Prompt Writing Cautions
1. Be certain the prompt includes a purpose.
Situation: Your impression of your parents has changed over time.
Task: Write a letter to your parents in which you narrate two events that prove your impression of them has changed over time.
Caution: Why do the parents need to know that the child's impression has changed over time? Although there is an audience, form, and topic for this writing, there is no true purpose.
2. Be certain the prompt does not lead the students.
Situation: You enjoy watching television every evening before going to bed. Your parents think you should spend more time doing homework.
Task: Write a letter to your parents persuading them to allow you to watch television every night.
Caution: Although many students do enjoy watching television, not all students want to watch television every night. Students who prefer to read, work on the computer, or listen to music will have difficulty responding to this task statement.
3. Be certain the prompt does not ask students to do more than one task.
Situation: Your local paper wants to feature a section entitled, "The Status of Youth," in which they plan to include articles that illustrate the status symbols of youth throughout different generations in order to show how status symbols have changed over time.
Task: Write an article for the local paper explaining what you think today's status symbols are. Narrate an event that illustrates how these symbols are significant in your life and why today's youth should be defined by these symbols.
Caution: The selection of status symbols is important in this task statement, and the narration of an event would support that selection. However, the task also requires students to persuasively explain why these symbols should define today's youth.