Dealing with a Prompt.Prompt writing can be confusing. What do we write about? What are they asking? What tone do we use? Can I use first person? Should I outline? Am I going to fail if I forget something?

Lucky for you, weʼve got a game plan. See below for a plan of attack, and lucky for you, itʼs in a nice, somewhat elaborate, acronym (ABCDE / SOAPP).

A: Attack the Prompt (use SOAPP to do so, see below)

B: Brainstorm Ideas for Writing

C: Choose the Order of Ideas (or you could do Create an Outline)

D: Draft your Writing

E: Edit for Errors

S: Subject (the general topic, content, ideas)

O: Organization (how are you going to organize your ideas? letter, essay, narrative?)

A: Audience (who is the intended audience for your writing)

P: Purpose (what is the purpose of your writing)

P: Point of View (what POV is appropriate for the response: 1st, 2nd, 3rd?)

On the reverse, we can practice.

Prompt 1:

Writing the Persuasive Letter" Your school district is thinking about lengthening the school year by starting two weeks earlier. Do you think adding extra days to the school year will improve education? Write a letter to the editor of your school newspaper that will persuade others to accept your viewpoint. Be sure to address opposing viewpoints in your letter.

S:O:A:P:P:

Prompt 2:

Directions:" Read the informational article on the following page. As you read, you may mark the article or make notes. Marks and notes will not be scored. After reading the article, write a summary of what you have read. You will have time to read, plan, write, and proofread. " Next, write a summary of the article. Use the following lined pages.Remember that your writing will be scored on how well you: state the main ideas of the article; • identify the most important details that support the main ideas; • use your own words in writing the summary; and • use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

S:O:A:P:P: