first day of school writing assignment high school

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29 Back-to-School Writing Prompts for Middle and High School

The first day of school is approaching, and as a teacher, your schedule is likely already filling up with organizational and instructional prep work. However, despite all of your efforts, you may find that some students may emerge slowly from their summer hazes.

Before your middle school or high school students start their assigned reading, get them engaged with these back-to-school writing prompts. Fill up some class time with a few warm-up writing prompts below, or send students home with a larger assignment to get them back into the swing of things!

First Day of School Writing Prompts: Middle School Students

Classroom Prompt Assignments

• Stream of consciousness is when a character lets their thoughts continuously flow. Write a stream of consciousness story of your own and see where your thoughts take you.
• For the new school year, what new skill would you choose to learn if you had the time, money, and ability? Why?
• Write a critique of a book, movie, or show you recently read or watched. What were its strong points? What were its weak ones?
• Describe the reigning emotions you felt this summer. Why did you feel that way, and how do you think these emotions might change as the school year progresses?
• Choose a place you traveled to this summer, either locally or far away, and write a blog post about that location. Should other people visit as well? It could be a restaurant, a town, a shop, or a favorite spot to hang out.
• If there is a club, sport, class, or event you are excited about this year, write what you already know about it. Follow up with some expectations that you have for the experience and yourself.
• A flashbulb memory is a very detailed memory that you have from when you were young. Do you have any memories like that, and if so, what are they about? Are there any events that have happened recently that you think you will remember for a long time?
• Do you have any traditions? If not, which one would you want to start this year?
• Describe the most memorable school project that you’ve ever done. Would you like to do a similar project this year, and if so, how can it be adapted to what you’re learning now?
• If you could create a themed book display for your school library, what would it be? Which titles would it include, and why?

Take-Home Writing Assignments

• Write a letter to your younger self, and then another to your older self.
• One important rule of creative writing is to “Show Don’t Tell.” Write a 1,500-word short story in your favorite genre, following this rule.
• Write a local wildlife guide to your backyard, neighborhood, local park, or even the school itself. What flora and fauna exist there?
• Write a 1,000-word essay about an aspect of your summer that focuses on the five basic senses—Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste, and Touch.

First Day of School Writing Prompts: High School Students

• Set three resolutions for yourself to accomplish this year and describe why those are the ones you chose.
• Write a list of How-To instructions for something that you know how to do. It could be making a meal, cleaning something, playing a game, babysitting, drawing a picture, etc.
• Create a dream college for you to attend once you graduate. Which academic programs does it offer? What sports, art classes, and clubs are offered? Where is it located?
• Write a short story using only dialogue. Work on creating different voices for each character. If it helps, take notes on each character before the dialogue starts. Does one character use slang? Is the other excitable? Is one character older than the other?
• Write a song on a subject that isn’t usually heard in other songs.
• Create a new class for your school to offer. Why do you think that class is necessary? What are the learning goals for that class, and what are the assignments?
• Which app do you spend the most time on? What are the positive aspects of using the app? What are the negatives?
• Is there a cause that you want to be a part of? What is it, and why is it important to you?
• Create a new club for your community or school. What is the club about? What are your goals, and who do you hope will join?
• Describe three things that you are looking forward to this year.
• What is your ultimate dream job? Research the industry, company, or role you’re interested in and report on what it is and how to get there. Conclude with your expectations before and after your research. Is the job what you thought it was?
• Choose a position with the local government to run for and outline a platform to run on. Then, write a speech to voters about your platform. Make sure to research your current representatives to learn what their platforms are.
• What is going on in the town or city that you live in? Research local events, places, volunteer opportunities, parks, clubs, etc. Visit a new place or attend a new event, then write a review of your experiences using descriptive language. Would you go back again? Why or why not?
• An executive summary is an intro to a business plan that is designed to grab the reader’s attention by summarizing what the new business will accomplish. Write an executive summary between 500 and 1,000 words for a product, venture, or business that you wish existed.
• Research a historical figure that looks a little like you do (bonus points if you’ve never heard of them before now). What did they accomplish?

No matter how much or how little your students read this summer, get their creativity flowing with these thought-provoking journal prompts to kick off the year. By focusing on descriptive language, persuasive arguments, and ideas for the future, your middle school or high school class will find their writer's stride in no time.

Try Writable to support your ELA curriculum, district benchmarks, and state standards with more than 600 fully customizable writing assignments and rubrics for students in Grades 3–12 .

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17 Fun First Day Of School Writing Activities

The smell of freshly painted halls, the excited chatter of returning students bursting with two months’ worth of gossip to share—it must be the first day at school again.

Rusty pens and dusty pencils are hastily pulled from the bottom of school bags where, for many, they’ve lain all summer, ready for back to school.

You’ll need engaging writing activities to get those atrophied writing muscles back in shape. The standard ‘What I Did This Summer’ essay won’t cut it.

Luckily, we have 17 Great Back-to-School Writing Activities for you to help shake off the cobwebs and get your students’ writing skills back on par. Let’s get started.

Ice Breaker

Writing activities.

At the start of each school year, there’s likely to be a new face or two in the class, and while two months isn’t a long time in the grand scheme of things, our students can do a lot of growing and changing in that time.

Ice-breaker writing activities allow students to connect with others in the class. They give students some insight into the lives of their classmates.

Here are some fun ice-breaker writing activities to get the new school year off to a strong start writing-wise.

The A to Z of Me! Poem

Students write an acrostic poem about themselves in the A to Z of Me. The poem’s first line starts with the letter A, and each new line begins with the following letter of the alphabet, which should reveal something about the poet.

This may be too long for younger students – it’d be a 26-line poem after all. In this case, you can quickly adapt the activity to employ the letters of the student’s first name.

This activity aims for students to capture the essence of who they are in their poems. They can write a phrase or line based on their interests, appearance, things they have done, hobbies, desires, ideas, where they’re from, etc.

You can make this more challenging for older and stronger students by insisting they employ a rhyme scheme throughout their poems.

For example, they could write their poem in couplets (AA, BB, CC, etc.) or with an alternate line rhyming scheme (AB, AB, AB, etc).

When students have finished writing their acrostic poems about themselves, they can perform it to the whole class as a class poetry slam.

Guess Who? Writing Task

This fun activity challenges students to recall what they know about their classmates or, in the case of a newly formed group of students, to explore their initial impressions of each other.

In Guess Who?, the teacher divides the students into two groups. Each group writes down a unique fact about themselves on a piece of paper, folds it , and gives it to the teacher.

If everyone already knows each other very well, you might want to limit the facts to something they did over the summer that the others in the class are unaware of.

Students could write about a hobby or talent, a language they speak, a place they visited, or anything that makes them unique or special.

Students then take turns reading a fact written by someone from the other group, and they then guess who wrote it.

A point is awarded for each correct guess, the winning team being the team with the most points.

Interview A Classmate Writing Activity :

This activity allows students to get to know each other better while developing their interviewing, note-taking, and writing skills.

 Begin this activity by asking the students to compile a list of questions that they would use to get to know someone they’d met for the first time.

 The first questions the students generally tend to be surface-level small-talk-type questions such as:

•  Where are you from?
• How many brothers and sisters do you have?
• What’s your favourite subject at school?
• What are your hobbies?
• What do you want to be when you grow up?
• What’s the best thing about you?

Write these on the whiteboard, of course. They’ll be helpful to as warm-up openers at the beginning of the interviews, but we want to encourage a deeper dive.

For the interviewer to better understand the interviewee, they’ll need to probe further.

Encourage students to come up with more challenging questions to ask in the interview and write these on the board. These questions should be geared toward gaining insight beyond the superficial.

Explain to the students that when they are the interviewee, if they’d prefer not to answer a specific question, they can just say “next” and the interviewer will move immediately onto the next question.

Some examples of deeper, more probing-type questions might include questions like:

•  Can you tell me about an event or a story that significantly impacted your life?
• Who has had the most significant influence on who you are?
• What is the most challenging thing you’ve ever had to do?
• What is your best memory? Worst?

At the end of this brainstorming session, a considerable list of questions should be on the whiteboard.

Students are then partnered up. They will then take turns interviewing each other, with each interviewer taking comprehensive notes as they interview.

Students should not use voice recording equipment during this activity. This activity aims to improve note-taking abilities.

When the interviews are over, students write them up as best they can, using their notes and memories to recreate them.

For the more advanced students, this will involve recreating the interview’s dialogue and weaving a narrative around it to convey the interviewee’s character, expressions, and mannerisms.

First Day of School Persuasive Wish List Task

The start of a new school year is a time of hope and possibility captured in the form of a wish list.

But this isn’t an old wish list but a persuasive one.

The students will write a wish list of things they hope for from the new school year.

The twist is that they must make their case for why they should receive the concessions they seek.

Some items that might make the wish list could be the desire to see more time for their favourite activities, less homework, or creating a class council. It doesn’t matter what is on the list but that the student makes as strong a case as possible for them.

Students should be encouraged to use the full range of persuasive writing techniques  available, from emotional language to social proof, from repetition to evidence and statistics.

Collaborative Writing Activities

Collaborative writing activities offer students opportunities to work with a partner, a small group, or the whole class to produce a shared piece of writing.

As with the previous activities, these activities can break the ice. More than that, they help students establish a level of comfort working together to achieve a shared goal – a key dynamic to encourage at the start of any school year.

Snowball Story-Writing

In this simple but fun activity, each student starts by writing the beginning of a story. There should be an allotted amount of time to complete this, the length of which will depend on the age and abilities of the students.

When the allotted time is up, students should stop writing, roll their paper into a ball, and throw it towards the top of the classroom!

Students should then each retrieve one of the ‘snowballs’ from the front of the classroom and, when the timer is started, read the beginning of the story and then write the story middle until the time is up.

Again, the students throw their snowballs to the front of the classroom, before selecting a new snowball to write the ending.

When the stories are completed, they should be returned to the students who wrote the story beginning. This student should write a final draft of the story to ensure it reads well 

Students can then share their stories by reading them out to the class.

Sometimes, students struggle to start their writing. To help them get going, it can be helpful to provide them with a sheet of paper with a writing prompt. This prompt can be a sentence or even a picture.

These prompts can be easily differentiated to suit the age and abilities of your students. For example, more prescriptive prompts are helpful for younger students, while more open-ended prompts will suit older and/or stronger students.

Tapestry Poems

Tapestry poems are a collaboration between two students. So, as a first step, you need to assign each student a partner to work with.

The next step requires you to assign a topic for each pair of students in the class. Each partner then independently writes a 9-line poem on the assigned topic.

When each student has finished their 9-line poem, they share them with their partner.

The task is for the students to work together now to produce an 18-line poem from the two 9-line poems they have created.

To do this, the students must collaborate to make the composite poem work. The idea here is to weave the different threads of the two topic interpretations into a single ‘tapestry’.

Students must include the nine lines of both poems, but they have room to edit for verb tense and make minor grammatical changes to make things work.

