Sharon Watson, Author at Writing with Sharon Watson-Easy-to-use Homeschool Writing and Literature Curriculum

Exiled

What does Jesus’ disciple John have in common with Napoleon Bonaparte? I suppose the image below gives it away, but, yes, they were both exiled—banished from the homes and countries they loved.

John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos in AD 95 during Roman persecution of Christians. While banished to the island, John wrote the book of Revelation. Vistas of the Mediterranean Sea may be beautiful from there, but the island itself is only 30 square miles and very rocky and sterile.

Napoleon Bonaparte, the former emperor of France after the French Revolution, was actually exiled twice. The first time,

New Species: Have You Heard of Sparklemuffin?

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Every year, paleontologists (those who study fossils or life in prehistoric times) find evidence of a species we didn’t know about before, like a new species of terror bird (Llallawavis scagliai) in Argentina. Its skeleton shows it was ten feet tall!

And, often, other types of scientists discover new animals or species still living that no one knew about. For instance, the kitefin shark was recently discovered in the deep sea off the coast of New Zealand. It not only luminesces but also its dorsal fin “emits light,” according to smithsonianmag.com. And now we know about a spider that looks like it has a peacock tail. It has been dubbed Sparklemuffin (Maratus jactatus), according to livescience.com.

In addition, a bird thought extinct for over 150 years surprisingly has turned up in a rainforest in Borneo. Ornithologists captured the black-browed babbler as it flitted through the trees. Then they photographed it for identification and sent it on its way, according to smithsonianmag.com.

Jesse Owens Proved Him Wrong

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Adolf Hitler, chancellor of Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, believed that Black people were inferior. He thought they were savages and had less intellectual power than white people.

So when a super-fast runner named Jesse Owens proved him wrong and won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Hitler and his Nazi followers were infuriated. He said Blacks should be banned from the games because they were primitive.

Despite all the struggles Jesse Owens had with other people because of his skin color, he wrote in his autobiography,

Personal Narrative: Not Quite How I Remembered It

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Have you ever visited a house you used to live in or a place you used to visit as a child?

Does it seem smaller to you or different in some way?

In this passage from “Remembrance, Ohio,” Ray Bradbury describes what it’s like to go back to a familiar place after a long time and find that it is not quite what you had remembered:

Miracles

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Mr. George McWhirter Fotheringay doesn’t believe in miracles.

At least, that’s what H. G. Wells tells us in his short story “The Man Who Could Work Miracles.” First published in 1898, it tells of a man who didn’t believe in miracles but ended up doing some anyway.

One day, Mr. Fotheringay argues his case in a local tavern. He defines a miracle as “something contrariwise to the course of nature done by the power of Will, something that couldn’t happen without being specially willed.”

While arguing against miracles, he ends up doing one.

The Legend of Linda the Lonely

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

“Long, long ago, in a lavish lodge near the village of Liverwurst, lived a lovely lass called Linda the Lonely.

Linda was lonely because, ever since she was a little girl, she had been
locked in the lodge by her wicked uncle, Lord Ludwig of Liverwurst.”

So begins “The Legend of Linda the Lonely” in The Sesame Street Book of Fairy Tales.

By now you have noticed something strange about the first paragraph of poor Linda’s story—it’s full of the letter “L.”

National Park Service Centennial High School Writing Prompts

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Have you seen the presidents on Mount Rushmore? Walked among the giant sequoias of Yosemite National Park? Stood on the precipice of the Grand Canyon? Explored an underwater shipwreck as a Junior Ranger?

The United States’ National Park Service turned 100 in 2016, but even before it was formed, 35 national parks and monuments were already in operation. We can celebrate a rich heritage of forests, deserts, mountains, sweeping landscapes, historical sites, and other treasures saved for our education and enjoyment.

Doctors and Assisted Suicide

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

You are a doctor, and you have been told that you must assist a patient with their suicide. If you don’t you will be breaking the law.

Doctors in some American states, in Quebec, and in some Scandinavian countries are facing this increasingly ethical dilemma: Help patients kill themselves or be punished.

In fact, doctors in Quebec, through Bill 52, are given a kit with three medicines designed to calm their patients’ anxiety and then stop their breathing, according to the Church Around the World.

Brittany Maynard, a vivacious 29-year-old woman dying of cancer of the brain, committed suicide in 2014 with the help of her physician. You can read her story here.

J. J. Hanson, a Marine Corp veteran, learned that he, too, is suffering from the same inoperable brain cancer that Brittany Maynard dealt with. You can read his story here.

Edgar Allan Poe and “The Bells”

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809. Though that is over 200 years ago, we still read his work today.

He’s famous for his short stories and for poems like “The Raven.” (You know, that “Nevermore” poem.)

In an essay, Poe explained how he was very careful to choose just the right words for how they sound and for the effect he was trying to achieve. You’ll see that he was very successful in his poem “The Bells,” which is rich with writer’s devices.

Violence and Martin Luther King Jr.

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for racial equality in the 1950s and early 1960s before he was assassinated, but he did not advocate violence as a means of reaching this goal.

Read the following excerpt taken from Stride Toward Freedom, written by him in 1958:

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