Writing Prompts

Creative Writing Marathon!

Please use this period to either:

a.     Use this gift of time to independently write! Draft a piece that you’ve been wanting to write, but haven’t had the opportunity.

OR

b.    Use the prompts below to guide your creativity through the period and get lost with your pen and your imagination.  Spend the whole period on one or two or challenge yourself to do as many as possible.

1.     Create a “persona” poem based on something you’ve learned in social studies (take on the voice of a person from history)

2.     Create a “found” poem from an Upfront article or your independent reading book (all words of the poem must come from the text, but you are free to organize them as you wish)

3.     Invent a new kind of poem with a specific format in terms of rhyme, rhythm, repetition, etc.)

4.     Write an alphabet poem.

5.     Write a six word memoir.  (Challenge: write one for each self defined “era” of your life or write one for your most important memories. Example: Fountainhair bangs blue shaved now grey.)

6.     Personify a color by writing a monologue, poem, or short story in its voice

7.     Write a poem from the perspective of a person you’ve gotten in an argument with.  (Challenge: Then write your perspective)

8.     Write a rant about something that drives you crazy

9.    Get inspired by a poem that you like. Take a line from it and use it as your first line, make allusions to it in your own poem, use the same structure, write about the same theme, or write a poem addressing the poet or narrator.    

10. Craft a story that uses all of the following words: eagle, yellow, bridge, secret

11. Craft a story with the following first line: I slowly backed up and sat in the nearest chair.

 “Publish” one of these pieces to your blog. Due Thursday February 6.

Example of alphabet poem/song.

“Alphabet Aerobics” by Blackalicious

Artificial amateurs, aren't at all amazing
Analytically, I assault, animate things
Broken barriers bounded by the bomb beat
Buildings are broken, basically I'm bombarding
Casually create catastrophes, casualties
Canceling cats, got their canopies collapsing
Detonate a dime of dank daily doin' dough
Demonstrations, Don Dada on the down low
Eating other editors with each and every energetic epileptic episode
Elevated etiquette
Furious, fat, fabulous, fantastic
Flurries of funk fell, feeding the fanatics
Gift got great, global goods gone glorious
Gettin godly in this game with the goriest
Hit em high, hella height, historical
Hey holocaust hints, hear 'em holler at your homeboy
Imitators idolize, I intimidate
In an instant, I'll rise in an irate state
Juiced on my jams like Jheri curls jocking joints
Justly, it's just me, writing my journals
Kindly I'm kindling all kinds of ink on
Karate kick type Brits in my kingdom
Let me live a long life, lyrically lessons is
Learned lame louses just lose to my livery
My mind makes marvelous movies, masses
Marvel and move, many mock what I've mastered
Niggas nap knowing I'm nice, naturally
Knack, never lack, make noise nationally
Operation, opposition, off, not optional
Out of sight, out of mind, wide beaming opticals
Perfected poem, powerful punchlines
Pummeling petty powder puffs in my prime
Quite quaint quotes keep quiet it's Quannum
Quarrelers ain't got a quarter of what we got, uh
Really raw raps, risin up rapidly
Riding the rushing radioactivity
Super scientifical sound search sought
Silencing super fire saps that are soft
Tales ten times talented, too tough
Take that, challengers, get a tune up
Universal, unique, untouched
Unadulterated, the raw uncut
Verb vice lord victorious valid
Violate vibes that are vain make em vanish
Why in my world would a wise wordsmith just
Weaving up words, weeded up on my workshift
Xerox my X-radiation holes extra large
X-height letters and xylophone tones
Yellow-back, yak mouth, young ones' yaws
Yesterday's lawn yardsale, I yawn
Zig-Zag zombies, zooming to the zenith
Zero in, zen thoughts, overzealous rhyme ZEA-LOTS!....

  

Writing Poetry

Today's activity is to write a poem on visual art. See my other blog: http://msgalangenglish.blogspot.com/2011/01/making-observations-and-interpretations.html.

Capturing the Small Moments of Winter

 I love snow days because they are a break from normal routines and give us opportunities to slow down our lives. Today we are going to write haikus to capture small moments we love about winter. Write a few. You don't have to follow the 5-7-5 syllable structure.