The partners must also compromise to agree on a single title for their shared piece.

The Peer Editing Exercise

This is a great way to introduce peer assessment into your classroom, especially with a group of students who are not familiar with the concept.

You will need to explain the editing and proofreading process to the students at the start. The specific criteria will, of course, depend on the age and abilities of your students.

To begin, organize the class into pairs of editing partners. Students should then swap their written work to be edited by their partners.

Any of the previous  writing activities  in this article would serve this purpose well.

Students can edit their partner’s work by annotating with a different colour pen, or, for more detailed commentary, they could use a separate sheet of paper.

Students then share their feedback.

This is an opportunity for students to see each other as resources to help them on their learning journey throughout the year.

It also helps students to develop resilience and an ability to absorb constructive criticism.

Students then rewrite their text in light of the feedback given.

Time for a plenary session should be made at the end to discuss their experiences of the process as a class.

The Summer Yearbook Writing Task

This writing project is based on the idea of school yearbooks.

School yearbooks are compilations of memories, photographs, and quotes. In this version, students compile a compendium based on their collective experiences during the school break.

The format can inspire many writing activities.

Students can gather quotes on the various events of vacation time together. These can be sourced from family, friends, classmates, etc.

They can also collect photographs and write suitable captions for inclusion in the yearbook. The book could include a page for the students’ autographs and a page for summer memories and hopes for the coming year.

Technology can be easily incorporated into this lesson by producing a digital version. Collaborative applications such as Google Drive are perfect for this type of work.

Year Long Inference Based Writing Activities

Tap into the power of imagery in your classroom to master INFERENCE as AUTHORS and CRITICAL THINKERS .

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This YEAR-LONG 500+ PAGE unit is packed with robust opportunities for your students to develop the critical skill of inference through fun imagery, powerful thinking tools, and graphic organizers.

Memory Writing Activities

While we want to avoid the cliched ‘ What I Did This Summer ’ essay, it doesn’t mean that memories of the long holidays can’t serve as an ‘ in’ to some worthwhile writing activities.

In the following writing activities, students will be asked to access their memories of summer to serve as a jumping-off point. Let’s get started!

Paint a Picture With Words

Essentially, this writing activity challenges students to write by employing their senses to evoke a memory.

First, ask the students to choose from a memory of a place they visited during the summer vacation. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a beach trip or a visit to a shopping mall; they’ll both serve equally well for this activity.

Students must then endeavour to recreate the scene as they recall it through careful selection of vocabulary and description.

The main focus of this type of writing will be the use of sensory language. Students should meditate on what they saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt while in their chosen place.

Students should work to paint a vivid, multi-dimensional picture in the reader’s minds-eye. For this reason, they should choose a static memory, such as a scene they recall. This activity has more in common with landscape painting than with film-making. A plot is not required.

This activity allows students to hone their descriptive writing skills, which will help them improve their writing in many genres.

Haiku Writing Activity

As with the last activity, this type of poetry is typically focused on evoking a scene. In the case of the haiku, this is usually a natural scene.

Before putting pen to paper, be sure students are suitably familiar with the features of the haiku:

• It consists of 3 lines
• It contains 17 syllables
• The 1st and 3rd lines have 5 syllables and the 2nd line has 7 syllables
• It does not need to rhyme
• It’s usually about nature or a natural phenomenon
• Often has two contrasting or juxtaposed subjects woven into it.

This activity is best introduced by reading and examining a couple of well-written haikus, such as those by Basho in translation, to ensure student familiarity with the form.

This is a very meditative writing form. It is essential to set a suitable mood and atmosphere in the classroom to encourage the necessary concentration and reflection the writing process will require. Playing gentle instrumental music is one way to help achieve this ambience.

Fun Back To School Writing Activities

While the first of our Back to School Writing Activities focuses clearly on breaking the ice and drawing on memories, the primary focus of the following writing activities is on having fun.

These activities will also offer students opportunities to develop some technical aspects of their writing skills; the main emphasis here is on students seeing writing as a fun, creative activity where they have the space and time for self-expression.

Don’t forget to read our complete guide to Fun Writing activities here.

Creative Excuses Writing Task

To start this activity, students must devise a list of 10 chores or tasks they absolutely hate doing.

Next, students should choose four from this list of their most detested tasks and write a letter explaining why they cannot complete them.

Encourage students to get creative with their excuses. The crazier and more imaginative the excuses are, the better. This activity is an opportunity for students to let their imaginations loose.

‘What If?’ Writing Prompts

Writing prompts are an excellent way for students to break through writer’s block. In this activity, students generate their own writing prompts by creating ‘ what if? ’ scenarios for other students in the class to use as writing prompts.

Many of the best and most creative stories start with an inquiry into what would happen if x happened. These scenarios can be silly, serious, fantastical, or humorous if they provide a jumping-off point for the student writer.

When students have completed their prompts, the teacher should gather them to distribute randomly among the class.

Students can share their work with the class When they have finished writing their responses to their assigned prompts. This will be especially interesting for the writer of the original prompt.

The Book Of Summer

This writing activity is an upgrade from the “My Summer Vacation” type essays.

In this activity, each student will compile their Book of Summer,  describing and depicting their holidays using as many different writing genres as possible.

For example, the student might include the following in their Book of Summer:

• A non-chronological report on a day trip
• A comic strip based on a family celebration
• A review of a movie they saw or book they read
• A fictionalized account of their summer
• A recipe of a meal they made
• A playscript for a sleepover they went on
• A haiku on the end of summer

The scope for creative interpretations here is almost endless.

For  younger students , it may be best to be more prescriptive about the various genres to include and the titles for each piece.

But for students with the ability, the open-endedness of this task allows their creativity to run loose while affording you a valuable opportunity to see just what they are capable of.

Be sure to read our complete collection of  back-to-school writing activities.

Fictional Interviews Writing Task

This activity involves a little bit of writing and a lot of role-playing.

In this activity, students should be paired up with a partner. Each partner chooses a fictional character they will role-play. The character can be from any fiction, for example, movies, comic books, or literature.

Partners must prepare and write up a series of interview questions for their partner’s fictional character.

Partners take turns interviewing each other while the interviewee is in character.

This is a great way to bring a bit of drama into the classroom, but if you want to emphasize the writing aspect of the activity, you can set the students up for the interview in the style of a magazine feature article. This will require the student to weave some narrative writing around the back and forth of the questions and answers of the interview.

Write A Story From A Different Point Of View

Narrative writing requires competency in a broad range of complex skills . We can roughly divide those skills into structural ones (such as text organization) and language-related skills (such as sentence construction and creativity).

Getting your  students to write a story  is a great way to assess their abilities in these areas.

In this activity, however, you provide most of the structure for the student, giving them the space to exercise their imagination and a chance to focus on their grammatical control – among other things.

In this exercise, ask your students to select a favourite fairy tale or other traditional story they know well. The student’s task is to rewrite their favourite fairy tale from the point of view of another important character in the story.

For example, they might want to retell the  Jack and the Beanstalk  story from the point of view of the Giant or Jack’s mother.

Retelling  The Ugly Duckling , the student might want to write from Mother Duck’s perspective to explore her feelings about the runt of her litter suddenly transforming into a beautiful (if alien!) swan

Summer Headlines Writing Activity

Headlines are  fun to write .

They should be short and pithy, seizing the reader’s attention by telling them just enough about the story to pique their interest but still leave them wanting to read more.

There are several things that students can do to ensure their headlines have the desired effect, including:

• Choose powerful words designed to make an impact
• Use alliteration to create catchy, snappy headlines
• Employ humour to entertain and intrigue the reader
• Create suspense by posing the headline as a question

For this activity, students should list the main events of their summer break and create a headline for each event.

In this way, the students will have produced an account of their summer written entirely in headlines.

As an extension to this exercise, when they’ve finished producing their headlines, have them present them to the class or in smaller groups.

The best headline is selected from each list, which the student has to turn into a complete newspaper-style article on that event.

Rap and Verse Writing Task

Few genres of writing can be as divisive.

Some are dismayed by the mere mention of the word ‘poetry’ – The “ Why can’t poets just say what they mean? ” camp.

Then, some can barely write a shopping list without a bit of unnecessary versifying.

Love it or loathe it, poetry is on the curriculum and our students need to get to grips with it.

For this activity, students write a series of poems inspired by the events of their summer holidays. Essentially, they are writing a poetic account of their vacation.

To challenge the students, they must use a different type of poetry for each event they wish to retell.

For example, they might write a series of haikus on the weather during the summer break.

Perhaps they’ll produce a calligram or shape poem describing the treehouse they made.

Maybe they’ll write an elegy to a pet that died or a limerick on that disastrous camping trip.

They might like to use the headlines from the previous activity  A Summer in Headlines  as starting points for their poems.

By the end of this activity, your students will have a collection of self-authored poetry they can share with the class in the form of a poetry slam.

You may wish to provide your students with checklists of the various features of the different types of poetry to help them during this activity.

So, there we have seventeen engaging activities to kick start the writing process at the start of the school year.

There is quite a variety from here, with some activities honing technical aspects of the writing process while others are more centred on the fun of creativity.

Remember, at the start of the school year, what the students write isn’t so important, but what they write!

With the selection of activities above, you’re sure to find one to suit even the most pen-shy students!

Daily Quick Writes For All Text Types

Our FUN DAILY QUICK WRITE TASKS will teach your students the fundamentals of CREATIVE WRITING across all text types. Packed with 52 ENGAGING ACTIVITIES

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• Miscellaneous

35 Best First Day of School Writing Prompts

The excitement of stepping into a new academic year brings a mix of emotions, memories, and anticipations. To channel this whirlwind of feelings, first day of school writing prompts can be a fantastic tool.

Similarly, back to school writing prompts not only help in capturing the essence of this pivotal moment but also spark creativity and imagination in students. Dive into our curated list of 35 prompts that will whisk you away on adventures, invoke introspection, and kindle the nostalgia of school days anew.

