Creative Writing Prompts for High School Students

Whether youre a student or a teacher, these writing prompts for  high school students are going to come in handy if youre looking to inspire better writing. Often, kids get stuck – confused, exasperated, irritated – putting their thoughts on paper, because theyre bored with the same old book reports, essays and summaries. But one of the only ways to become a better writer is to keep at it whether the assignment is motivational or not. Youre never going to become a better 3-point shooter if you dont stand behind the line and make the shots. Writing is the same way. You have to get in there and give it a go. Here are some writing prompts for high school students that may just inspire you or your students to give those ideas rattling around in your brain some room to breathe. 4-Item 1-Paragraph Story Come up with four things: A specific source of light (a flashing neon light reading: 21 and Over, a flickering fluorescent bulb, moonlight filtering through drawn shades)A specific object (a pink hairbrush with blonde hair matted in the bristles, a discarded replica of a Dali painting, a baby robin poking its wobbly head from a rickety nest)A sound using onomatopoeia (the pinging of a glass bottle ricocheting across a cobblestone street, the ching of a handful of coins in a mans pocket, the wet splat of phlegm hitting the sidewalk from the old lady smoking near the laundromat)A specific place (the dingy alley between Brooks St. and 6th Ave., the empty science classroom filled with glass beakers, hot plates and frogs floating in formaldehyde, the darkened, smoky interior of Flannigans Pub) Once you create the list, write a one-paragraph story using each of the four items and a single protagonist of your choosing. The story has to briefly introduce the protagonist, put him or her through a struggle (large or mild) and resolve the struggle in one way or another. Its much more fun to write if you keep the list items as random as possible and to put them all together at the end. Dont plan your story prior to creating the list! Teacher Alternative Students must write one of each list item (light, object, sound and place) on a slip of paper, and then place each in separately marked boxes on your desk. To write the story, students must draw an item from each of the boxes and write their story after, ensuring they cant plan the story prior to selecting the items. Crazy Lyrical Dialogue Go to a lyrics website and select a song randomly, preferably one youve never heard or one to which you dont know the lyrics. For instance, Fergies A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got).Then, scroll through the song and select the craziest lyric you can find that would be appropriate for school. In Fergies song, it might be What do you think, GoonRock? because its the nuttiest phrase on there.Repeat this process twice more, selecting two more songs and two more crazy lyrics.Then, start a conversation with the first lyric you selected between two people very unlikely to use the phrase. For instance, you might write something like, What do you think, GoonRock? Aunt Ida asked Bernie, sitting two wheelchairs away in Serenity Meadows Assisted Living Center.Once you get the conversation going, insert the other two lyrics elsewhere, shifting the dialogue to make sure the conversation between the two characters makes sense. Continue until you can end the conversation definitively, with a resolution that meets the needs of one of the characters. Teacher Alternative Have the students complete the first part of the assignment themselves, then exchange lyrics with people next to them so they end up with a set of three theyve never seen. Assign a dialogue length or number of exchanges and grade the punctuation. 3 Voices Choose three popular characters. They can be cartoon characters (Ren from Ren and Stimpy, Michelangelo from TMNT), protagonists from plays or novels, (Bella from the Twilight series, Benvolio from Romeo and Juliet) or characters from movies or TV shows (William Wallace from Braveheart, Jess from New Girl). Choose a popular fairy tale. (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Hansel and Gretel, etc.) Write three, one-paragraph summaries of your selected fairy tale using each of your chosen characters voices. How would William Wallaces version of Tom Thumb differ from Bella Swans? Think about the details each character would notice, the words he or she would use, and the tone in which he or she would relate the story. Bella might wonder about the safety of Tom Thumb, whereas William Wallace might commend him on his bravery, for example. Teacher Alternative After going through a novel or play with your students, assign one character from the unit to each of your students. Then, group your students in threes to write a summary of an act in the play or a chapter in the novel from each of the three  characters  perspectives.

John Adams Revolutionary Delegate - 2098 Words

John Adams: Revolutionary Delegate The Revolutionary Era Dr. Paul Grady Eric G. Shuping April 23, 2015 John Adams: Revolutionary Delegate John Adams most fundamental political message that he used throughout his career was, â€Å"no simple Form of Government can possibly secure Men against the Violences of Power. Only a mixed government that combined the voices of the many with those of the few; that contained checks and balances within its various branches; and that clearly separated powers among those branches could ensure the freedom of the public and the liberty of the individual.† Adams was a fiery stout delegate who became an influential Founding Father to help fight and win support during the American Revolutionary†¦show more content†¦Before earning his law degree, Adams found himself as a schoolmaster in Worcester, Massachusetts. Deacon Adams wanted his son to follow in his footsteps towards a ministerial career, but the years at Harvard raised doubts for Adams. The learning of the Enlightenment â€Å"led him to question several of the central dogmas of the reigning Congregational churches in Massachusetts.† With self-doubt about the life he was leading and not wanting to become a minster, Adams settled on a new career to clerk and study law under a young attorney named James Putnam. Adams would become a lawyer and be admitted to the Bar of Massachusetts in 1761. After the death of his father Deacon Adams at the age of seventy due to the epidemic flu, Adams began courting Abigail Smith. Eventually, Adams would be married to Abigail on October 25, 1764. This would lead to becoming the most important decision of Adams life, as Abigail would play an equal part of her role to helping Adams become the true politician in his life. Abigail Adams was very influential over her husband during his time as a politician. In becoming a lawyer in 1758, would lead Adams to becoming one of Boston’s famous attorneys and becoming a very important political figure throughout the rest of his career. In 1765, Adams quickly identified with the patriot cause the Americans were fighting for, when he opposed the British’s creation of the Stamp Act to tax any printed material to help pay the troops from

