simple addition can prompt deeper reflection: 

• Do you think hamsters make good pets? Explain why or why not. 
• Is America a true democracy? Explain your answer. 
• Should Harry Potter be considered a role model? Why or why not? 

Do not add too many parts to the question. 

I’m guilty of this one myself. I like to layer on complexity and start with leading questions to build up to the more involved prompt at the end. Consider a question like this: 

• What are some of the main habits of a hamster? How would these habits fit into a typical family home? Do hamsters make good pets or not? Are they better or worse pets than gerbils? 

This prompt is trying to give the writer some guidance on how to prepare for the most complex part of the question, but it will likely just be confusing. A better attempt would ask the main question and then give some points to consider as tips. 

• Compare hamsters and gerbils and make an argument over which is the best pet. 
  • Tips: Here are some things you may want to consider as you write: 
    • What are the typical habits of both gerbils and hamsters? 
    • How would these habits fit into a typical family home?
    • What qualities make each animal a good pet?
    • What qualities make each animal a bad pet? 

Part 3: Anatomy of a Great Writing Assignment

Now that you know how to write a strong writing prompt that makes your goals clear, it’s time to figure out how to embed that prompt into a complete writing assignment. 

You may be tempted to simply give the writer the prompt and call it a day, and that may work for some students and some assignments, but if you really want to get a solid, nuanced piece of writing (especially out of a reluctant writer or someone who finds writing challenging), you’ll have better luck if you combine that writing prompt with a few other elements. 

Here are the components I like to include in a writing prompt: 

• Suggested length requirement– I personally don’t care if writers are a little over or under (or sometimes even a lot over or under) when they turn in an assignment. Some people are verbose (ahem, don’t look at me like that), and some people are more succinct. I care that they get their ideas across. However, some writers really have an easier time writing when they have a general length goal in mind. I typically give it as a range of words (300-500 words or 1200-1500 words, for example). 
• Tips that scaffold– If you are giving a complex writing prompt (from the Analysis, Evaluation, or Synthesis categories), you’ll likely want to add some tips into the assignment that help writers get started. These can be guiding questions that help writers recall what they’ve learned about these topics or even mini brainstorming prompts that do Knowledge and Comprehension work. 
• Tone and style expectations– Is it important to you that this writing be formal and polished with clear sentences and standard grammar conventions? If so, you should let your writer know that in the prompt. Are you okay with an informal reflection that may have some typos? If so, let the writer know that. It’s fine to have lots of style and tone expectations or very few, but the writer should know what you are looking for if they are going to meet the goals. 
• Source requirements– Are you expecting the writer to cite a source with direct quotes? Are you expecting additional research using new sources? If you are expecting outside information to be brought into the paper, make that clear. 

Part 4: Expanding Beyond the Essay

Often, we think of “writing” assignments as those that produce an essay. We may have very narrow conventions about what that should look like, and that can lead to some pretty boring assignments—for everyone. 

Writing is a versatile skill that includes lots of different kinds of final products.

These writing prompts could be used to produce essays, but they could also be used to produce lots of different kinds of texts requiring different kinds of literacy skills. 

If you want to expand beyond the essay and let writers flex their creativity and other skills, consider using your writing assignment to encourage writers to produce some of the following: 

• Videos
• Podcasts
• Infographics
• Brochures
• Poster presentations
• Magazines
• Letters

Finally, the best writing happens when writers have a real audience in mind. The more authentic the audience is, the easier it is to write with them in mind. If you have opportunities to share writing (no matter what form it takes) with a real audience, you should take it! Here are some ways to build authentic audiences: 

• Write letters to public officials
• Publish work on a blog/video channel 
• Create presentations or lesson plans for younger students and teach them
• Set up a work exchange with another student or class

If you’re interested in letting someone else take care of creating the writing prompts or in giving your writer a boost in their composition skills, check out the Dayla Learning classes and materials.