Here are 35 best first day of school writing prompts:

• You walk into your new school and discover everyone is speaking a language you’ve never heard before.
• Your backpack starts giving you advice on how to make friends.
• Describe your perfect first day of school using only sensory details.
• Every year, the first day of school falls on a different planet.
• You discover that your teacher has the ability to time travel, and today’s history lesson is a field trip to Ancient Egypt.
• Your new classroom is alive, and it introduces itself to you.
• Write a letter to your younger self giving advice about the first day of school.
• Your school bus takes a wrong turn and ends up in a magical forest.
• The school bell has the power to freeze time, and only you notice.
• You find a mysterious note in your locker with a riddle that must be solved before the end of the day.
• The first day of school is a game, and the winner gets to design the rest of the school year.
• Your shadow becomes your guide and protector in this new school.
• A time capsule from 50 years ago is opened, revealing predictions about your class.
• Your school supplies start chatting with you, each with its own quirky personality.
• On the first day of school, students get to choose one magical ability to use for the entire year.
• The school’s mascot is a live creature, and it decides to attend classes today.
• You discover that the school is built on an ancient map leading to a hidden treasure.
• Each door in the school leads to a different era in time.
• The new student is a famous character from a book, trying to live a normal life.
• Your new school operates under the principles of a forgotten civilization.
• Describe your feelings and surroundings on the first day of school without using any dialogue.
• Everyone gets a robot assistant on the first day, but yours seems to be from the future.
• You find a diary from a student who attended the school 100 years ago, and the entries eerily mirror your day.
• Your new teacher is an alien trying to understand human emotions and customs.
• An age-reversing phenomenon occurs, and all the teachers become kids while the students become the adults.
• A magical school bus can transform into any mode of transport, taking you on unexpected adventures.
• The cafeteria food gives students temporary superpowers.
• Your first assignment is to decode the school’s mysterious motto.
• Your pencil sketches become real, leading to unexpected events during the day.
• A game of two truths and a lie with your new classmates reveals unbelievable secrets.
• A portal in the school library leads to the world of every book.
• The school pet can communicate telepathically, and it has important messages for you.
• Every student gets paired with a mythical creature as a study buddy.
• You discover that the school’s founder left behind clues to a hidden room that grants wishes.
• On the first day of school, a magical rain shower grants everyone the ability to hear others’ thoughts.

Conclusion:

The journey of a school year is filled with countless experiences, memories, and lessons. Utilizing first day of school writing prompts can help students embark on this adventure with enthusiasm, creativity, and reflection. As the year progresses, these prompts not only serve as a gateway to their imaginations but also as a touchstone to revisit and remember that unique blend of nervousness and excitement that only the first day can bring. Happy writing!

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BEST HIGH SCHOOL WRITING PROMPTS

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The best writing prompts for high school

Ah, high school. The birthplace of future geniuses, the setting of a million Young Adult books — and the cutting ground of many a brilliant young author. Writing in the classroom is often the best outlet of creativity for kids, and what better way to get your students excited about it than through creative writing prompts for high school students?

Whether you use journal prompts or story ideas to kickstart your high school student’s imagination, writing prompts are sure to help broaden their thinking, sharpen their writing skills, record their thoughts, and get them to engage with the world around them.

If you're looking to cut to the chase, here's a top ten list of writing prompts for high school students:

• In the form of diary/ journal entries, write about someone who's just experienced a big "first."
• Just then, your phone rings. It's your friend and they have some interesting news...
• Write a short story where the protagonist has a doppelgänger.
• Write a story about a misunderstanding.
• Write a story about a strange family tradition, with at least two characters from the family narrating in the course of the story.
• Write a story about someone who would be described, above all else, as: kind.
• Write a story that centers on an Instagram post.
• Write a story that spans a month during which everything changes.
• Write about a group of people determined to win an award for making the biggest cookie ever.
• Write about someone going to extreme lengths to return an overdue library book.

If you have a high school student who’s interested in becoming an author, check out our free resources on the topic:

Develop a Writing Routine (free course) — Any high schooler who’s serious about becoming a published author should know that writing a book doesn’t just take talent. 90% of the process is sitting in front of a blank piece of paper, and having the drive and commitment to put words to paper. That’s why we created this free course, which shows people of any age how to develop a writing routine that works for you. It’s never too early to start the process today!

Want to encourage your high school students to start writing? Check out Reedsy’s weekly short story contest , for the chance of winning $250! You can also check out our list of writing contests or our directory of literary magazines for more opportunities to submit your story.

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4 Engaging Writing Tasks for High School Students

Short, authentic writing tasks can encourage high school students to compose richer long pieces.

It’s quite likely that many of your students dislike writing. After all, they’re often expected to compose lengthy pieces that typically require lots of brainstorming, researching, planning, outlining, drafting, revising, and editing—and that can be exhausting. My class of high school boys had the same attitude, and their short, underdeveloped, and passionless pieces were most telling. I had to overhaul my approach.

During my quest for an alternative practice, I quickly learned that by building students’ knowledge about the topic on which they are expected to compose, and by initially assigning them shorter and more authentic writing tasks, we can successfully motivate them to write longer, richer, and more compelling multiparagraph pieces. Yes, baby steps—from a creep to a stable walk—can work wonders.

Incorporate Knowledge-Building Activities

Judith Hochman and Natalie Wexler said it best in  The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades : “Writing and content knowledge are intimately related. You can’t write well about something you don’t know well. The more students know about a topic before they begin to write, the better they will be able to write about it.”

Documentaries, podcasts, TED Talks, and other authentic and engaging audiovisuals can facilitate this knowledge building. Field trips, as well as interviews with relevant community-based experts, can also offer students significant fodder for their writing.

Moreover, when students have interesting discoveries to share, they’ll be excited about the writing tasks, and their compositions are likely to be longer, more detailed, more affecting, and more compelling. Because they have a rich knowledge bank, they’re less likely to get stuck and frustrated as they write. Knowledge stimulates ideas.

But information gathering is not all. It’s also important to show students how to use the newly learned content. We don’t want them to plagiarize information or inadvertently silence their own voices by over-quoting others. Their research should enhance what they write, not substitute for their initial thoughts or suppress their creativity.

What can you do then?

Go beyond lessons in citation format. Model, through write-aloud, how to make decisions about the content included in written work, how to paraphrase and summarize from the original source, and how to ensure that the added content actually strengthens what you already have.

Offer Authentically Rooted Writing Assignments

Finally, make sure that the writing assignments are authentic—with realistic, real-world communicative goals and true-to-life audiences (not just the classroom teacher). Here are some suggestions that you can implement in your teaching practice:

Travel blogs:  Take students on virtual field trips. Nearpod , Google Earth, and YouTube are excellent for this. Following this activity, have students write a blog post to describe the place they visited. If your students have visited resorts or attraction sites locally, they could write about that experience, recommend activities for prospective visitors, and simultaneously persuade them to visit when it is safe to do so.

Their insights might even persuade others to travel to this site. Students could use pictures to supplement their writing. They could also convert their written piece into a mini-video production for a real or imagined YouTube channel that promotes exotic getaways. Their composition would become the audio narration, and, with some background reggae, R & B, or any other culturally popular music, their piece would be beautifully transformed into a riveting marketing pitch.

Movie reviews:  Due to the pandemic, we know that many of our students may be watching far more movies than ever before. Therefore, let’s repurpose this social activity and use what they love or do for pleasure to help them refine a key academic skill. Have students write a review of their most recently watched or favorite film.

Prompt them to provide a summary of the movie, share their impressions of major characters and the plot’s unfolding, and examine the techniques used to create suspense and mounting tension. Later, when they’re writing their own narratives or putting on drama productions, they can adopt and adapt some of these techniques.

Song or music video reviews: Some students enjoy listening to music, so a song or music video review could also motivate them and facilitate interest-based differentiation. State where the review may be published—a local tabloid, a social media page, etc. Have students keep that in mind as they write so that their finished pieces are authentic and fitting for the context and audience intended.

Social media:  Based on your content area, you could have students make discipline-specific posts and write related captions. For instance, if you are looking at rocks in geography or soil types in science, have students photograph different types and post related descriptive or explanatory captions. They’ll be learning and teaching concurrently.

Provide Mentor Texts

These activities are exciting, but before you scuttle off to assign them, find or create models of the kinds of writing that you want your students to produce. Discuss the sample by prompting students to keenly attend to the content and the writer’s craft (style and techniques) throughout the piece.

Finally, make arrangements to have your students publish their pieces—through a safe online space or through an in-school magazine or newsletter—for authenticity at its finest.

• Writing Prompts

56 Back To School Writing Prompts (+ Free Printable)

I bet the last thing your child wants to do when going back to school is writing (or more homework as they’ll say)! Not to worry we have come up with 56 back-to-school writing prompts that will help your child settle in and take away those first-day fears. We all know how the first day of school is daunting for most kids, that’s why it is important to slowly prepare your kids for the back-to-school routine. One way to support your child is to encourage them to write down their feelings in a journal or notebook. Getting your child to think about school before actually going will help to prepare for any challenges or fears they might have. We have specially created these writing prompts to not only prepare your child for going back to school but also to help them with their writing skills.

56 back-to-school writing prompts

Get ready to go back to school with these back-to-school writing prompts:

• How do you feel about going back to school? What are your top 5 fears and what 5 things are you excited about?
• Write about the best thing that happened to you during the summer holidays. You can talk about this with your friends when you go back to school.
• What was the worst part of your summer holidays?
• What one thing did you learn during the summer holidays and how did you learn it?
• What school subject are you most looking forward to? What do you like about this subject?
• What subject are your least excited about and why?
• Do you want to make new friends in the new school term? How would you go about making friends? List a few points to help you or someone else.
• What is your goal for the new school year? What would you like to achieve by the next summer holidays? Write down at least 3 goals.
• How would you better organise your time this school year, so you can complete all your assignments on time and have time to do things you enjoy?
• Do you want to join any after-school or lunchtime clubs this year? Which clubs would you like to join or would you create your own?
• What 3 things would you improve or change about yourself this year?
• What 3 things would you keep the same about yourself and will carry on doing this year?
• Which part of the school year are you most looking forward to?
• Imagine your dream teacher. What would they look like? How would they speak? What personality traits would they have?
• What was the best thing that happened to year last school year? Describe this moment in detail.
• What was the biggest thing you struggled with last school year? And how do you plan on improving on this issue this year?
• Which subject did you find the hardest last year, and why? How can you get better at this subject this school year?
• Make a list of your favourite teachers from the last school year. Next to their names, write down at least one reason why they are your favourite. 
• Make a top ten list of your favourite school subjects. One is your favourite and ten is your least favourite.
• Write a day in the life story of a typical day for your head teacher at your school.
• Make a top ten list of your favourite school meals to eat at lunchtime.
• Create a packing list of everything you need to pack in your backpack for the first day of school.
• Create a how-to guide on how to walk or travel to school safely.
• Create a character profile for the perfect friend. What personality traits would this person have? What about their interest and appearance?
• If you were the head teacher of your school. What new rules would you put in place for the new school year? Try to think of at least three rules.
• Complete the following sentence in three different ways: I can’t wait to start school because…
• Write a letter to a classmate that you have never spoken to before. You can ask about their interests and what they did over the summer holidays.
• Would you rather be the most popular kid in your school year or get straight A’s this school year?
• Write a how-to guide on dealing with bullies at school.
• Write down 10 tips on how to study for a pop quiz or test.
• Write down a journal entry for your first day back in school. What were the highs of the day? What were the lows of the day?
• Continue the following story starter: On my way to school, I heard a strange noise. I turned around and saw…
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel about going back to school? One being really scared or worried and 10 being very excited. Explain your answer. 
• What is your dream school trip? Where would you really want to go this year? 
• Write down at least 5 reasons why school is important.
• If you could create a new school club what would it be and why?
• If you could get rid of one subject at school, which subject would it be and why?
• Write a day in the life story of a typical day as a student at your school.
• Write a haiku poem about your first day at school.
• Write a limerick poem about a boy or girl who hates school. You can start the poem using this sentence: There once was a boy/girl who hated school
• Would you rather be home-schooled or go to a public school? Explain your choice.
• Imagine you are back in school for the first time in a few years. How would you feel? What would you say to your friends and teachers?
• Write a letter to your younger self from about 5 years ago telling them about school. What advice with you give your younger self and why?
• What is the worst thing you have done in school? Why did you do it? What will you do to make sure this does not happen again?
• Write a letter to your favourite teacher. Tell them what you are looking forward to this year and how you would like to improve.
• What would your dream school uniform look like? What would you want to wear? Try drawing a picture and writing a detailed description. 
• Imagine that your head teacher asks you for some new school subject ideas. What new subject do you wish was taught in school, and why?
• What is one way that you can make your school feel more like a home to you?
• How would you feel if you received a failing grade in a subject at school? What steps would you take to improve your grade?
• Imagine you are a teacher and you have to choose 5 students from your class to be on a TV talent show. What five students would you choose, and what would their talent be?
• Imagine that your school head teacher is looking for a new school mascot. What would this mascot look like? Can you describe them in detail?
• Write a poem dedicated to your favourite teacher.
• Imagine you are a teacher and you want to write a letter to a child about a problem they have had. What do you say in the letter?
• Write a song about the best school lesson you have ever had.
• Imagine you are in charge of the school budget this year. What would you spend most of your money on and why?
• Create a snappy slogan or motto for your school. A motto is a short sentence that summarises the beliefs of your school in a powerful and engaging way.

