501 Writing Prompts (LearningExpress Skill Builder in Focus)

This book has been invaluable to me as a teacher. My students are getting ready to take their state writing exam in a couple of months, and these prompts are worded so much like the test that it makes it easier to get them prepared. There is such a wide variety of topics and prompts that it almost makes it hard to choose which ones to give to them!

This is a great book to get ideas for essay writing practice. It is divided into four sections with Persuasive, Expository, Narrative and Literary writing prompts. There are also graded model essays to show what is expected of students in the SAT exams. It is interesting to see what will give you a mark of 6, 4 and 1!! With 501 writing topics to choose from, you are guaranteed to get plenty of experience as a writer. I think it's a book worth having.

This not only gives you 501 writing prompts (some not all that great, but there are so many it makes up for that downfall)... it gives you samples of different student writing that fits each style - personal narrative, persuasive, etc. - and rubrics for each style also! I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I was told I was going to be teaching writing to secondary students, but this book eased a lot of my fears and helped me through!

One of the problems facing teachers is students lack of proper written communication. They live in the technology age and their formal writing is reflecting this. This book was a great source for me to have relevant topics for students. There were topics for EVERY student, no matter his/her interest(s). I also like the presentation of material. There are rubrics that grade the sample essays on a scale from 1 to 6.

The book has terrifc writing prompts contained within and it also provides sample essays for many of the prompts. It also gives examples at several different ability levels.