Dr. Louis' Blog

DECODING A WRITING PROMPT‍

We have all heard students exclaim, “I don’t know how to start!” The Jane Schaffer Writing Program® (JSWP) was designed by Jane to demystify that thought from their minds. From the prompt to the final draft, JSWP teaches students the cognitive thinking process behind the execution of writing.

Let’s start with the prompt.

We have found that students encounter difficulty in writing because they do not understand how to “decode” or “deconstruct” writing prompts. Once students understand our color-coding system, we teach them how to use it to comprehend what a prompt is asking.

‍Sample Sixth Grade Guidebooks 2.o Textbook Prompt: Hatchet

‍Select an event from Hatchet. What did Brian do to aid or hinder his survival? Does Hatchet have instructional value as a survival guide?

Write a multi-paragraph report explaining how Brian was successful and/or could have improved his situation if he had followed the steps provided in the article case studies. Conclude the report by making a claim and providing clear reasons and evidence about the instructional value of Hatchet. Be sure to use proper grammar, conventions, spelling, and grade-appropriate words and phrases. Cite several pieces of textual evidence, including direct quotations and page numbers.

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"What Are They Asking Me to Do? Decoding the Prompt"

‍Introduction and Thesis Statement: In JSWP™, we teach students to start with a broad, thematic, universal idea about the human condition. We don't call it a "hook" because the opening sentence of an essay is not a gimmick or an advertising ploy. Instead of asking, what is meant by success, start your introduction by answering that question. Then, narrow the introduction, observing the fictional idea and nonfictional texts that deal with the concept of survival as success. The thesis has the potential of being two-fold: Was Brian successful and/or could he have improved his situation? This is the key question, and from this question the student will derive the first part of the thesis statement. The second part of the thesis statement will defend or challenge the idea that Hatchet is of instructional value. Because of the complexity of the questions, the thesis should probably be a compound sentence (a compound-complex sentence, if the teacher wants a counterargument regarding the argumentative portion of the assignment). The thesis may be a framed thesis in which the writer names his/her reasons, which will lead to the topic sentences or an open thesis that “hints” at the topics. We break down all of these skills for our students in the Jane Schaffer Writing Program.

‍Topic Sentences (TS): Topic sentences provide reasons that support a writer’s thesis. From where in the prompt could topic sentences come? Options abound: (1) each body paragraph could begin with a TS that names different successes that Brian experiences that aid his survival (beginning writer); or (2) perhaps the student would like to focus on what Brian did that hindered his survival and how he could have improved on that situation (intermediate writer); or, (3) perhaps a student wants to approach main ideas that emerge from the article case studies and use that concept to lead the discussion (advanced); or (4) a combination (highly advanced).Since this prompt requests two different modes of discourse, literary analysis and argumentation, the student will end his report with one or two body paragraphs. In that case, each TS will be the writer’s assertion which supports the claim with a “clear reason” about the instructional value of Hatchet.

‍Concrete Details (CDs): In this assignment, concrete details (evidence) are derived directly from the multiple texts (not other forms of evidence which we discuss in our trainings). That evidence will come from Hatchet and the articles. Using the “Evidence Chart,” students will write the concrete details in red. We recommend teaching students how to embed quotations while they read rather than paraphrasing at the 6th grade level. You’ll also notice that we place the prompt as well as key ideas on the “Evidence Chart” to keep the students focused. Once the reading has been completed, discerning which pieces of evidence are the most important is an essential skill that we teach.

‍Commentary (CMs): Commentary is always the most difficult to teach because it asks for students to give insight into their reading and provide interpretations about life and the human condition as well as the significance of the evidence as it pertains to the thesis and the topic sentences. Thus, it must be both insightful and logical. We teach students how to take the ideas of a prompt (abstract nouns, powerful verbs, etc.) and Web-off-of-the-Word™ in order to make inferences about the selection of evidence and how those inferences relate to the prompt, the thesis, and the topic sentences.

‍Concluding Sentence (CS): In an academic body paragraph, each body paragraph must have a concluding sentence. Concluding sentences come from commentary ideas that provide a finished feeling to the body paragraph. For 6th graders, we tell the students that the concluding sentence is a reflection of the topic sentence but does not use any of the same words.‍

Argumentation: This particular assignment has an argumentative piece in the final section, so we must teach students how to take the different parts of an academic body paragraph and build the claim, concession, counterargument, and refutation. The latter three are not usually necessary at the sixth grade level but is required, starting with seventh grade.

‍The Conclusion: This particular assignment does not end with a traditional, classical conclusion since it combines two modes of discourse. If we were to teach the conclusion, we would start with a restatement of the purpose of this essay and broaden the idea to the significance of the assignment. That task is actually being accomplished in the second half of the assignment through argumentation.

Dear Dr. Louis,‍

Would you please take a look at the following prompt and give me some suggestions for revision?