Download your free printable back-to-school writing prompts pack!

Any tips for helping your child with going back to school?

What back-to-school routines do you have for helping your child when comes to their first day back? Let us know your ideas and thoughts in the comments below. If your child is particularly anxious about going back to school, take a look at these 12 hilarious back to school picture books .

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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100 Creative Writing Prompts for Middle & High School – 2024

April 15, 2024

Some high school students dream of writing for a living, perhaps pursuing an English major in college, or even attending a creative writing MFA program later on. For other students, creative writing can be useful for school assignments, in English and other subjects, and also for preparing their Common App essays . In a less goal-oriented sense, daily freewriting in a journal can be a healthy life practice for many high schoolers. Not sure where to start? Continue reading for 100 creative writing prompts for middle school and high school students. These middle/high school writing prompts offer inspiration for getting started with writing in a number of genres and styles.

Click here to view the 35 Best Colleges for Creative Writing .

What are Creative Writing Prompts?

Similar to how an academic essay prompt provides a jumping-off point for forming and organizing an argument, creative writing prompts are points of initiation for writing a story, poem, or creative essay. Prompts can be useful for writers of all ages, helping many to get past writer’s block and just start (often one of the most difficult parts of a writing process).

Writing prompts come in a variety of forms. Sometimes they are phrases used to begin sentences. Other times they are questions, more like academic essay prompts Writing prompts can also involve objects such as photographs, or activities such as walking. Below, you will find high school writing prompts that use memories, objects, senses (smell/taste/touch), abstract ideas , and even songs as jumping-off points for creative writing. These prompts can be used to write in a variety of forms, from short stories to creative essays, to poems.

How to use Creative Writing Prompts

Before we get started with the list, are a few tips when using creative writing prompts:

Experiment with different formats : Prose is great, but there’s no need to limit yourself to full sentences, at least at first. A piece of creative writing can begin with a poem, or a dialogue, or even a list. You can always bring it back to prose later if needed.

Interpret the prompt broadly : The point of a creative writing prompt is not to answer it “correctly” or “precisely.” You might begin with the prompt, but then your ideas could take you in a completely different direction. The words in the prompt also don’t need to open your poem or essay, but could appear somewhere in the middle.

Switch up/pile up the prompts : Try using two or three prompts and combine them, or weave between them. Perhaps choose a main prompt, and a different “sub-prompt.” For example, your main prompt might be “write about being in transit from one place to another,” and within that prompt, you might use the prompt to “describe a physical sensation,” and/or one the dialogue prompts.  This could be a fun way to find complexity as you write.

Creative Writing Prompts for Middle School & High School Students (Continued)

Write first, edit later : While you’re first getting started with a prompt, leave the typos and bad grammar. Obsessing over details can take away from your flow of thoughts. You will inevitably make many fixes when you go back through to edit.

Write consistently : It often becomes easier to write when it’s a practice , rather than a once-in-a-while kind of activity. For some, it’s useful to write daily. Others find time to write every few days, or every weekend. Sometimes, a word-count goal can help (100 words a day, 2,000 words a month, etc.). If you set a goal, make sure it’s realistic. Start small and build from there, rather than starting with an unachievable goal and quickly giving up.

100 Creative Writing Prompts for Middle School & High School Teens

Here are some prompts for getting started with your creative writing. These are organized by method, rather than genre, so they can inspire writing in a variety of forms. Pick and choose the ones that work best for you, and enjoy!

Prompts using memories

• Begin each sentence or group of sentences with the phrase, “I remember…”
• Describe a family ritual.
• Choose an event in your life, and write about it from the perspective of someone else who was there.
• Pick a pathway you take on a regular basis (to school, or to a friend’s house). Describe five landmarks that you remember from this pathway.
• Write about your house or apartment using a memory from each room.
• Write an imaginary history of the previous people who lived in your house or apartment.
• Write about an ancestor based on stories you’ve heard from relatives.
• What’s your earliest memory?
• Who was your first friend?
• Write a letter to someone you haven’t seen since childhood.
• Write about yourself now from the perspective of yourself twenty, or eighty, years from now.
• Write about the best month of the year.
• Write about the worst day of the year.
• Rant about something that has always annoyed you.
• Write about the hottest or coldest day you can remember.
• Visualize a fleeting moment in your life and as though it’s a photograph, and time yourself 5 minutes to write every detail you can remember about the scene.
• Draw out a timeline of your life so far. Then choose three years to write about, as though you were writing for a history book.
• Write about a historical event in the first person, as though you remember it.
• Write about a memory of being in transit from one place to another.

Objects and photographs as creative writing prompts

• Describe the first object you see in the room. What importance does it have in your life? What memories do you have with this object? What might it symbolize?
• Pick up an object, and spend some time holding it/examining it. Write about how it looks, feels, and smells. Write about the material that it’s made from.
• Choose a favorite family photograph. What could someone know just by looking at the photograph? What’s secretly happening in the photograph?
• Choose a photograph and tell the story of this photograph from the perspective of someone or something in it.
• Write about a color by describing three objects that are that color.
• Tell the story of a piece of trash.
• Tell the story of a pair of shoes.
• Tell the story of your oldest piece of clothing.

Senses and observations as creative writing prompts

• Describe a sound you hear in the room or outside. Choose the first sound you notice. What are its qualities? It’s rhythms? What other sounds does it remind you of?
• Describe a physical sensation you feel right now, in as much detail as possible.
• Listen to a conversation and write down a phrase that you hear someone say. Start a free-write with this phrase.
• Write about a food by describing its qualities, but don’t say what it is.
• Describe a flavor (salty, sweet, bitter, etc.) to someone who has never tasted it before.
• Narrate your day through tastes you tasted.
• Narrate your day through sounds you heard.
• Narrate your day through physical sensations you felt.
• Describe in detail the physical process of doing an action you consider simple or mundane, like walking or lying down or chopping vegetables.
• Write about the sensation of doing an action you consider physically demanding or tiring, like running or lifting heavy boxes.
• Describe something that gives you goosebumps.
• Write a story that involves drinking a cold glass of water on a hot day.
• Write a story that involves entering a warm house from a cold snowy day.
• Describe someone’s facial features in as much detail as possible.

Songs, books, and other art

• Choose a song quote, write it down, and free-write from there.
• Choose a song, and write a story in which that song is playing in the car.
• Choose a song, and write to the rhythm of that song.
• Choose a character from a book, and describe an event in your life from the perspective of that character.
• Go to a library and write down 10 book titles that catch your eye. Free-write for 5 minutes beginning with each one.
• Go to a library and open to random book pages, and write down 5 sentences that catch your attention. Use those sentences as prompts and free-write for 5-minutes with each.
• Choose a piece of abstract artwork. Jot down 10 words that come to mind from the painting or drawing, and free-write for 2 minutes based on each word.
• Find a picture of a dramatic Renaissance painting online. Tell a story about what’s going on in the painting that has nothing to do with what the artist intended.
• Write about your day in five acts, like a Shakespearean play. If your day were a play, what would be the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution?
• Narrate a complicated book or film plot using only short sentences.
• Read a short poem. Then write a poem that could be a “sister” or “cousin” of that poem.

Abstract ideas as creative writing prompts

• Write about an experience that demonstrates an abstract idea, such as “love” or “home” or “freedom” or “loss” without ever using the word itself.
• Write a list of ways to say “hello” without actually saying “hello.”
• Write a list of ways to say “I love you” without actually saying “I love you.”
• Do you believe in ghosts? Describe a ghost.
• Invent a mode of time travel.
• Glass half-full/half-empty: Write about an event or situation with a positive outlook. Then write about it with a miserable outlook.
• Free-write beginning with “my religion is…” (what comes next can have as much or as little to do with organized religion as you’d like).
• Free-write beginning with “my gender is…” (what comes next can have as much or as little to do with common ideas of gender as you’d like).
• Write about a person or character that is “good” and one that is “evil.” Then write about the “evil” in the good character and the “good” in the evil character.
• Write like you’re telling a secret.
• Describe a moment of beauty you witnessed. What makes something beautiful?

Prompts for playing with narrative and character

• Begin writing with the phrase, “It all started when…”
• Tell a story from the middle of the most dramatic part.
• Write a story that begins with the ending.
• Begin a story but give it 5 possible endings.
• Write a list of ways to dramatically quit a terrible job.
• Write about a character breaking a social rule or ritual (i.e., walking backwards, sitting on the floor of a restaurant, wearing a ballgown to the grocery store). What are the ramifications?
• You are sent to the principal’s office. Justify your bad behavior.
• Re-write a well-known fairytale but set it in your school.
• Write your own version of the TV show trope where someone gets stuck in an elevator with a stranger, or a secret love interest, or a nemesis.
• Imagine a day where you said everything you were thinking, and write about it.
• Write about a scenario in which you have too much of a good thing.
• Write about a scenario in which money can buy happiness.
• Invent a bank or museum heist.
• Invent a superhero, including an origin story.
• Write using the form of the scientific method (question, hypothesis, test, analyze data conclusion).
• Write using the form of a recipe.

Middle School & High School Creative writing prompts for playing with fact vs. fiction

• Write something you know for sure is true, and then, “but maybe it isn’t.” Then explain why that thing may not be true.
• Write a statement and contradict that statement. Then do it again.
• Draft an email with an outlandish excuse as to why you didn’t do your homework or why you need an extension.
• Write about your morning routine, and make it sound extravagant/luxurious (even if it isn’t).
• You’ve just won an award for doing a very mundane and simple task. Write your acceptance speech.
• Write about a non-athletic event as though it were a sports game.
• Write about the most complicated way to complete a simple task.
• Write a brief history of your life, and exaggerate everything.
• Write about your day, but lie about some things.
• Tell the story of your birth.
• Choose a historical event and write an alternative outcome.
• Write about a day in the life of a famous person in history.
• Read an instructional manual, and change three instructions to include some kind of magical or otherwise impossible element.

