"Towards Effective Writing Prompts" - A Day in the Life of____, The Person I DON'T want to be, and My REAL Summer Vacation (ETJ Saitama)

Existing English curriculum for junior high school students in contemporary Japan may be considered lacking in the area of extemporaneous or compositional writing. Contributing factors to this are varied, but the element of social expectations may be remedied through relatively simple transformations of existing narrative structures and by borrowing conventional plot devices from outside the classroom. Displacement of the assumed "right" response into areas of vagueness or previously unconventional areas may have the effect of challenging more skilled students to re-assess their abilities, but also to reduce expectations of among less skilled students and thus reduce typical competitive and goal-oriented pressures.

This was written when I thought big words were impressive!

Long story short, try these writing prompts and see what happens-

• One day in the life of ___________. 

Writers give a voice to an object, commonplace or otherwise, that cannot speak for itself. What does a day look like for a desk, the money in your pocket, or a birthday candle? What does it want? What events in life is it present for? Tell me!

• The person I DON'T want to be

Most students have a clear idea of what to write when tasked with a "tell me your dream scenario." Be a soccer player, be a singer, be a doctor. The results of this prompt are among the most touching I've had, and even at the most basic composition levels informed me of what was true and valuable to my students. 

• The REAL story of my summer vacation

This was an odd one - after receiving literal dozens of identical writing assignments - students telling me that they went to their grandparents and had an interesting time; that they studied at juku; that they practiced very hard with their club - it was deflating to such a lack of engagement, and another plodding pursuit of the "right answer." Tell your students that had all the money they needed, all the charisma to get whatever date or social engagement they wanted, and the ability to travel and pull people together as need be. What did they do with all that power? Show us!

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