In the Greek Tragedy by Sophocles, “Oedipus Rex,” the protagonist, Oedipus lives a life both cursed and blessed by the gods. Read Oedipus Rex by Edith Hamilton looking closely at the author’s use of ethical appeal. Develop a well thought out two-chunk paragraph (2+:1) where you defend whether Oedipus is a victim of his circumstances or in control of his destiny. Use examples of ethos to support your claim. Consider the gods as you develop your paragraph.

Thank you,

John

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‍Dear John,

Of course, I am delighted to look at your prompt!

I firmly believe that teaching writing to students begins with the teacher's knowing how to write effective prompts, prompts that allow student insight and creativity while also providing guidance and expectations. Students are often blind-sided by the vagueness of their teachers' prompts. And, unless we are trained in writing effective prompts, we write prompts that might make a lot of sense to us (like my Teiresias allusion in the title) but confuses and even shuts down our students. Consequently, we receive from some of our students either nothing or a product completely different from what we anticipated. For that reason, I always appreciate when a master teacher, such as yourself, calls upon a colleague to provide feedback on a prompt before the former gives that prompt to 150-200 students. That's a smart teacher!

Let's look at your prompt!

• Your ratio: I understand why you are suggesting 2+:1; you are working with ethos, a rhetorical device used in argumentation, and you are asking them to defend a position. But you are asking the students to interpret literature. Any time we ask students to provide a literary or rhetorical analysis, even when argumentation is part of that assignment, the best papers will have more commentary. So, I think you'll be happier with a 1:2+ ratio.
• Your request: This topic could easily become a beautiful essay. That you're asking your students to write a paragraph concerns me, but if a paragraph is what you want, let's help your students by being more succinct in your instructions, especially in the first quarter of the school year when students are still learning about method and meaning.
  
  • Revised Prompt: Oedipus, the king of Thebes, lives a life both cursed and blessed by the gods. Read carefully Edith Hamilton’s translation of Sophocles’ famous tragedy, Oedipus Rex, paying special attention to Sophocles’ use of ethical appeal to characterize Oedipus and those who surround him, including the gods. Then, develop a well thought out two-chunk paragraph (1:2+) where you defend whether Oedipus is a victim of his circumstances or in control of his destiny (TS). Support your decision by embedding evidence (CDs) from the text related to ethical appeal to support your claim. Your commentary (CMs) and concluding sentence (CS) might include how the evidence you choose contributes to the tone(s) of the piece, the meaning/theme/universal truth you derive, and/or the author's purpose.

I look forward to hearing about how they perform on this assignment. Send me samples to share!

Keep reading and writing!

Best regards,

Dr. Louis

P.S. I sure would like to see you teach those kids Oedipus at Colonus! It goes brilliantly with your teaching free will and destiny and how they relate to blame and guilt. And teaching this piece also allows us to discuss the idea of acceptance and being able to work with letting go of those issues in our lives that do not provide any answers or answer any riddles. I have written an essay on why teachers should teach this text. Let me know if you'd like to read it. DL

Dear Dr. D',

I wanted to get your comments on a  prompt that I will use on Friday with my Honors students.  They read a creation myth about good vs. evil and the need for both in order to create balance in the world.  Below is the prompt I plan to use.

Prompt: Based on the Iroquois creation myth “The World on the Turtle’s Back,” write a one chunk (2+:1) paragraph that discusses the need for good and evil in the world. For the CD (2+), list events from the story that support the need of both good and evil in the world and for the CM (1), explain the importance.

We completed guided practice and they are currently working on writing a paragraph as a group.  Later this week, I will be having them write individually.  Any feedback on the prompt or process is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Monica 

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‍Dear Monica,

Thank you for reaching out to me. I love to collaborate with teachers on prompts, and yours is a good one. It's fun to work as colleagues. Sometimes, being a teacher can be a lonely profession.

Prompts are important to our students; if we don't make ourselves clear about our expectations, students cannot succeed. Also, we're so busy and deadline-oriented that sometimes we hurry through a prompt, and the results are disastrous. I've done it -- written a prompt during passing period or in a matter of minutes, and the results were quite ugly! So, I especially appreciate your asking your question many days before you give the students the prompt. That's a master teacher move!

So, here is my mini-lesson on prompts: Decoding prompts is a skill that all students should learn. I am always concerned when students say, "I don't know how to start."

The definition of "prompt" is

1) to move or induce to action;

2) to occasion or incite; inspire; or

3) to assist (a person speaking) by suggesting something to be said.