Prompts for starting with dialogue

• Write a texting conversation between two friends who haven’t spoken in years.
• Write a texting conversation between two friends who speak every day and know each other better than anyone.
• Watch two people on the street having a conversation, and imagine the conversation they’re having. Write it down.
• Write an overheard conversation behind a closed door that you shouldn’t be listening to.
• Write a conversation between two characters arguing about contradicting memories of what happened.
• You have a difficult decision to make. Write a conversation about it with yourself.
• Write a conversation with a total lack of communication.
• Write a job interview gone badly.

Final Thoughts – Creative Writing Prompts for Middle School & High School 

Hopefully you have found several of these creative writing prompts helpful. Remember that when writing creatively, especially on your own, you can mix, match, and change prompts. For more on writing for high school students, check out the following articles:

• College Application Essay Topics to Avoid
• 160 Good Argumentative Essay Topics
• 150 Good Persuasive Speech Topics
• Good Transition Words for Essays
• High School Success

Sarah Mininsohn

With a BA from Wesleyan University and an MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Sarah is a writer, educator, and artist. She served as a graduate instructor at the University of Illinois, a tutor at St Peter’s School in Philadelphia, and an academic writing tutor and thesis mentor at Wesleyan’s Writing Workshop.

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Back to School Writing Prompts for the Secondary Classroom

With the new school year on the horizon, here are some helpful back to school writing prompts to use with your new students!

Assigning a personal narrative at the beginning of the school year doesn’t have to mean assigning a full, five-paragraph essay. These personal narratives can be anywhere between a sentence long to several paragraphs. Here are some of my go-to back-to-school writing prompts for secondary students.

Back to school writing prompts about summer break.

• What did you do over summer break?
• What was your favorite thing about summer break?
• What was your least favorite part of summer break?
• What song best represents your summer break and why?
• What movie best represents your summer break and why?
• What life lessons did you learn over summer break?
• What accomplishments did you achieve over summer break?
• What hardships did you experience over summer break?

Back to school writing prompts about last school year.

• What was your favorite thing about school last year?
• What was your least favorite part about school last year?
• What class was your favorite and why?
• Which class did you struggle with the most and why?
• What life lessons did you learn last school year?
• What accomplishments did you achieve last school year?
• What hardships did you experience last school year?
• What obstacles did you face last school year and how did you overcome them?

Back to school writing prompts about this school year.

• What are your goals for this school year?
• What is the most frightening thing about a new school year?
• What is the most exciting thing about a new school year?
• What are you most excited about this year?
• What are you dreading about this school year?
• What current obstacles or hardships are you facing this school year?
• As your teacher, how can I best help you succeed in my classroom?
• What do you want me to know about you?

Back to school writing prompts about life in general.

• What is your most cherished childhood memory? Describe the event/memory in detail.
• What is the biggest challenge you have ever faced? How did you overcome this obstacle?
• What is your life dream and how do you plan to achieve it?
• Describe the most frightening moment of your life.
• What are you most proud of and why?
• What is a typical day in your life like? Explain in detail.

Back to School Resources for the Secondary Classroom:

• Digital Back to School Stations
• Back to School Activities
• Growth Mindset Activities

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Thank you so much for this list of writing prompts! It will help me tremendously!

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55 Journal Writing Prompts High School Students Love

September 28, 2020 //  by  Lindsay Ann //   10 Comments

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Do you use a writer’s notebook in your English classroom? Do you find yourself wishing that you had a list of journal writing prompts high school students will like? 

In this post, I will be sharing 55 different journal prompts. That’s enough for the whole year of fun writing prompts, used 1x per week, for the whole semester if used 2-3x per week, and enough for the whole quarter if used every day.

Digital vs. Paper Writer’s Notebooks

Two years ago, I was determined to have my students write. Every day. Inspired by 180 Days, I wanted to be the writer’s notebook queen of the world and change students’ lives through journal writing prompts. 

I went to the nearest Staples store and bought .20 cent composition notebooks. I gave them to students on the first day of school. We wrote in them, pasting in mentor texts for the first three weeks of school. Then, for various reasons, the writer’s notebooks stayed closed more often than not. It was not sustainable for me. 

Now, I’ve written in a previous post about choosing ONE thing to be your precious at the beginning of each school year. If paper writer’s notebooks are your jam, then rock on, friend! 

As for me, I now use and love digital writer’s notebooks. These fun writing journal prompts notebooks are created in Google Slides and shared with students via Classroom. These writing prompts for journals never get lost, are less time-consuming than regular writer’s notebooks, and can use all sorts of colors and design elements to capture students’ attention.

Journal Writing Prompts for High School Students

Below you’ll find 55 journal writing prompts. High school students will find plenty to say about these topics, but I suggest setting ground rules for writing and setting a time limit (with timer projected). 

First: Write for the whole time. 

Second: Don’t worry about making sense or making sure what you write is perfectly-edited. 

Third: Be honest and be specific. 

1st Set: Imaginative Journal Writing Prompts High School Students 💜

• If you could invent anything, what would it be? Describe why you want to invent it, what it would look like, what it would do, etc. 
• Choose the animals that best represent your family members and closest friends. Explain why you have chosen each animal. 
• What if the world was made of Jello?
• If your life was suddenly a hit reality television show, what would it be called and what would viewers say about it? 
• Describe your survival plan in the event of a zombie apocalypse. 
• Create the perfect alien. 
• You have three doors in front of you: red, blue, and green. The red door says “wing.” The blue door says “want.” The green door says “woke.” Which door would you choose and why? Describe what you imagine to be behind each door.
• Explain what a forest looks like to someone who cannot see. 
• Write a recipe for happiness. What would the ingredients be? In what order and amounts would you add them? What instructions would you include for baking and serving? 
• Create your own original, symbolic names for five locations you visit every day. 
• Write a guidebook for the older generation to help them understand your generation.

2nd Set: Past, Present, Future Journal Prompts

• If you woke up tomorrow with amnesia, what memories would you want to return? To forget forever? 
• What would your five year old self have to say to your current self if you met for coffee? What would your current self say to your 10-years-from-now self? 
• What are you most thankful for? 
• Do you think the past is the best predictor of your future? Why or why not? 
• How have you changed from when you were a child? Why?
• What does the future hold for you? 
• Do you think your generation will “change the world”? Why or why not? 
• In what ways do you look to the adults in your life for guidance? In what ways can they learn from you? 
• What present-day issues are you the most concerned about? Why?
• What do you hope you will always remember about high school? 
• What is trending right now on social media and what are your thoughts on it?

3rd Set: Personal Beliefs Writing Prompts

• Do you believe in karma? Why or why not? 
• Do you believe in love at first sight? Why or why not? 
• Do you believe in the law of attraction? Why or why not? 
• Do you believe animals fully understand human conversation? Why or why not? 
• What are your “rules to live by”? Which one is the most important and why?
• Do you believe in “carpe diem”? Why or why not? 
• Do you believe in an “eye for an eye”? Why or why not? 
• How have your family and friends influenced your beliefs? 
• Do you believe that people are the product of their environment? Why or why not? 
• Do you believe in second chances? Why or why not?
• Do certain characteristics make people more likely to succeed? Explain.

4th Set: Top Ten Lists as Journal Prompts

• 10 things I should have learned by now.
• 10 words others would use to describe me. 
• 10 of the weirdest things in my room. 
• 10 things I want to do before I die. 
• 10 of the best words in the English language.
• 10 things that are highly underrated / overrated.
• 10 reasons to wake up in the morning. 
• 10 songs on my playlist right now. 
• 10 of the weirdest dreams I’ve ever had. 
• 10 things I know to be true.
• 10 things I want to give a “makeover” to.

5th Set: Hard Questions for Journal Writing

• What is the meaning of life? 
• Which is better: too much of something or too little of something? 
• Which is better: truth or beauty? 
• Is social media a blessing or a curse? 
• What two questions would you ask to find out someone’s true self? Now, answer these questions yourself. 
• What does it mean to be human?
• Define intelligence.
• To what extent do gender, ethnicity, social background influence your life? 
• Is society today better off than it was 100 years ago?
• What labels could others give you? Are labels helpful or harmful? Explain.
• Do you believe human nature is evil or good?

Wrapping Up Writing Prompts for Journals

Feel free to save the images for each set of fun writing prompts questions and use them in an agenda slideshow or to post on Google Classroom.

If you are interested in ready-made digital journals, please take a moment to check out these popular journal prompts resources! I appreciate your support!

Hey, if you loved this post, I want to be sure you’ve had the chance to grab a FREE copy of my guide to streamlined grading . I know how hard it is to do all the things as an English teacher, so I’m over the moon to be able to share with you some of my best strategies for reducing the grading overwhelm.  Click on the link above or the image below to get started!

About Lindsay Ann

Lindsay has been teaching high school English in the burbs of Chicago for 19 years. She is passionate about helping English teachers find balance in their lives and teaching practice through practical feedback strategies and student-led learning strategies. She also geeks out about literary analysis, inquiry-based learning, and classroom technology integration. When Lindsay is not teaching, she enjoys playing with her two kids, running, and getting lost in a good book.

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Reader Interactions

March 3, 2022 at 3:46 am

Hi Lindsay, I think that these writing prompts you have come up with are just brilliant. I mean granted these are merely thoughts and questions we either ask ourselves, others or just think about and never bring out. I personally think it is important for people to actualize and put thoughts out verbally and visually. In this case, fellow writers and English students and anyone for that matter are able to see it and realize that these are actually not silly ideas that you might have thought of and overlooked at some point in your lives. But good reflective pannels for us to channel our inner writers and inquisitive thinking into and curiosity upon. I am still a beginner English teacher but have always been fascinated with power of what a few words put together becoming, a sentence, a sentence becomes a paragraph, a paragraph becomes an essay, an essay becomes a thesis, a thesis becomes a spark of curiosity and that curiosity becomes a revolution that bit by bit becomes the answer to a question being asked somewhere. Thank you for the ideas!

March 20, 2022 at 1:10 pm

My pleasure, William! You’ve put into words the beauty of inquiry and writing, even if it is only for one’s own eyes. Thank you for reading!

March 23, 2022 at 11:02 pm

i really hope these work i really think they will thanks so much

April 7, 2022 at 7:22 pm

You’re welcome! I hope that they work well for you. 🙂

April 26, 2022 at 8:13 pm

I really just LOVE these writing prompts! They are very concise and spark my imagination. Been teaching since fall Y2K and visited many of these types of posts. Yours are a cut above the rest.

