Description | Exposition | Narration | Persuasion | All
Want to inspire your teens to write? Could you use some engaging writing prompts that won’t put your teens to sleep? You’ve come to the right place!
You’ll find prompts for opinions, descriptions, story writing, current events, prompts that are really tutorials in disguise, and much more. Complete instructions are included with each prompt.
Looking for tutorials on essay writing, proofreading, and so on? Interested in writing prompt bundles that span many grades? Click here.
Find prompts for your middle school students here.
Thanks for visiting the High School Prompts page. If you have a writing prompt you would like to submit, please contact Sharon Watson.
“You can’t wait for inspiration.
You have to go after it with a club.”
— JACK LONDON
Brrr! Writing Prompts for Winter
SHARON’S BLOG
Snow-softened landscape. Frozen lakes. Sledding. Hot chocolate.
Blizzards. Ice-slick streets. Cancellations.
Winter—it’s all in there. Here are a few prompts about winter that your students will enjoy, giving them a chance to write their opinions, a short story, a TV script, and more.
Just right for your 5th – 12th graders.
Motif: Don’t Say Goodbye to Winter Yet
Let’s celebrate one of literature’s coldest motifs: ice queens.
What is a motif?
A motif (mow TEEF) is like a symbol on steroids. It not only appears in one story but in many stories through the ages and often in stories from many countries.
A deep, dark woods is a good example of a motif. The blackened forest can be symbolic of confusion or a time of testing. What stories can you think of that include a patch of dark woods? (I’ve listed a few at the end of this prompt, but try your hand at listing some before you read mine.)
A motif can be an item (like dark woods or a magic ring), a recurring event (like being sent on a quest or conducting a contest to find a spouse), or a (more…)
Christmas Prompts
SHARON’S BLOG
An edict. A carol. A strange decoration.
What do all these have in common? They are all part of our fun Christmas prompts.
Enjoy these prompts created especially for 5th – 12th graders.
Ho, ho, ho, and away we go . . . (more…)
Hobbit Day
Happy Hobbit Day!
Did you know that September 22 is officially Hobbit Day and the beginning of Tolkien Week? You can read more about it here and here and here.
To celebrate, let’s explore the hero’s journey, an essential type of plot.
The call
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien is basically a hero’s journey plot. Is the lowly Bilbo a hero when we first meet him? Not really. But through testing and troubles, and by fights against giant spiders, a dragon, and miserable dwarves, he becomes a hero.
One important phase of the hero’s journey plot is (more…)
What Failures Will You Turn into Successes This Year?
Welcome to a new year!
A new year is time for new plans, new goals, and new ideas.
It is also a time for second chances.
So, let’s talk about failures.
Failures?
Thomas Edison, inventor of the phonograph (forerunner of the record player), the light bulb, and the movie camera, was told in school that he was “too stupid to learn anything.”
Walt Disney, according to the newspaper editor who fired him, (more…)
Summertime Bundle 2
Summertime! The key word here is “enjoy.” Enjoy these fun and thought-provoking prompts and writing ideas. Enjoy their summery-ness. And enjoy that your 5th – 12th graders are writing but you are not grading!
There are six prompts and prompt bundles waiting for your children and one article for you.
Ready? Let’s go . . .
(more…)
