Discussion Boards: Students Decipher Expository Prompts

Somewhat over stimulated by mass quantities of Hemingway and caffeine, English teachers can go apoplectic as they instill linguistic precision in students. Essays not adhering to a prompt swiftly reduce an otherwise sane instructor to a whimpering heap on the floor.

Ever fearful of suffering a stroke while grading, I readily conceive and employ the most effective methods to instruct my learners on the dos and don'ts of a prompt. To that end, I recently utilized the discussion boards on My Big Campus to teach the tricks of deciphering expository-writing instructions. The results pleased me.

First, I placed the slide below on my SmartBoard.

I then discussed the parts of the prompt, emphasizing the picture and the "Read" statement as distractors. Test designers intend students to generate ideas using graphics and "Read" statements. In reality, kids view the picture, scan the "Read" statement, and go no farther, choosing to illuminate a topic unrelated to the actual writing prompt. For example, many seventh graders would quickly gaze at the photo and the "Read" statement above, and then they would chronicle a time they were bullied. And, in the process, students who followed that line of thought would earn an unsavory grade for their efforts.

To stem the tide of prompt misinterpretation, I equated graphics and the "Read" statement to the concept of an appetizer - explaining to learners that a pre-meal snack is meant to whet the appetite and not satisfy hunger completely. The picture, as I described, is a tortilla chip, and the "Read" statement is salsa. Students were instructed to use these aspects to stimulate an appetite for writing. However, the topic chosen would not be based solely upon the photo and/or the "Read" statement.

From there, I drew student attention to the word "Write" and illuminated the fact that the verb appeared once on the screen. Therefore, learners could safely presume the "Write" statement contained the actual prompt to be addressed.

After coaching learners on how to produce a thesis sentence based on words extrapolated from the "Write" statement, I directed them to a discussion board in My Big Campus, where I had posted the slide below.

I gave kids three minutes to contrive a lead sentence incorporating words from the "Write" statement. With a solid opening line out of the way, students were to compose as much of the introduction as they could in the time remaining. When my desk counter chimed, the kids posted their efforts and moved their seats around the SmartBoard.

With the class tucked as closely as possible to the SmartBoard, I toggled between the prompt and each student's work. I made sure to give at least one solid compliment to each child's endeavor.

Next, the students and I analyzed each person's opening line, distinguishing between weak and strong leads. Learners offered pointers to their peers, which I was happy to behold.

With continued exposure to this "flash-writing" technique, I'm confident students will successfully interpret expository writing prompts.