April 30, 2022 at 8:23 pm

Thank you, James! I hope that you and your students have fun with these. 🙂

June 3, 2022 at 1:08 pm

Do you have a TpT store where we can buy your digital writer’s notebook?

June 4, 2022 at 5:56 pm

Yes, absolutely! Here are a couple of options:

1. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Creative-Writing-Mentor-Sentences-Digital-Notebook-2885186 2. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Digital-Creative-Writing-Journal-2729748 3. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/300-Google-Drive-Journal-Writing-Prompts-2715746

Hope this helps! Lindsay

July 23, 2023 at 9:00 am

These are so, so good! It’s hard to find writing prompts that don’t make my high school students roll their eyes, lol, but these are fantastic and sure to spark creativity. Thank you!

[…] growth, and a clearer sense of identity. Sources such as Journal Buddies, Story Writing Academy, Lindsay Ann Learning, and Money Prodigy provide many creative writing prompts for journaling, article writing, and story […]

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8 First Day of High School Activities to Get to Know Your Students

• Lesson Plans
• Grading Students for Assessment
• Becoming A Teacher
• Assessments & Tests
• Elementary Education
• Special Education
• Homeschooling

The first day of high school is full of excitement and nerves for students and teachers alike. You can put your students at ease right away by enthusiastically welcoming them to your class and greeting them at the door with a smile, an introduction, and a handshake.

The first day will inevitably involve some logistics, like going over the class rules and reviewing the course syllabi. However, you can make your students' introduction to your classroom stress-free and positive by adding these fun first day of high school activities.

Would You Rather?

Help the teens in your class relax with a fun round of "Would You Rather," the game in which you pit two choices against each other. Sometimes the choices are serious; other times they’re silly. Occasionally, neither is a good option, forcing students to choose the lesser of two evils.

Get started with these these Would You Rather prompts. Would you rather...

• Live in the mountains or on the beach?
• Be a famous author or a famous musician?
• Have the ability to read minds or be invisible?
• Spend the day at an amusement park or the mall?
• Have a private jet or a fancy sports car?
• Live somewhere that is always warm and sunny, or somewhere that is always cold and snowy?

After you ask each question, instruct students to move to one side of the room if they’d choose the first option and the other if they’d prefer the second.

If you’d rather keep everyone in their seats, provide students with different color choice markers (e.g. colored paper plates, paint stir sticks). Students hold up one color for the first choice and the other color for the second.

Two Truths and a Lie

Get to know your students and help them get to know each other with the classic icebreaker game Two Truths and a Lie. Tell the students to share two true facts and one made-up fact about themselves. After a student shares their facts, the other students should guess which statement is a lie.

For example, a student might say, “I moved here from California . My birthday is in October. And, I have three brothers.” The other students then guess which of the three statements is untrue until the first student reveals that they are an only child.

You can start the game by sharing two truths and a lie about yourself, then go around the room until each student gets a turn. 

Letter to Yourself

Begin the school year with this introspective activity. Invite the students to write a letter to their future selves. Provide a list of questions, writing prompts , or sentence starters and instruct students to answer the questions in complete sentences. Try some of the following:

• I am wearing…
• My best friend is…
• What I’m looking forward to most this year is…
• What is your favorite subject?
• What are your favorite songs, TV shows, books, games, or music artists?
• What are your hobbies?
• What is your favorite way to spend your free time?

Provide envelopes so that students can seal their letters once they’re complete. Then, the students should turn in their sealed letters to you for safe-keeping. Return the messages to the students on their last day of school .

Tell Me About Yourself

Get to know your students with an engaging questionnaire. Write five to ten questions—some lighthearted, a few thoughtful—on the board or provide a printed handout. Ask questions such as:

• What is one of your favorite memories?
• Are you an introvert or an extrovert ?
• What qualities does a great teacher have?
• How do you learn best (examples: quiet environment, hands-on, listening, reading)?
• If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Students should turn in their finished questionnaires to you. Use this activity as an opportunity to gain insight into their personalities.

Pop Culture Quiz

Take a break from the first-day-of-school stress with a pop quiz — a pop culture quiz.

In advance, create a list of 10-15 questions about current pop culture, from music to movies. Then, to begin the game, divide the class into multiple teams. Distribute paper and pens/markers or personal whiteboards to each team.

Stand at the front of the room and ask one question at a time. Give the teams time (30-60 seconds) to confer quietly about their answers. Each team should write down their final answer on a piece of paper. Once the time is up, ask each team to hold up their answer. Each team that answers correctly earns a point. Record the score on the board. Whichever team earns the most points wins.

Anonymous Responses

Create a sense of community and connection in your classroom through this activity. In advance, prepare one or two questions to ask the students. Here are some examples:

• What makes you most nervous about the new school year?
• What is one thing you wish everyone at school knew about you?
• What is your biggest goal this school year?

Write your question(s) on the board, pass out an index card to each student. Explain that they should write down their answers without including their name, and assure them that their responses are completely anonymous (but that they will be shared with the group). Give the class 5 minutes to complete the activity. When time is up, instruct students to fold their cards once and place them in a basket or bin at the front of the room.

Once everyone has turned in their index cards, read the responses out loud. Many students may be surprised to find out how similar they are to their classmates. To extend the activity, moderate a brief discussion about the students' reactions to hearing their classmates' responses.

Teacher Multiple Choice Quiz

Give your students a chance to get to know you through a silly multiple choice quiz. To create the quiz, come up with a list of fun or surprising facts about yourself. Then, turn them into multiple choice questions. Be sure to include some funny wrong answers.

After the students have finished the quiz, go over the correct answers and have the students "grade" their own quizzes. This activity often generates fun, engaging discussions, as many students are curious to hear the backstories behind some of the facts you included on the quiz.

Classmate Interviews

Divide the students into pairs and pass out a list of interview question prompts. Tell the students to be on the lookout for things they have in common. Then, give the students 10 minutes to interview their partners. When time is up, each student should introduce their partner to the class using the information they learned during the meeting. Each presentation should include a fun fact and a newly-discovered commonality.

This activity is an excellent way for students to get to know each other. In addition, many students find it less intimidating to speak to the class about someone else rather than themselves.

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Creative Writing Unit for High School Students

My creative writing unit for high school students allows for adaptations and for fun! With plenty of creative writing activities, you’ll have flexibility. 

If you are looking for a creative writing unit, I have ideas for you. When I taught middle school, I sprinkled such activities throughout the school year. As a high school teacher, though, I taught an entire creative writing course. With no textbook and very little established activities, I largely worked from a blank slate.

Which. . . turned out well. I love teaching creative writing!

ELA Specific Classes

Older students often can choose electives for their ELA classes, and Creative Writing is a popular class. I’ve condensed my ideas into one post, so I organized the ideas by creative nonfiction and fiction writing and added pictures to organize this information for you.

EDIT: This post about my creative writing unit for high school writers has exploded and is about three times as long as a normal blog post. If you’d like to skip around to get inspiration for teaching creative writing, you can use the pictures and headings as guidance.

ANOTHER NOTE: I attempted to outline the days I spend on each topic, but several factors went into my estimates. First, each class differs in what they enjoy and what they dislike. If a class dislikes a specific topic, we will wrap it up and move on. If a class has fun with an assignment or needs more time to work, the days might vary.

What are the key elements of a creative writing unit?

Key elements of a creative writing unit include introducing different writing genres, teaching basic writing techniques, encouraging imagination and creativity, providing writing prompts and exercises, offering constructive feedback and revision opportunities, and fostering a supportive writing community.

How can we organize such activities?

Starting with creative nonfiction has worked for my classes, small pieces like paragraphs. I believe the success is because young writers can write what they know about. Then we can switch to fiction for the second quarter. Again, the days spent on each assignment varies, and I honestly do not stress about creative nonfiction being nine weeks and fiction being nine weeks.

All of the material listed below is in my newly updated Creative Writing Bundle . The pieces are sold separately, but that creative writing unit includes bonus material and a discount.

Ok, settle in! Here are my ideas about teaching creative writing with high school students.

First Week of School for a Creative Writing Unit

The first day of school , we complete activities that build awareness into the classroom environment about “creativity.” Do not shy away from setting a foundation of support and understanding as you engage with young writers. During my first creative writing classes, I neglected to spend time establishing expectations and community. The following semester, the time invested early paid off with engaged students later.

Those first days, we also discuss:

• Published vs. private writing. I tell writers they may share whatever they like with me and the class. As a community of writers, we will share with each other. Most of our writing will be public, but some will be private.
• A community of writers. Writing and sharing ideas requires maturity and acceptance. Not everyone will agree is largely my motto (about negotiables, not human rights), and I stress with students that they may read and provide feedback with topics in which they do not agree.
• Routines. Writers write. That sentence might sound silly, but some people believe that humans are born with a skill to write or they are not. Writing well takes practice. The practice can be short and unconnected to a larger product. I typically begin each week with a quick writing prompt , and we share our responses, which of course, builds that community of writers.

Whatever you are teaching—a creative writing unit or a creative writing class—spend some time establishing your expectations and goals with your students. Laying a foundation is never a waste of time! In fact, I believe so much in the power of the first week of a creative writing class that I have a blog post devoted to the concept.

Time: 2-3 days

First weeks: creative nonfiction

Creative nonfiction seems to be the genre of our time. Memoirs, essays, and hermit-crab essays flood bookstores and journals.

When students read captions on social media, profiles of their favorite artists, or long Threads, they are reading creative nonfiction. Not only should students be able to dissect this form of writing, but they should also be able to write in our society’s preferred genre.

Below, I’ve outlined creative nonfiction activities that work with teenagers.

Nonfiction Narrative Writing

Writing narratives (and meeting those standards) are trickier with older students. As a teacher, I struggle: Students will often tell me deep, meaningful, and personal parts of their lives, and I am supposed to grade those writings!

When students write a narrative , I address this situation immediately. Share with writers that their narrative ideas are strong (I believe that to be the truth!), and that in no way are we grading their ideas. Rather, we want their excellent narratives to be communicated in the best light; therefore, we will provide guidance about the structures of narrative writing.

The topic for a nonfiction narrative varies. Often, students write about themselves as learners or as community members. Framing students in a positive way allows them to explore their strengths in life and to build confidence as writers.

Time: 7-9 days

Object Essay

An object essay might sound like a “blah” type of assignment, but the simplicity allows students to push past their normal experiences. An object essay is simple, so they can experiment with their writing.

What object? I have assigned this essay several ways. For instance, I have brought in a very plain object (like a rock) and had students explain it. I like this approach because students can work together to discover the best descriptions.

Another way, my preferred way, is to allow students to choose the object. Students write about a coffee cup, water bottle, car keys, or bus pass. When students choose, the essays are richer with meaning.

Neither approach disappoints me, though! With a plain object, students must stretch themselves to be creative. Judge what your class needs and get students writing!

Time: 3-4 days

How-to Paper

No, not a “how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich” paper. A fun and meaningful how-to paper can encourage classes as they see themselves as experts.

