Judy Lightfoot - Writing Prompts

PUSH THE THINKING = DEVELOP THE PAPER Judy Lightfoot

Here are some heuristics -- strategies to help you think and learn about a topic. These are expressed as fast-writing assignments of the kind used for informal in-class writings, homework papers, journal entries, or first drafts of formal papers. You can also use them to extend or deepen your thinking for parts of a draft under way.

PERSONAL RESPONSE TOPICS 1. PERSONAL FAST-WRITE: Write the title or name the topic of the material* (*reading, presentation, class discussion session), and fast-write for 15 minutes about it, using one or more of these prompts for a quick start:

I wonder ...	I like...	I want to compare this with ...
I don't understand ...	I don't like ...	This makes me feel ...
I want ...	I wish I could ask the author ...	This makes me think about ...
This makes me remember ...	I wish I could tell the author ...	Right now my opinion is ...

2. PERSONAL FAST-WRITE: Copy a phrase or sentence (or two) from a reading, and cite page # in parentheses. Skip a line and fast-write your first thoughts on the passage, using one or more of the above prompts.

MORE OBJECTIVE OR "ACADEMIC" RESPONSE TOPICS:

3. HORACE'S HANDY-DANDY WESTERN THOUGHT QUESTIONS* (adapted from Horace newsletter and Ted Sizer's Essential Schools project): Write down the topic or title of the material, and fast-write for 10-15 minutes in response to one or more of the following questions:

From whose viewpoint are we seeing or reading or hearing this material? From what angle or perspective? What is its context? What is its purpose?

What is the subject of this material? How will we know when we know the subject? What counts as evidence or logical support, and how reliable is this evidence or this support?

How are things, events, ideas, or people in the material connected to each other? Are the connections chronological, logical, spatial, cause-and-effect, dreamlike free association, or what?

What's new and what's old? Have you run across this material in another form before? Make the connection.

So what? Why does the material matter? What significance or meaning does it have in the larger scheme of things?

4. UNDERSTANDING THROUGH DESIGN (adapted from Project Zero): Everything we study or read is a construction, and every construction has a form of some kind -- even chaos has patterns. One way of thinking more deeply about any material is to consider its design. So – look at the design of the material, and fast-write 15 minutes on one or more of the following questions:

What are the features of the design? List all the different features that you notice.
What are the purposes of the design? What is the function or purpose of each feature, or how does each feature of the design contribute to its purposes?
How well does the design work? (Pros/advantages/benefits?) (Cons/disadvantages/drawbacks?) (Suggested improvements to the design?)

5. SIX-SIDED THINKING ("THE CUBE"): Briefly summarize the material, call it "X", cite source, and -- cube! -- fast-write some of the 6 operations for 5-10 minutes each:

DEFINE X What kind of thing is it, and what isn't it? Into what category would you put the material, and what distinguishes it from other things in this category? What is the material like and not like? You can be logical (is it an argument? a song? a personal narrative? a joke?). Or imaginative and playful (is it a riddle? a steamroller? bad medicine? stew? an umbrella? a needle?)

ANALYZE X Divide it it into its component parts, and explain how they cohere into a structure, design, or whole.

INTERPRET X Explain what the material means. Be logical, or playful.

EXPLAIN CAUSES OR ORIGINS of X Where did it come from? What or who caused it to exist? Give its background, sources, reasons for being. Again, you can be playful, or logical.

EXPLAIN EFFECTS OR RESULTS of X What can you do with the material? How can the material be used? What is it intended for? What is its effect or impact on people or the world? Be logical, or playful.

EVALUATE X Is it good or bad? a benefit or a drawback? useful or useless? productive or destructive? beautiful or ugly? genuine or bogus?

6. GOOD QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT LITERATURE: Fast-write on one or more for 10 minutes.

First impressions: What are the most powerful (moving, thought-provoking, inspiring, disturbing, delightful, surprising) effects of the work on an audience? How did it feel to read the work - in the heart, in the spirit, in the mind, on the senses? What windows or doors did it open in you? Did it close anything down? What makes this work unique, quite unlike any other?
Big questions: What important philosophical questions does the work raise? - questions about Goodness, Truth, Beauty, Justice, Love, Meaning, Life, Death, God?
Connections: what illuminating comparisons can you make between the work and your own experience?
Challenges: what are the major obstacles and difficulties faced by a reader of this work?
Contexts: What do you know about the historical time and place of the work or author? Or, Are there other works the class has read that might serve as a useful context for this one?
Analysis: How do 2 or 3 literary techniques* of the piece combine to create a complex yet harmonious work of art

*LITERARY TECHNIQUES in PROSE:	*LITERARY TECHNIQUES in POEMS:
narrator, point of view	speaker
setting	situation
characters and characterization	[some narrative poems have characters in them]
theme	theme
tone	tone
style	style
plot	form

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