Written Narration Prompts for Reluctant Writers

These are some of the ideas I've used to get my reluctant writers writing. I've gathered ideas over a number of years and I can't remember which were from my head or someone else's so I apologise in advance if the idea was not mine.

Sometimes I let my children choose from the list and sometimes I give them something specific. I've found they each have their preferences eg. my 13 year old likes to write poetic narrations and would only do those if I let him but sometimes I'll ask them to choose a different way to narrate what they know.

I'll add to this list as I come across anything I haven't listed as I have a few lists tucked away on our computer that I can't locate at present. 

I'll start with the choices I think are easier for a reluctant writer to begin with. Sometimes the physical act of writing is difficult and discourages writing. I even found this with one of my teenage boys and found that doing a creative form of a narration was helpful. It was still a legitimate way for him to show what he'd learned.

• Draw a diagram with illustrations about what you've read - works well for science, geography and history.

•  Draw a map of the area you've been reading about.

• Draw a picture from a scene in our current Shakespeare play.

• Write an advertisement eg. to sell a famous building or ship you've been learning about or to get people to enlist for the war. 

• Write a newspaper article eg.a front page on the war they've been studying about in history. I give them some poetic licence with this as long as they include what they've actually been reading about.

• Write an obituary about the person studied eg. Winston Churchill or Captain Cook.

• Write a resume for eg. Napoleon, Hitler or Pericles. 

• Draw or paint the painting you've been looking at for Picture Study. 

• Write a quiz for dad (you have to know the answers to the questions you ask!) The boys enjoy doing this.

• Write five questions you would like to ask eg. Albert Einstein or Henry VIII. 

• Write a diary entry eg. a day in the life of Leonardo da Vinci, Beethoven or William Wilberforce. 

•  Write a poetic narration using the rhythm of eg. The Destruction of Sennacherib. (Using an online rhyming dictionary is helpful for this)

• Write a description of a bird you've observed and draw it from memory.

• Write a letter eg. You are a sailor on board the Spanish Armada. Write a letter to your mother describing the condtions on board or write a letter from one character to another; you've just met eg. Oliver Cromwell. Write a letter to a friend describing what he is like.

• Write a song about a scene or event from eg. The Hobbit or The Battle of Hastings. You may use a tune from a well known folksong if you like.

• Write a play based on eg. a section of Plutarch, Shakespeare or an historical event.

• Write a conversation between eg. Captain Cook and a member of his crew. 

•  Re-write a poem as prose - an epic or narrative poem eg. The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes or Lochinvar by Sir Walter Scott. 

•  Re-write or paraphrase an historical essay or other piece of writing. The Essays by Francis Bacon (1561-1626) work well for high school aged students. Or see here for some other ideas.