Writing Effective Prompts: A Guide to Creation

Dear Dr. Louis,

Should I make one prompt for the whole book or break up the novel into a few prompts, covering only the major sections of the book, or could I have the students read it first and decide for themselves what they would like to write about?

Thank you,
Sean M.
High School Teacher
Monticello, Minnesota

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Hi, Sean,

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Thank you for your question.

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Before students begin to read, present them with 2-4 prompts for the novel and set a date for students to "sign-up" for their prompt (by p. 40, for example).

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Why? For several reasons: 1) certain students resonate with certain prompts; 2) you don't want to read 100 essays on the same topic; and 3) giving students choices helps them to work that cognitive skill and empowers them. Here are some other guidelines:

• Make sure that you set a cap. For example, if you have four prompts and sixty students, after fifteen students sign up for Prompt #1, it's gone.
• The prompts should be broad enough that the students can find evidence and provide analysis from the beginning to the end. Some ideas are prompts with elements, such as characterization, literary devices, conflict, setting, or symbolism. Remember, in literary analysis, these elements, also known as methods, lead to meaning; so, somewhere in the task, I suggest that the student must demonstrate how characterization, for example, creates tone and contributes to a theme in the piece. Or how setting derives tone and contributes to the overall meaning of the text. Or how the symbols they choose contribute to theme -- like that.
• Give the students our "Dialectical Journal" and require 3-5 entries per chapter, so they can record their concrete details and commentary as they read and make good decisions at the end. Check these journals once a week (quick check) to make sure they are doing them correctly and hot haphazardly.

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Regarding breaking up prompts for major sections, I love to find and focus on pertinent passages and have the students write a body paragraph in a timed setting. Doing so makes them "think on their feet." So, if you teach the novel over six weeks, for example,

• each week, I would have them write one body paragraph on a particular passage.
• Make sure the prompt is narrow enough to answer it in one body paragraph.
• It's a quick grade for you, and
• it assesses their comprehension of the novel along the way as well as keeps their writing skills fresh.

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Keep reading and writing.

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Warm regards,
Dr. Louis