What I like about a how-to paper is students get to be the expert in their paper. Finding a used vehicle to buy? Shopping for a formal event? Saving money? Cleaning a closet? Selling at consignment stores? Each writer has an area in which they shine, and a how-to paper allows them to share their knowledge with others. They write about “behind the scenes” or little known secrets.

Of all the creative writing activities, I assign the how-to paper early. It builds confidence in young writers.

Time: 5 days

Sell this Apple

Why an apple? When I wanted students to creatively sell something, I searched for something they could all have in common but sell in different ways. I wanted classes to have one object but to witness the multiple approaches for advertising. Apples (which I could also afford to bring to class) fit nicely.

What do students sell when they “sell an apple”?

• Dips for apples.
• Apples for preschool snacks.
• Charcuterie apple boards.
• Apple crisp.
• Red and green apple rainbows.

Basically, students can create a marketing plan for multiple age groups and other demographics. For instance, they can write a blog post about safety in cutting pieces for young children (and complete some research in the process). They can then “promote” a local apple orchard or fruit stand.

Another advertisement is an apple pie recipe for a Thanksgiving brochure for a supermarket.

When I gave students something simple, like an apple, they ran with the idea. Then, we can share our ideas for selling apples.

A profile is difficult to write, so this assignment is normally my last assignment of the quarter. Before we switch to writing fiction, we apply all our concepts learned to writing a profile.

Profiles are more than summaries of the person. Writers must take an angle and articulate the person’s traits utilizing Showing vs. Telling. Of all creative writing assignments, the profile, might be the most difficult. I place it in the middle of the semester so that writers understand our goals in class but are not tired from the end of the semester.

Time: 10-12 days

Final weeks: fiction

Fantasy, historical fiction, mystery, romance: Students consume a variety of fiction via books, movies, and shows. Fictional creative writing activities invite young writers into worlds they already consume.

Below, I’ve outlined some that work with teenagers.

Alternative Point-of-View

Grab some googly eyes or some construction paper and send students loose. (A few guidelines help. Should students remove the googly eyes from the principal’s office door?) Have them adhere the eyes to an inanimate object to make a “being” who learns a lesson. They should snap a picture and write a quick story about the learned lesson.

What type of lesson? Perhaps an apple with a bruise learns that it still has value and is loved with blemishes. Maybe a fire extinguisher realizes that its purpose is important even if it isn’t fancy.

Honestly, the creativity with the googly eyes adhered to inanimate objects is so simple, but it always is my favorite event of the semester. I officially call it the “ alternative point-of-view ” activity, but “googly eyes” is how my writers remember it.

Time: 2 days

Create a Superhero with a Template

A superhero does not need to wear a cape or fancy shoes. Rather, in this creative writing activity, students build a superhero from a normal individual. When I created the activity, I envisioned students writing about a librarian or volunteer, but students often write about a grandparent (adorable).

Since students enjoy graphic novels, I wanted students to experience making a graphic novel. The colorful sheets allow students to add their ideas and words to pages that fit their messages.

After students create a comic book, they will also write a brief marketing campaign for a target audience. Learning about who would buy their graphic novel typically leads them to parents and librarians which should lead students to discover the importance of reading. The advertising campaign additionally serves as a reflective component for the initial activity.

Product Review

Product reviews and question/answer sections are a genre all their own. SO! Have students write reviews and questions/answers for goofy products . Students will find a product and write several reviews and questions/answers.

This quick activity lends itself to extension activities. Once, a teacher emailed me and said her school bought some of the goofy products for a sort of “sharing” day with the school. Since students have access to pictures of the item, you can make a “catalog” for the class out of a Canva presentation and share it with them and your colleagues.

Here are a few examples:

• Banana slicer .
• Horse head .
• Wolf shirt.

Aside from the alternative point-of-view activity, the product reviews remain my personal favorite part of a creative writing unit. Writers find random products and write goofy workups that they share with the class.

Time: 3 days

Character Creation

Creating a well-rounded and interesting character requires prep work. The brainstorming part of the writing process, the pre-writing? We spend lots of time in that area as we create fleshed out characters.

I like to start with a multiple-choice activity. We begin my imagining the main character. Next, students take a “quiz” as the character. How does the character eat? What sort of movies does the character enjoy? hate? After the multiple-choice activity, they can derive what those pieces explain about their characters. Finally, they can begin to brainstorm how those pieces will develop in their story.

Flash Fiction

Flash fiction is a simple, short story. Writers might cheer when they hear I expect a 300-word story, but often, they discover it is a challenging assignment from class. A large part of a creative writing unit is giving students a variety of lengths so they can practice their skills under different circumstances.

Historical Fiction

Historical fiction is a popular genre, and classes are familiar with many popular historical fiction books. I find it helpful to have several books displayed to inspire students. Additionally, I read from the books to demonstrate dialogue, pacing, theme, and more.

Since my historical fiction activity takes at least two weeks to accomplish, we work on that tough standard for narrative writing. To that end, these activities target the hardest components:

• Pacing within a narrative.
• Developing a theme .
• Building imagery .
• Creating external conflicts in a story.
• Establishing a setting .

First, I used pictures to inspire students, to get them brainstorming. Second, I created those activities to solve a problem that all writers (no matter the age!) have: Telling vs. Showing. I found that my writers would add dialogue that was heavy on explanation, too “world building” for their narrative. The story sounded forced, so I took a step back with them and introduced mini-activities for practicing those skills.

Third, the above creative writing activities can EASILY be assignments independently for short and fun assignments. I teach them with historical fiction because that activity is at the end of the semester when my expectations are higher, and because students enjoy writing historical fiction so they are invested.

But! You can easily add them to another narrative activity.

Time: 10-12 days 

A clean tabloid! Tabloids are largely replaced by online social sharing creators, so they are fun to review with students. Students might not be familiar with tabloids at the grocery store checkout, but they are familiar with catchy headlines. They will be completely ready to write a tabloid !

To ensure a clean tabloid, I ask students to write about a children’s show, something scandalous happening from a cartoon. The results are hysterical.

Time: 4 days

Children’s Book

I have two introductory activities for the children’s book. One, students answer questions about a mentor text (another children’s book). Two, students evaluate the language of a specific book to start them in their brainstorming.

My students write their children’s book as a final activity in class as it requires all the elements of creative writing. When a school requires me to give a final exam, students write a reflection piece on their children’s books. If you are looking for a finale for your creative writing unit, a children’s book is a satisfying ending as students have a memorable piece.

Time 10-12 weeks

Final note on creative writing activities and bundle

I intended for this post to inspire you and give you ideas for teaching either a creative writing unit or a creative writing class in ELA. My first time through teaching creative writing, I worried that my lessons would flop and that students would not find their groove with me. I found success, but with modifications, I formed a cohesive semester.

The first time through, I did not frontload information and expectations. (Spending time at the start of class is my biggest message! Please establish groundwork with students!) I also did not provide concrete enough guidelines so students understood the differences between the assignments. After a few semesters, I developed my creative writing unit . With a variety of activities and an appropriate amount of structure, I found success, and I hope you do too.

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High School English Teachers: I Planned Your First Week Back To School

Whether you’re a brand new teacher or you’ve been at this for a while, the first week of school is a crazy, roller-coaster ride of a week. Students' emotions are intense this week, and so are yours as their teacher. Plus, a lot more administrative stuff is asked of you. It can be a tough week, to put it mildly. 

What you need to make that first week run smoothly is a strong plan that allows everyone to feel safe.

So, I went ahead and planned that week for you. I’ve laid it all out here. It includes ways to connect with your students (on their terms); it also allows for you to begin equipping them with what they need to be successful in your class. 

I taught full-time for 13 years, and here’s what I found matters most during the first week of school:

• That students get a sense of who you are--that you are knowledgeable and caring
• That you start building relationships and rapport with your students, but on their terms
• That you start establishing class norms, routines, and expectations
• That you start getting into the material of the course in a way that sets them up to do well in your class

Everything you do that first week should have one or more of those elements in mind. I've got a lot of FREE LESSONS in this post. If you want to jump straight to those, click here . 

Without further ado, here's your first week of school, planned.

Monday: Welcome and Writing

When I was a brand-new teacher I did icebreakers that first day and then I would talk for a solid 30 minutes about my syllabus. Whatever you do, don’t do that. That was not a great plan because it threatened some students (icebreakers are hard), and then it bored all of them (syllabi are boring). 

Here’s a much better plan that I discovered over the years with help from colleagues:

Save your syllabus for the second day of school.

The first day of school is filled with so much listening for your students, and it’s exhausting for them. But when I say “listening,” I don’t really mean that they hear and register what the teacher is saying. It’s more like the listening that appears to be happening when a group of students is sitting at desks silently. They aren’t talking, but they aren’t listening. Because who could actually take all that information in when they’ve heard 5 other syllabi presentations that day? 

What’s more, why even bother listening if all that information is printed on the syllabus? They can just read it when they have questions. 

If you do your syllabus the first day of school, that's fine, but only spend 10-15 minutes on it. 

Instead of talking at length through your syllabus, have them do this first-day-of-school activity.  This activity allows you to give your students either a set of questions geared toward their history as a reader and a writer or a creative writing opportunity to see what their writing style is like (which can work great for more advanced classes or creative writing classes). 

You can grab this lesson and over 100 more resources when you become a member of the English Teacher Vault!

My History as a Reader and Writer Assignment

One of the options in this activity asks students a set of questions about their history as a reader and as a writer. These questions are broad as well as specific and work great with 9th-11th graders. Have them write for a pretty big chunk of the class period. 

Then, over the next several days you can read through these and get a sense of who your students are in a way that did not require them to embarrass themselves or think of something clever that rhymes with their names. 

Having students create name plates on that first day of school that they then bring back all week is also incredibly helpful as you start learning names. 

I go into a lot more details about this lesson in this blog post “Want An Outstanding Activity For The First Day of School?”

One added benefit of this activity for the first day of school is that it immediately gets students writing in your classroom, and they will start to relate your class with a place where meaningful writing is going to happen. It sets the tone. I like to start with a narrative writing unit early in the school year, and this first-day activity is narrative writing. Some students could later draw from what they’ve started here and develop it into a longer narrative writing piece. 

Tuesday: Syllabus, Accounts, and Norms

Briefly, cover your syllabus..

For Tuesday, hit the high points of your syllabus if you didn't go over it Monday, but do not read the syllabus to your students. I find it best to explain the late work policy, when you are available to respond to emails, and what your “office hours” are. Besides these things, students can read what’s on your syllabus. 

It’s also helpful to have your syllabus designed as an infographic that draws students’ attention to key places and lets them take the information in quickly and easily. We have an editable syllabus template in the English Teacher Vault that you can make your own when you become a member! 

Set up accounts.

If students need to set up any type of account for your classroom, this is the day to do it. Set aside 10 minutes for students to do this and then move on. 

Establish classroom norms.

The most important thing you will do on day two is to establish your classroom norms for the year. 

