The answer to both dilemmas is YES. Do both. Cardio AND strength training work together to improve health. Prompted AND
free choice writing work together to improve writing skills.
Best writing comes when students know and care about a topic. Giving students choices in their daily writing will produce more
elaborate, passionate results. A child who enjoys putting pencil to paper will be more likely to engage in future writing assignments.
Just as strength training produces immediate effects and encourages athletes to keep exercising, allowing students free choice
increases their desire to write and boosts fluency muscles.
Although prompted writing reduces your students’ engagement with the topic, it remains a necessary component in balanced
writing instruction. Prompted writing is an indispensable skill in real life, the same as cardio is crucial to our heart health. The
majority of writing we do as adults in the workforce, is writing on-demand rather than to a topic of our choosing. By including
prompted writing in your instruction, you are preparing students for statewide assessments of their writing skills. You will be training
them how to recognize what the “reader” wants and how to show off their writing skills, despite a potential lack of knowledge (or
interest) about a topic.
Bringing writing prompts into play across the curriculum will also give your students opportunities
to show off what they DO know about a topic. Ask students to accurately and skillfully convey what they
have learned about a specific subject and you’ll prepare them for college and beyond.
Train your students to be skillful writers through a balanced workout approach. Motivate and inspire
a life-long love of writing, by allowing them to freely choose their own writing topics. Use writing
prompts to regularly exercise their skills and to practice performing on demand. You’ll be building strong
writers – no sweat!
Some content adapted from: Freeman, Marcia. Building A Writing Community: A Practical Guide.
Maupin House, ©1995.
