Dissecting the Prompt

I hope you’re giving your students assessments—at least occasionally—that require them to write about what they know. Asking students to explain a concept in their own words, to write about their own insights on the material being studied, or to synthesize on paper several different ideas provides the students with an opportunity to showcase their learning and to practice essential written communication skills.

No, students are not generally good at this. Yes, sometimes grading these is painful. And yes, it’s good for them. If students don’t practice writing, how will they ever get better at it?

One way to help students be more successful on these in-class written assessments (ie. test and quiz essays, timed writings, etc.) is to teach them how to analyze and attack a writing prompt.

When students are not trained to respond skillfully to a writing prompt, it’s anyone’s guess what they’ll write about. Some students answer only part of the question asked. Others give much more information—much of it irrelevant—than the task requires. And, of course, some will write an essay that has nothing whatsoever to do with the prompt they were given. This same thing happens on standardized tests, and, sadly, some students write outstanding essays and subsequently fail the state test because they did not address the prompt they were given.

This failure to address the prompt is not always because students do not know the material they’re asked to write about. Sometimes, it’s because—for whatever reason—the student writers misinterpret the writing task itself.

Here’s one strategy to model and practice with your students (AVID or otherwise) to help them become more proficient with prompt dissection.

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1.  When students receive a writing prompt, ask them to read it and underline all the verbs. (Verbs, you sometimes have to remind them, are the action words, the things you are asked to do.)

Example:  Compare and contrast the religion and the economics of Classical China and Classical India. Discuss the significance of the comparisons and contrasts you make. [Students would underline “compare,” “contrast,” and “discuss”.]

2.  Number the tasks. Go through the prompt and put a number next to each task you are asked to accomplish in writing this essay.

[With the above example, students would identify three tasks:  1. Compare the religion and economics of Classical China and Classical India. 2. Contrast the religion and economics of Classical China and India. 3. Discuss the significance of the comparisons and contrasts.]

3.  Make sure you know what each of the verbs in the tasks means.

[“To compare” means to point out similarities. “To contrast” means to point out differences. “To discuss the significance” is to explain the importance.]

4.  Rephrase the prompt in your own words, making it a question if possible.

[A student might rephrase the original prompt like this:  “What are the similarities and differences between the religion and economics of China and India during the Classical Age? Why are these similarities and differences important?”]

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The next step after this could be to have your students write a thesis statement they could use for their essay and also to create an outline for determine what structure is best suited for responding to the prompt.

You could ask your students to write the actual essay or just have them practice planning what they would write if they had to. Merely practicing these steps will help the students become more skillful and confident about the anxiety-producing process of writing in-class test essays.

And guess what? Once your students get better at timed writing, your grading of these essays will go much more quickly and will be much less painful. Hooray for quick and pain-free grading!

Thanks for helping your students get ready for college by teaching them to write on demand.