Re: "The Gift of the Magi" Writing Prompts

Posted by Jeff on 1/04/07

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On 12/03/05, Jen wrote:
> I teach 7th Grade Reading and am planning to read "The
> Gift of the Magi" with my kids this week. I want to tie in
> a writing assignment. I searched the web for writing
> prompts, but the only thing I have found so far is "What
> do you think is the theme of this story? List 4 examples
> from the text to support you idea."
>
> Does anyone have any ideas?
Sorry I saw your posting so late, almost two years. Hope
you still check for responses. If not, hope others can use
what I offer.

I taught 8th grade language arts, with a strong emphasis on
creative writing and public speaking, for five years. I am
no longer teaching, but I recall fondly my students'
response to my approach. While I always included the
classic elements of English teaching, parts of speech,
elements of stories, vocab., spelling, etc., I usually
directed the focus of my lessons to real life, or practical
applications. I am a strong proponent of Transactional
Theory in literature. When I created a writing prompt, I
usually sought the emotional or cognitive responses of my
students. The key to writing creatively, after all, is to
get your students to put words on paper. The easiest way to
accomplish this is to put writers in touch with what they
think and feel.

For "The Gift of the Magi" I asked students to respond to
concepts like self-sacrifice and unselfishness, two concepts
that can often be alien for middle school aged young
people. I always had several of them share what they wrote
in class and used their writings to stear classroom
discussion. I would probably also ask the class to define
wisdom.

Writing prompts are a special tool. Teachers should abandon
the popular concepts of what makes a good writing prompt. I
did it with the first prompt I gave my students on the first
day:

"Read the following sentence, and for one minute think about
how you would answer it. You will have five minutes to
answer the question. The class must remain totally silent.
You may not speak. I will answer no questions. There is no
right or wrong answer to your response. Just write about
the question. The question is: 'How would you answer this
question?'"

Responses varied from a blank page to a full page of total
confusion. For the first prompt, I gave credit if a student
simply put their name at the top of the page. I understood
how much shock the assignment inflicted on them. I
purposefully shocked my students with this assignment to get
them used to the idea of just putting words on paper, and we
discussed this frequently from that point on. This
inevitably lead to their words becoming the free flow of
their thoughts and feels I was after. There should be no
right or wrong answer to a writing prompt. Incidentally, I
gave my students a five minute writing prompt at the
beginning of every Monday class. The last prompt I gave
them at the end of the year was the same as the first. I
asked the unaswerable question again. I was always
encouraged and felt a strong sense pride when nearly one
hundred percent of my students begged me to extend the five
minute time limit so they could finish getting their
thoughts down. I received, on average two to three page
responses to the final response.

Hope this helps someone. Keep the fire alive.

Posts on this thread, including this one

• "The Gift of the Magi" Writing Prompts, 12/03/05, by Jen .
• Re: "The Gift of the Magi" Writing Prompts, 12/03/05, by Desi.
• Re: "The Gift of the Magi" Writing Prompts, 12/14/06, by Jamie.
• Re: "The Gift of the Magi" Writing Prompts, 1/04/07, by Jeff.
• Re: "The Gift of the Magi" Writing Prompts, 12/18/07, by molly.
• Re: "The Gift of the Magi" Writing Prompts, 11/20/09, by Linda.