Engaging Writing Prompts for Middle School Students

During the middle school years, students have many opportunities to express themselves through writing, expand their vocabulary, and refine their composition skills. Middle school students will typically be required to complete writing assignments in many areas of their studies. They will be expected to carry out research and craft reports and stories that integrate their own voice and thoughts with what they have read and cited. As they progress through the middle grades, they will write longer pieces with multiple paragraphs and appropriate transitions that can be up to several pages or even longer in some cases. Grammar, spelling, writing structure, and appropriate word-choice expectations become stricter and more exacting during this era and students will sometimes be asked to self-edit and revise their own work. Through regular journaling with meaningful prompts and by connecting their writing experiences to important areas of their lives, middle school students’ writing can deepen, flourish, and become more natural and comfortable.

Encourage Journaling
One of the best ways to help your student or child learn to express themselves and to craft sentences and paragraphs that make sense and flow smoothly is to provide them with numerous interesting writing prompts and opportunities for journaling.

Journal Buddies explains that at this point in students’ education, journaling helps them not only to improve their writing skills but to, “clarify their thoughts and feelings, know themselves better, reduce stress, solve problems more effectively, and resolve disagreements with others.” Effective writing and journaling prompts encourage children to explore their own identities, imaginations, and environment. Here are a few examples of writing prompts to try with middle school youth:

If I were an animal, I would be a__________ because….
I wish I could trade places with ______________ for a day because…
Something that really frustrates me is___________.

If you ask students to journal about personal topics, make sure that confidentiality standards are clearly laid out and followed. Here are a few more prompts:

In ten years, I will be…
If I could go anywhere today, it would be…
If I was a master chef, I would invent a food called ___________. This is what it would taste like:
Describe the perfect summer vacation.
Who do you respect, and why?
Describe a time in your life when you wish you could have a “do-over.”

Also remember that connecting with other writers can be a great way to increase the impact and relevance of a student’s writing. Letter writing and pen-pal projects are a great way to make writing more interpersonal and social. Students can also pen real or imaginary letters to authors or book characters they are interested in. Here’s a variation on that type of prompt:

Which character from a book would you most like to meet and why?

An excellent resource for further middle school writing prompts is the site, Visual Prompts, which includes colorful illustrations with each prompt to get the creative juices flowing.

Tie Writing to all Areas of Students’ Lives
As mentioned above, as students’ progress upwards through the grades toward high school, the writing expectations they have to meet will be increasingly diverse and cross-curricular. Writing in all classes and subjects helps children to become more fluent and to increase their vocabulary across disciplines. In the article, Twelve Assignments Every Middle School Student Should Write, Gary Chadwell explains that, “the surest way to help students overcome their discomfort with writing—in any content area—is to have them write on a regular basis about their learning.” Check out his full article and suggestions here. By having students reflect on scientific findings, summarize a chapter in history, or jot down questions about a region they are about to study, we encourage them to embrace the versatility and usefulness of writing as a tool and medium for record keeping, analyzation, and communication.

Another great way to tie writing into a young person’s greater life experiences is to have them write about real world issues. This could vary from the amount of homework they receive to a local political or community issue like the importance of expanding recycling collection. Read Write Think offers a lesson plan called, “Persuading the Principal: Writing Persuasive Letters about School Issues” that encourages students to learn about writing editorials. During the lesson, students read and hear examples of opinion pieces and discuss their persuasive properties. They then brainstorm important school issues and topics in groups and select one to explore and write about. Next, “the group then constructs a letter on that issue. The letter is then edited for grammar and content, typed on a word processor, printed, and delivered to the school principal.”

Finally, it is important to remember that writing can be encouraged outside of school hours in a family setting. To help your child organize their thoughts and express themselves verbally, be an advocate for their writing at home. Time4Writing offers several examples of ways that parents can help students to overcome writing problems or blocks at home. They include giving positive feedback and incorporating writing into family activities. Examples this article offers of at-home family writing integration include: “encourag[ing] your middle school student to write thank you notes and letters, directions for an upcoming trip, or instructions for household equipment.” You can also encourage writing in your family by modeling the practice yourself in front of your kids. When young people learn the many ways that writing permeates and allows them to participate in the world around them and that their written words are valued in many settings, they are more likely to adopt writing as a integral part of their lives.

Written by Julia Travers

Learn More!