Symbols in a Dolls House free essay sample

This may be symbolic of the flawed state of her marriage and of her feelings about it. Mrs Linde, who is less impetuous and more mature than Nora, suggests repairing it, and it is Mrs Linde who decides that Nora and Torvald must be made to face the truth about Noras secret. She believes it would be beneficial to the marriage, though in Noras view the marriage, like the dress, is beyond repair. The Tarantella The Tarantella was a wild southern Italian dance, generally danced by a couple or line of couples. The dance was named after the tarantula spider, whose poisonous bite was mistakenly believed to cause tarantism, an uncontrollable urge for wild dancing. The cure prescribed by doctors was for the sufferer to dance to exhaustion. Modern psychologists speculate that the true cause of the disorder, which achieved its highest profile in the nineteenth century and which involved symptoms of what would now be called hysteria, was not the spiders bite but the repressed morals of that age. We will write a custom essay sample on Symbols in a Dolls House or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The only outlet for passionate self-expression, they reason, was the Tarantella. In this light, it is significant that Torvald tells Nora to practice the Tarantella while he shuts himself away in his office: I shall hear nothing; you can make as much noise as you please. While Torvald is ostensibly being indulgent towards his wife, the image of her practicing this passionate dance alone and unheard emphasizes her isolation within her marriage. She persuades him to watch her practice the dance in order to prevent him opening Krogstads letter. He tries to rein in her wildness with his instructions, but she ignores his comments and dances ever more wildly, her hair coming loose. The mythology of tarantism suggests that she is dancing in order to rid herself of a deadly poison. Depending on how we wish to interpret this symbolism, the poison may be the threat posed by Krogstads revelations, or the poison of deception and hypocrisy that characterizes the Helmer marriage. Light Light is most often used to symbolize Noras state of awareness. After Torvald claims to be man enough to take everything upon himself (Act 2) and while she is talking to Dr Rank, the light begins to grow dark. This symbolism refers to two processes. First, Nora is using her sexual attractiveness to manipulate the dying Dr Rank into giving her money to pay off her loan. When Dr Rank confesses his love for her, she is shocked out of her game. She brings in a lamp, telling Dr Rank that he must feel ashamed of himself now that the lamp has come. Light also appears to symbolize hope and spiritual redemption when Dr Rank is talking in code to Nora about his coming death (Act 3). He talks of death as a big black hat that will make him invisible, an image of obliteration of life. But Nora brings him a light for his cigar as she wishes him goodbye. Dr Rank loves her, and in spite of her sometimes dubious behavior towards him, she has given him understanding, compassion and acceptance. She also means at this point, it seems, to join him in death by committing suicide. Their bond is represented on stage by the image of them standing together in the pool of light from her match a frame that excludes Torvald. Christmas tree In Norway, Christmas is an important family celebration, but the focus of the festivities and the opening of presents occurs on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is something of an anti-climax. This is paralleled by events in the play. At the beginning of the play on Christmas Eve, Nora still believes her marriage to be happy. We see her ordering the Christmas tree to be brought in and insisting that it is hidden until she has decorated it. Symbolically, this alerts us to the fact that there are hidden aspects to life in this household, that a carefully created appearance is what matters, and that Nora is the keeper of appearances. Significantly, when she is trying to wheedle Torvald into keeping Krogstad in his job, she draws his attention to how pretty the flowers on the tree look. By Christmas Day, the tree is stripped of its ornaments and its candles have burnt out (a link with the symbol of light). By this point, Torvald has refused to keep Krogstad in his job and Nora feels sure that Krogstad will reveal all to him. The carefully maintained appearance of the happy marriage is disintegrating under the encroachment of truth. New Years Day New Years Day is traditionally viewed as a new beginning, and the Helmers at the beginning of the play are looking forward to just such a new beginning. Torvald is due to start a new and better paid job at the bank, and Nora anticipates being free from her debt. By the end of the play, Nora has indeed made a new beginning, though it is of a quite different nature, consisting in leaving Torvald and her children. Other characters too enter new phases in their life. Mrs Linde and Krogstad begin their life together after long periods of suffering, and Dr Rank dies, which can be seen as an end or a transition, depending on ones viewpoint.