Teachers, looking for a different, tangible writing prompt? Try using an “Idea Stone,” as suggested by Ashley Lister in his book, How to Write Short Stories and Get Them Published. His suggestion is to bring in a stone and pass it around the room, and each student must offer a topic to write about that uses the stone as the subject. Suggestions include: “It’s not a stone; it’s an alien egg,” and “The stone is a cure for hiccups.” In the classroom, I would adapt the exercise to incorporate different objects: seashells, buttons, crayons. Anything of little value that can be handed out to everyone or passed around. This activity provides students with a welcome break from the inspirational quote or seasonal writing prompt. It may even spark creativity they didn’t know they had.