Haiku by Kobayashi Issa, Japanese poet (1763-1827)

        Crescent moon--
bent to the shape
        of the cold.
 

        New Year's Day--
everything is in blossom!
        I feel about average.
 

Haiku by D. Galang

Stretch in bed
No need for alarm
Snowy slumber

Snow suits, mittens
Restrict limbs
Keep body free of cold

Living in New York

Think about the sprawling metropolis in which we live. In your notebook, write about the following:

• What do you find inspiring about it? 
• What problems do you see? 

Give specific examples and details. Include ideas about your neighborhood and the rest of the city as well. 

Homework: Bring in an article, poem, or song lyrics that express something inspiring or disappointing about where you live. Read and annotate it. Write a 2 paragraph summary and explanation of why you chose it (in your notebook). 

People who Inspire: Shabana Basij-Rasikh

There are countless people in the world who risk their lives to improve the lives of people in their communities. One such person is Shabana Basij-Rasikh who opened a school for girls in her village in Afghanistan. We are going to watch a video of her giving a speech at a TED conference.

Dare to Educate Afghan Girls

http://www.ted.com/talks/shabana_basij_rasikh_dare_to_educate_afghan_girls.html


As we watch the video, take notes in your notebook; make three columns in this way:

What I notice:                               What I think:                                  What I want to know more about?




After the video, write for 10-15 minutes about something the video inspires in you.

Here are some ideas:
- choose 1 or more genres to write in: list, web, poem, story, illustration, article, personal narrative, etc. or create a synthesis page
- choose a topic - write about Shabana or another person who makes a difference in society; write about one of the social issues raised: access to education, developing nations, war, immigration, Afghanistan, the Taliban; connect the video to other texts that you have seen or read

Other related videos and resources:
- http://www.ted.com/talks/natalie_warne_being_young_and_making_an_impact.html

Being Inspired by Other Students

Let other students' Monday Muses blog posts inspire you to write.

1. Whose blog posts inspired you most? Why?
2. What are some ideas you have for writing?
3. Based on the inspiration you have received from student blogs, choose your own topic, and write a Monday Muses entry in your notebook.

Some Writing Prompts to Keep the Muses Alive

We were unable to do our weekly Muses this week, and next Monday, we are off for Veterans' Day. I know we all miss this writing time, so here are 2 prompts to write about in your notebook by Friday November 15. Choose 1 to revise and turn into a polished piece and publish it on your blog by Monday November 18.

1. What is your favorite picture book? Why? What are your specific memories of it? Why is it relevant to your life today? If you cannot think of a specific book, write about a children's movie. Or write about both.



2. Write about something that you recently saw, did, thought or talked about, listened to, or watched that inspired you. It could be a fun activity that you did over the weekend, a sports game you participated in, movie you watched. Describe it.


Here is my example:

Growing up, my parents didn't read to me. They bought me books from Troll Catalogue quite frequently and encouraged me to read. My familiarity and love of picture books didn't come until I became a parent for the first time six years ago. Since then, I have become an avid reader of all the classics and newly published children's books; I use my children as an excuse to read these books.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is a text we have read and recited numerous times in my house. It is a favorite, so much so that on Halloween in 2008, our family costumes focused on the characters from this book. My husband and I were the Wild Things and my daughter was Max in a wolf suit, a costume I made by stitching ears and a tail to an off white hooded sweatshirt and pants.

The themes in the text are so relevant to childhood. Max reminds me now of my three-year old son who is often causing mischief and having tantrums and time-outs. The book helps me appreciate when he gets all wild, and comforts me by reminding me that his period of kicking, crying, yelling, throwing and saying, "I don't like Mommy" will ebb into the horizon until a new tide flows in.

Sendak's illustrations tell the story just as well as the words do. I love the series of wordless pages of Max and the Wild Things and their wild rumpus through the forest. I like to stop at these pages and ask the kids what they see, what they think the characters are doing, and whether or not they would like to be where Max is.

The end of the book is also a wonderful transition to sleep. Max returns to his room safely, tired from his journey, and he has his supper waiting for him, "and it was still hot." It is this feeling that I wish for my children at the end of the day, an appreciation for home after sailing and stomping through the forests of childhood.