If you are not familiar with the concept of classroom norms, this will revolutionize how you handle classroom management, especially with secondary students. High school students are transitioning between childhood and adulthood, so it’s important they have some voice in what the expectations are for them at school. They have more ownership this way and more buy-in.

If this is all totally new to you, please jump over to this blog post and take 5 minutes to read all about what classroom norms are and the benefits of using them in your secondary classroom. 

In this blog post, my former colleague, Sam Bradford breaks down what norms are and how you can set them up early in the school year. 

Essentially, norms are principles decided upon by all your students--they are not rules that the teacher created and imposes on students. 

They are short and easy to remember, and they should also be revisited frequently. 

You can have your students brainstorm individually, and then work in small groups to start developing the classroom norms. As a class, you will ultimately decide on a handful of norms that will be your guiding principles every day. These norms might change later in the school year, and that is totally fine. They are dynamic! 

Here is a great free resource that walks you through how to set up norms in your high school ELA classroom: Norms Construction – A Process of Negotiation – School Reform Initiative

Wednesday: Get Into Grammar

Now that you’ve set up your classroom norms, you can jump into the content of your class. It’s important to get to meaningful learning in that first week to set the tone that this is a place where purposeful learning will happen. 

A focus on grammar is a way that students can be successful that first week, get needed review, and have the essentials that they will need to do well in your class going forward. 

By teaching a few highly-engaging grammar lessons this first week of school, you will set your students up for a clear path toward powerful writing for the rest of the school year. 

Teach vivid verbs on third day of school. Verbs are familiar to your students, but most students don’t realize the power of using action verbs instead of linking verbs. This lesson gets them there. 

I’ve put together a free parts of speech unit  that I’d love to give to you, so you have nothing to prep on this day at all (and for several other days those first few weeks). Each lesson includes:

• Direct instruction on the concepts of action and liking verbs, strong nouns, adjectives, and adverbs
• Amazing mentor sentences that showcase the power of each part of speech
• Sentence frames for students to start practicing using parts of speech well
• A video writing prompt that will further instruct students in using the concepts in their own writing
• Quick writes to follow up the lesson and to allow students to work with each part of speech

The free lessons will give students a sense that they have a path to becoming better writers, and your classroom is the place where that will happen. 

Thursday: Build On Grammar For Writing Success

For the fourth day of school, continue teaching grammar in a way that is engaging, purposeful, and with a clear purpose: for students to become better writers. 

From time to time, it’s good to start class with a very short hands-on game to review grammar concepts. These games should be low-stakes, and early in the school year they should not be competitive. Remember, you’re working hard to create a safe place that first week. 

This hands-on grammar game allows students to look at mentor sentences and then determine if each sentence has a linking verb or an action verb. Students can do this activity in pairs, or you can do it as a full class. There are several variations of how you could use this game depending on the size of your class. 

This activity comes with the free parts of speech unit! 

After this game, jump into a lesson on using strong nouns.    I know what you are probably thinking, “My high school students know all about nouns.” And I hear you, and I get that. They do know a thing or two about nouns, but let me tell you what this lesson does and does not do:

It does not:

• Require students write down the definition of nouns
• Require students do tedious worksheets finding nouns
• Challenge students to think about how to use nouns intentionally
• Remind students of the difference between concrete and abstract nouns
• Immediately give students a chance to write meaningful prose using nouns intentionally
• Let students have a little fun thinking about and playing around with nouns

If you’re worried that around this time (two grammar lessons in two days) your students will start to moan, whine, and complain that “grammar is boring,” or that they “know all this already,” or that “there’s no point in knowing grammar,” let me say this can be your response:

Grammar is a tool for better writing.

It is my strong belief that knowing grammar is indeed useless if you are only memorizing a bunch of terms (i.e. an adjective modifies a noun or pronoun). It's also useless if students are only working with grammar in isolation on worksheets or drills that don't affect their writing.

The purpose of grammar is for students to understand how language works, so they can apply those concepts to their own writing, creating powerful pieces of writing that let their voices be heard and even effect change. 

That’s it in a nutshell, but if you want to read more so that you are ready for your students (totally valid) questions regarding the point of grammar, check out this blog post, "Why Teaching Grammar Matters,"   that goes into much more detail about why grammar is so important. 

As a side note, I will say that in my experience, students don’t complain as much this first week of school. They generally have not gotten comfortable enough to complain, so I find that grammar earlier in the year works better for this reason as well. 

Friday: Quick Writes and First-Chapter Friday

As I mentioned above, grammar only matters if students take those concepts and use them in their own writing. 

So, on Friday give them a quick-write writing prompt that allows them to focus on using their nouns and verbs in a meaningful way. 

I’ve designed these quick-write prompts with open-ended questions; any student should be able to choose one and respond without much wracking their brains for a response. Then, they will look back over their writing and craft a few sentences with their nouns and verbs in mind. These prompts are scaffolded, meaning that I have a prompt that only focus on nouns, one that focuses on verbs, and another on adjectives. Then, there are ones that combine multiple skills. 

These writing prompts also provide a safe way to start getting to know your students better and build more rapport and community. 

Ask volunteers to share their response if they’d like, but don’t force anyone to talk. You’ll start to get a feel for everyone’s personalities by just opening it up to volunteers. This is day 5 with your students, so they will likely feel much more comfortable sharing about who they are on this day than they would have on day one or day two. 

For the rest of the class period, do a “First Chapter Friday” where you read students the first chapter of a book and allow them to jot down initial observations. Or, don't read the first chapter--instead have the actual author do it! 

Check out Now Spark Creativity's compilation of First Chapter Friday video reads HERE . 

It’s important students have some type of independent reading they are doing that they are not being quizzed on, and so it’s critical those first few weeks that you get them thinking about a book they can be reading on their own. 

For many years I started class with 10 minutes of sustained silent reading and this was when students would read their independent reading books. 

Why Do Grammar The First Week Of School

If your students have a strong understanding of basic concepts they will be set up for success in your class. 

Many teachers realize the importance of teaching writing concepts like organization and the difference between analysis and summary, but few teachers realize that without a clear and direct explanation of grammar concepts, students will struggle all year with how to write a concise idea in an articulate way. 

• If a student can see the difference between a vivid verb and a linking verb, they’ll start to grasp how vivid verbs can make their writing more interesting and far more concise. Their sentences will be packed with meaning instead of packed with words just taking up space. 
• If students grasp what modifiers are, they’ll start to think about ones that can be placed in different parts of their sentences to make their writing more compelling.
• If students know what a clause is, they can work with using multiple clauses in their sentences; they can create compound and complex sentences that are punctuated correctly. This helps them become more fluent writers! 

Most students have a lot of thoughts about a lot of topics, but they don’t know how to harness those thoughts into powerful sentences that someone else can understand. Grammar helps them do this. 

Now, I’m not saying you're going to tackle modifiers and clauses that first week of school, but I am saying, the sooner the better. 

If you’re not feeling confident with how to teach grammar in a way that engages your students and sets them up for successful writing for the entire school year, check out my full-year grammar curriculum that gives you every single lesson you need. It provides you with a pacing guide as well so that you can confidently move through the lessons knowing that concepts are building on each other. 

You get access to the whole curriculum when you become a member of the English Teacher Vault!

That first week of school focus on building a strong rapport with your students through

• Getting to know your students on their terms
• Giving students a sense of who you are (you are a knowledgeable and caring teacher with clear expectations)
• Establishing classroom norms
• Teaching grammar so that students have a clear path toward mastery in your class

I hope these first-week of school lesson plans have given you clarity and a sense of excitement as you get ready for the amazing students who will be in your class this school year! 

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Outrage as high school student is suspended just for using the term ‘illegal alien’ in class discussion.

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A 16-year-old North Carolina high school student says he was suspended just for saying “illegal alien” while discussing word meaning in English class — possibly ruining his chances of landing a college sports scholarship.

Christian McGhee, a student at Central Davidson High School in Lexington, received a three-day suspension last week after he used the term in English class, the Carolina Journal reported .

His mother, Leah McGhee, said his teacher had given an assignment that used the word “alien,” and Christian asked: “Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?”

Another student reportedly took offense and threatened to fight Christian, so the teacher took the matter to the assistant principal, according to the Carolina Journal.

Eventually, his words were determined to be offensive and disrespectful to Hispanic classmates, so he was suspended.

 “I didn’t make a statement directed towards anyone — I asked a question,” Christian told the outlet.

“I wasn’t speaking of Hispanics because everyone from other countries needs green cards, and the term ‘illegal alien’ is an actual term that I hear on the news and can find in the dictionary,” he added.

The suspension may also affect the student-athlete’s prospects of securing a college sports scholarship, the Journal noted.

“Because of his question, our son was disciplined and given THREE days OUT of school suspension for ‘racism,’” Leah wrote in an email describing the incident.

“He is devastated and concerned that the racism label on his school record will harm his future goal of receiving a track scholarship. We are concerned that he will fall behind in his classes due to being absent for three consecutive days,” she added in the message, which was shared with the outlet.

The irate mom said the assistant principal has refused to remove the suspension from the boy’s record, so the family has hired an attorney.

On Tuesday, Leah appeared on “The Pete Kaliner Show,” which airs on radio station WBT, and said her family had once lived in England, and Christian mentioned how Britons also need green cards to live in the US, Newsweek reported . She said she and her husband told the assistant principal that “illegal alien” is a term their son can look up in a dictionary. “It is a term used as federal code, and it is a term that is heard frequently on many news broadcasts,” Leah said on the show. “I feel that if this was handled properly in the classroom, it could have easily been used as a teachable moment for everyone.”

Republican state Sen. Steve Jarvis said he has contacted the school district superintendent about the matter — but he has not yet taken a stance on what should be done.

“I do not see that that would be an offensive statement, just in getting clarification,” Jarvis told the Journal. “But there again, I don’t know. I don’t know the situation of this particular incident.”

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The popular X account Libs of TikTok also weighed in by saying Christian’s record could be “damaged” by the brouhaha over political correctness.

“Please support this based student by helping to raise awareness to his story!” the conservative account wrote in the post, which has received more than 4 million views.

Among those to respond was X owner Elon Musk, who wrote: “This is absurd.”

Conservative personality Ian Miles Chong called it “insane.”

“How does one get suspended for using the term illegal alien?” he asked.

Libs of TikTok added: “Hopefully North Carolina officials can step in and ensure his record isn’t tarnished in any way because he’s trying to secure an athletic scholarship for college.

“He should not be persecuted for using the correct term just because the left is trying to change our entire language,” the account added.

A staffer at Central Davidson High School told Newsweek that they could not comment about a specific student due to federal protections.

“Please know that Davidson County Schools administrators take all discipline incidents seriously and investigate each one thoroughly,” the rep told the mag. “Any violation of the code of conduct is handled appropriately by administrators.”

The student handbook says that “schools may place restrictions on a student’s right to free speech when the speech is obscene, abusive, promoting illegal drug use, or is reasonably expected to cause a substantial disruption to the school day,” the Carolina Journal reported.

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