creative writing prompts high school

creative writing prompts high school

Creative Writing Prompts for High School Students

1. Introduction

Dear Teachers, I know you work hard, so you’ve probably spent your summer planning and pinning creative ideas and activities on your Pinterest boards. But what about when your plans implode for those days your school goes on lockdown, when it’s raining, when it’s testing day week, when it’s the end of May and everyone is already checked out or when your lessons went amazingly quick and you have extra time at the end? I know too well as a teacher – you need those quick, no-prep, effective writing lesson plans, you need engaging prompts to keep your students’ minds afloat and still fulfilling curriculum standards. All of the above is why I’ve put my best lesson plans in a book. And this is not just any book – these are kick-ass prompts with ten lessons for the time-pressed teacher, advertising their benefits and why those lessons are important, example mentor texts, student writing examples, brainstorming/planning and templates that can be used with any prompt! This writing curriculum is Common Core and NEW TEKS Aligned (Texas) compatible and I’ve tested it on students, students who usually hate writing and have a hard time following through with a plan. But not with this. This is the real thing and I’m telling you it works. This is what you need to get your students cracking and enjoying writing all year round. These lessons will have your students creating effective plot adding details with imagery and thoughts between characters and building up tension using punctuation and word choice. Still not convinced? Read some testimonies from teachers and purchase a single guided lesson to test out. I promise you, you will have no regrets. Your thoughtful comment and feedback is welcomed to help improve these lessons. Please spread the word! Happy Writing!

An Introduction from the Author

2. Section One: Narrative Writing Prompts

7. Comparing/Contrasting Two Things or Ideas: Write a story in which you compare and contrast high school to college, and all the experiences of each.

6. Comparing/Contrasting Two Things or Ideas: Write a general action-filled story with two characters who couldn’t be more different from each other.

5. Dialogues: Write a story in which two people have an argument but it ends up bringing them closer together.

4. First Person Point of View: “We all make mistakes. Happy people learn from them.” – Unknown. In a narrative, tell a story where someone has made a mistake but the ending is happy.

3. First Person Point of View: Write a narrative in which you tell about an experience that has changed your life in a positive way.

2. First Person Point of View: Write about a time when you were talked into something that you didn’t want to do, or something that you talked someone else into.

3. Section Two: Descriptive Writing Prompts

Often we categorize people. The careless (but not necessarily bad) person who always breaks things, the incorrigibly messy person; some find it hard to throw anything away, and the very neat person who becomes frustrated when things are out of place. Well, these next three prompts will give you a chance to put people into your surroundings. Whether it be a character of your own devising, or someone you know well, this is a chance to practice writing interaction between characters as well as vividly personifying a scene.

The manner in which you are able to present a place (visualizing and describing it) as well as creating the atmosphere and the conditions in that place (affecting your reader’s emotions and perceptions), will show, to a very large extent, your abilities in creating a good vivid setting. Being able to create a clear vivid picture, utilizing your words and phrases is essential. Below are some highly detailed visualization prompts which will help to develop these specific writing skills. Remember, that these prompts are here simply to guide and get you started, and that you can take them in any direction you choose, making use of the unlimited possibilities.

4. Section Three: Persuasive Writing Prompts

The direction you are headed throughout your life is usually determined by the amount of education you have received. After considering the level of resources, preparation, and the various opportunities offered at a private school, it is safe to say that it is much easier to move ahead in your studies and possibly create a brighter future for yourself. In addition, private schools offer much smaller class sizes than public schools. With this in mind, students can receive a lot more one-on-one attention from teachers, which would do wonders for anyone’s education. With better resources, more opportunities, a higher quality of education, more learned intellect, smaller class sizes, and more individual attention, a private school clearly is the best choice for anyone concerned with optimizing their own education.

Your parents are trying to decide whether to send you to a public school or a private school. Most public schools do not have up-to-date facilities, equipment, or textbooks. Public schools are underfunded and in this situation, who suffers the most? The students. Students who are striving to achieve a good education, to move on to a better position in life through continuous learning are being hindered without the proper tools. Wouldn’t you say the same child would have a better chance of doing that at a private school? In this case, it is inferred that with all of the best tools and resources, we can get the best final product. So in turn, more intellect is cultivated at a private school than at a public school. One could argue this because private schools have more control over who they admit, so they can select students who are a good match for the school and weed out the ones who are not.

5. Conclusion

The unpredictable and exciting nature of the exercises presented in this unit is sure to captivate the interest of high school students. It has been designed in a way that is easy to follow and the instructions are clear enough that students may even undertake the activities on their own. This is vital as the independent writing that students will do of their own volition is what is needed to truly extend them outside of the classroom, and that should be the ultimate goal!

This unit has focused predominantly on engaging with the students in ways that inspire them to write with greater commitment. By providing varied creative writing exercises, the students are working in interesting and sometimes bizarre ways. However, whenever you feel that they are tiring and the quality is slipping, the teacher can take them back into ‘guided writing with a form or genre’. By providing creativity within the structure, it still encourages better quality and fulfillment in the writing tasks. The above ways will ensure that each student is challenged at all levels. These activities can be effective not just for high school students but for all levels.