daily writing promps

daily writing promps

The Benefits of Daily Writing Prompts in Enhancing Creativity and Productivity

1. Introduction to Daily Writing Prompts

This was clearly the case of my seventh graders. It is not new information, but it served to remind me of the differences I have made and can continue to make in the students who cross my path. Small sparks have been ignited in what may well become lifelong readers and writers.

As a previous teacher of writing, administrator of writing programs, and writing consultant, this was not surprising. Research is clear about the positive effects of daily writing opportunities for students at all grade levels. In a review of the literature by Graham and Perin on writing, they report, “Children who engage in a variety of language activities write more and produce a greater number of words, sentences, and stories of greater length and quality than control students.”

During this trying and stressful time, my seventh grade students have found some solace in taking pen to paper and writing a story for their daily writing prompt. Each day brings a unique challenge to write about. I was amazed at how invested my students were in their writing. They would send me emails asking me to respond to what they had written. These brief stories enabled me to get to know my students better. Some revealed their joy of writing, while others shared angst. I was amazed at how well they could write under such serious life stress. In addition to improving their writing skills, I noticed they improved in their enjoyment of writing, development of ideas, and self-expression.

2. The Psychological and Cognitive Benefits of Daily Writing

By experiment’s end, participants in the experiment group showed improvements, not only in their writing, but in their immune system as well. As it turns out, in the experiment group, the participants developed significantly stronger immune systems. Specifically, the participants produced higher levels of antibodies compared to the control group. Moreover, up to four months after the writing exercises, the study also found that the boosted immune system is long lasting since the participants were still showing increased immune function over time. In conclusion, this study suggests that just 4 consecutive days of expressive writing in participants’ personal diaries could permanently enhance immune function. More intriguing is the fact that the participants who wrote with a lot of negative emotion not only felt good after the 4 days of writing in terms of improved mood, symptoms, and distress, but also had the strongest and enduring immune booster. Indeed, daily expressive writing has not only been reported to cause improvements in mood, overall well-being, and social behavior, but also to result in behavioral changes such as more avid church attendance, fewer symptoms of disease, better cognitive processing speed, and working memory.

According to tons of research, another great reason to put pen to paper is the incredible psychological and cognitive health benefits. Over the last decade, science has recorded the cognitive and psychological benefits of daily writing exercises and their capacity to affect our psychological and cognitive health. An interesting study revealed that regular writing, especially writing about emotional events, clearly boosts the immune system. This interesting finding comes from a study that had participants write about their most traumatic experiences. The participants in the experimental conditions were specifically asked to confront their emotions, while the control group was simply asked to write about innocuous topics.

3. Practical Tips for Incorporating Daily Writing Prompts into Your Routine

4. Participate in production. The tendency is to stay immersed in the writing process by becoming involved in a larger written project. After all, you are going to be spending time every day writing – whether a short story or a heavy body of work. This is a challenge when writing the draft of an ongoing project. Mentoring and encouragement can lessen a writer’s anxiety and isolation.

3. Adopt the mindset. Many writers experience less stress, anxiety, and positive effects from devoting part of their day to the art of writing for writing’s sake. Circumstances permitting, write a mini-arc of an idea. Time constraints keep the writing tight and honed, ensuring an economic use of words. Allow writers to familiarize themselves with the concept of finding the story structure and voice.

2. Set goals. Each day set a different goal for your writing. One day make the idea the goal, the following brainstorming will help shape the idea and make it relatable. Try to refrain from mechanical corrections and critiques.

1. Write regularly. Prime your brain by doing a brief writing warm-up before starting big projects. This primes brain activity and opens your mind to the creative avenues, both fact and fiction, allowing your work-in-progress to blossom.

4. Case Studies and Success Stories of Daily Writing Prompt Users

Case Study 1: An EFL Composition Class Instead of assigning a term paper as a final assignment, students were asked to write daily on various topics throughout the term. The instruction they received employed a color approach, prompting students to use descriptive terms, or “juicy words” as they are playfully referred to in writing color studies. A weekly portfolio submission supported the DWP process, as it was often students’ revised work. The course grade, which was once heavily weighted in long-drawn out research and creative papers, took a completely different approach. It is interesting to note that for 90% of the students, this experience was a life-changing one. What this research showed was that the more students practiced daily writing, the better they read, wrote, and taught themselves.

After presenting the rationale and the potential benefits of using daily writing prompts in classroom and non-classroom settings, and based on the author’s experience, students’ feedback, and relevant literature, case studies and success stories of daily writing prompt users are presented along with the author’s commentary. It is important to stress that in no way does the work presented herein advocate for the abolition of long writing tasks in a composition course. Any recommended approach (i.e., the use of DWP) serves to invigorate the writing class.

5. Conclusion: Embracing the Power of Daily Writing Prompts

As scientists or students, our job essentially is to tell a story. Through our work, we postulate a new hypothesis, propose an experiment to test the hypothesis, and ultimately provide results of the experiment to readers in the form of published manuscripts, theses, and other presentations. After considering the feedback, the current feedback cycle, and the subsequent revisions, we achieve our ultimate goal of publishing the complete story for public scrutiny. The increasing pace of publishing their daily thoughts is due, in part, to our perception that our ability to publish is correlated with our creativity and productivity. Considering this link between our publishing and our thoughts, and the resultant need to inspire students to publish, we created this manuscript as a thought experiment to learn more about generating and maintaining a daily writing habit. We can no longer dismiss the convenience and speed of web publishing as a viable target. What better place to practice this daily publishing habit for both students and scientists than within our own respective schools, where we can protect our students with a critical eye and a safe place to express their creative voices?

Writing is the authors’ primary vehicle for learning and communicating, which is why we need to inspire students to write every day. Although the challenges of publishing are ever-increasing, we are acutely aware of the link between writing for the public and increasing our creativity and productivity. We discuss the benefits of daily writing prompts among students and scientists and asked members of the aquatic science community to use a daily writing prompt during a 1-week trial but failed to generate daily participation.