Prompts: A Guide to Creation

Dear Dr. Louis,

The next project for my class would be going through The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. Since I teach high school sophomores and freshmen for 45 minutes twice a week, should I make one prompt for the whole book, or break it up into a few prompts for 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,

S.

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Hi, S.,

Before they begin to read, present to them 3-4 prompts for the novel and set a date (by p. 40, for example) for each student to select with which prompt they most resonate: 1) you don’t want to read 100 essays on the same topic; 2) Different prompts resonate with different students; and 3) giving students choices helps them to work that cognitive skill. Make sure that you set a cap. 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, 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 not haphazardly.

With regard to 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, 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.

Hopethis helps.

Dr.Louis