Singer/Songwriter

Jenny, Carson, and I attended the musical event at Hildegard's. Ooh, the rest of you missed it. I filled over two pages with observations of people. Wes and I ate at Hildegard's before the event, so he delivered Jenny's and Carson's notebooks to them; I feared he would linger and tell them inappropriate stories about me, so I intercepted him as he reached them. Usually, I want Wes to stick around as much as possible, but sometimes he scares me--last night he seemed especially impish.

Hildegard's really is a cool place for college students to hang. Check it out sometime.

Poetry Reading

Jenna, Jess, and I attended the poetry reading Wednesday night. In addition to jotting cool lines from her poetry, I listed any ideas for writing prompts in my notebook, so I'll include those below:

• Foiled Again--it's the title of a poetry collection, but I can remember lots of times my plans failed
• Poop Stories--she talked about stepping in elephant dung
• Cruel Education Rituals--we all have horror stories
• Miniature Histories--she had great ones, some as short as two lines
• Miniature Hysterias--what I actually wrote, but many of us can write about hissy fits, our own or others'
• Ode to a Thing

Webpage Prompts

Journal Writing Prompts
Source: http://boards.educationworld.com/boards/

1) If I were the teacher, I would . . .
2) If I could give one piece of advice to any person in history, that advice would be . . .
3) Describe a dream that you had recently. Provide as many details as possible.
4) The best lesson my grandparent (or parent or any relative) ever taught me was . . .
5) In 20 years, I will be . . .
6) Tell about an event in your life that has caused a change in you.
7) I was most angry when . . .
8) My worst mistake was . . .
9) You have the freedom to travel to any city or country in the world. Where would you go and why?
10) What would you do if you were president of the United States?
11) You have an extra $100,000 to give away; you cannot spend it on yourself. What would you do with the money?
12) The qualities that make a best friend are . . .
13) When my parents were my age, they . . .
14) A story I will tell my children about my childhood is . . .
15) When I look in the mirror, I see . . .
16) My perfect day would be . . .
17) One thing I'd like to change about the world . . .
18) One thing I'd like to change about myself . . .
19) The relative that means the most to me is . . . because . . .
20) My safe place
21) An education is important because . . .
22) Items I don't leave home without because . . .
23) If I could meet anyone in the world....
24) Pretend you are a raindrop. Where would you land and what would happen along the way?
25) If I were invisible...
26) If I had 3 wishes, I would wish for . . .
27) What is the best present you ever received?
28) Who can cheer you up faster than anyone?
29) If your house caught on fire, what would be #1 on your list to save? Describe it and explain why.
30) Recount an argument you had recently (use dialogue).
31) Imagine you are of the opposite sex and try to get a date with yourself.
32) If my parents would let me give them some advice, I would say . . .
33) My favorite movie this year is _____ because . . .
34) When I am a parent, the one thing I will not let my child do is . . .
35) When I was little, my favorite fairytale was _____ because . . .

Your Turn

Okay, it's your turn to provide the prompts. I've listed fifty-three potential prompts. Now each writer must list two prompts. Come on; two to my fifty-three? That's a bargain. Here's the rub. Once someone has listed a prompt or a writing exercise, you can't repeat it, so you'll need to skim previous lists before adding yours. If you try to post and it doesn't show up, send me an email, and I'll check to see if I need to moderate the comments.

Your turn. I'm waiting . . .

Prompting Writing

Here are some more prompts from various places:

• Cold Snaps
• Car Chaos
• The Beauty of Ugly--students gave me this one: write about something ugly as if it is beautiful
• Fibs
• Water Sports
• Conversation Texts--from Katie Wood Ray via Carson and Jenny
• Question Game--from Whose Line Is It Anyway via Jenny and Carson
• Lazy Days
• Playing Games
• Payoff

Writing Prompts

More writing prompts:

• Trash or Treasure
• Musical Memories
• Law and Order
• Photographic Memory
• Flip This!
• Seasons
• Trends
• Dreams and Nightmares
• Wishing Well
• Crash and Burn
• Whine, whine, whine

More prompts

Here's one I've enjoyed that comes from Room to Write by Bonni Goldberg: write an ode to a body part. For our purposes an ode is a poem in praise of something. Consider talking directly to the thing being honored, an elbow, a foot, a rear end--whatever. You can write an ode to anything. I just wrote one to the sun since it finally came out today.

Here's another one that students usually bring to class. I think they found it on the Internet: Describing Ugly as Beautiful. Choose a gross action or thing, and describe it as if the narrator really believes it to be beautful. It's a challenging task but kind of fun.

Okay, now it's time for you to post some fun topics or writing prompts.