To that end, I instruct teachers to write prompts with three distinctive parts: BACKGROUND SENTENCES(1-3), a TRIGGER SENTENCE, and the TASK. What you have written is the task. So, I'd like to see you give one or two background sentences about why the heck they have to read this story in the first place. How will their lives benefit or be more enriched by knowing this creation myth? Or, give them some insight into how creation myths tend to have some recurring patterns. In other words, start your prompt with a sentence or two that either 1) sparks their interest; 2) shocks their daily routine; 3) provides them with a mini-lesson on an element of literature; 4) begins with a thematic statement; or 5) sets the literary period that helps them to decipher characteristics of that literary period as they read the passage.

Example of a BACKGROUND SENTENCE for your prompt: Creation myths are found in cultures around the world. They are stories that we agree to tell about ourselves or another culture but frame them in different ways.  That’s what myth does; it tells us about ourselves or who we choose to say we are. What is fascinating about myths is that even cultures that live across the world from each other seem to have stories that bind us all together as human beings, concepts such as good and evil.

‍Then, write the TRIGGER SENTENCE. I always wondered why the AP prompts had sentences such as "Read the passage carefully." I thought to myself, "What else would they say -- "Read the passage haphazardly?" Then, I realized that this type of sentence was a trigger sentence. When students learn how to decode prompts, they understand that the purpose of a trigger sentence is to point out that everything above this trigger sentence is designed to engage their thinking; everything below the trigger sentence is designed to guide their task for writing. Example of a trigger sentence for your prompt: Read carefully the Iroquois creation myth titled “The World on the Turtle’s Back."

‍Finally, the TASK. I like yours. Let me play with it a little. Because you are dealing with both good and evil, both of which are important concepts, I recommend that your task divides the two concepts into one body paragraph with two chunks or, because the concepts are deep ones, two one- to two-chunk paragraphs. Since you are asking them to discuss the need for both good and evil in the world, you want to give both ideas their just deserts. Your call. You know your students.

Example of a task for your prompt: Then, in a well-developed paragraph (two chunks; 1:2+), discuss the need for both good and evil in the world. For the CDs (1), list events from the story that support the need for both good and evil in the world. For the CM (2+) in each chunk, provide your insight into the importance of good as well as the importance of evil. For your concluding sentence, reflect on the paradox of the need for both.

‍If you go with a two-chunk paragraph, it might look something like this:

• TOPIC SENTENCE
  
  • ‍TS - Who or what am I writing about? Include "good" and "evil" in this sentence.‍
• FIRST CHUNK
  
  • ‍CD 1 - One or more examples of "good" combined into one sentence.
  • CM 1 - How is that "good?"
  • CM 2+ - Importance of "good" to humanity.
• TRANSITION TO SECOND CHUNK‍
  
  • CD 1 - One or more examples of "evil" combined into one sentence.
  • CM 1 - How is that "evil?"
  • CM 2+ - Importance of "evil" in our understanding of humanity.
• CONCLUDING SENTENCE
  
  • CS - The paradox of needing both good and evil in our society.

Question: Are you having them embed quotations from the text? If so, make sure you teach them the TLCD (Transition/Lead-in/Concrete Detail).

Keep reading and writing!

Best regards,

Dr. D'

Dear Dr. Louis,

Would you review this prompt and give me feedback? 

"This week in class we talked about happiness and what things make you happy.  Reflect on those things we talked about. Then, in 5 sentences, please summarize your thoughts for this week.  Please use 12-point font, Times New Roman, double space, and your MLA heading.”

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Tina H.

Sure, Tina. I can see that you learned the parts of the prompt well at our workshop together. I love your "Background Sentence" and "Trigger Sentence." For your "Task," I'd like to see you start your year out using your prompt to support and reinforce the JSWP terminology and elements of good writing, guiding your students to an understanding of your expectations for this and future writing prompts. I would avoid telling students "how many" sentences to write. When you start the year out doing that, be prepared for the students to ask you all year, "How many sentences?" JSWP doesn't count sentences. That's why we always have a plus (+) in our ratios. I'd rather you give them some options: 100-250 words; no more than one page; one or two paragraphs. That way, you can diagnose the writing capabilities and confidence levels of your students.

Now, let's talk about the prompt's specs:

First, is the writing assignment supposed to be in paragraph form; a short answer or free response;, or bulleted sentences? Each mode of discourse or format specified has rules to follow, so identifying the required structure up front helps the students’ thinking. Your original prompt looks like a paragraph to me.

Second, the verb "summarize," by definition, demands concrete detail only, and since your topic is about happiness, it begs for commentary; so, let’s go with 2+:1, and let's select a different verb, such as "discuss," "explore," or "communicate."

Let’s give them more guidance since the students are new to your class and new to your expectations. In another email, you indicated that your colleague in the previous year taught them JSWP. Use this opportunity to refresh their knowledge, assess their skills, and address their curiosity that what they learned last year will be built upon this year. Consider the following foundational prompt.

"This week in class we talked about happiness and what things make you happy.  Reflect on those things we talked about. Then, in a well-developed body paragraph,(2+:1), explore what truly makes you happy. For your topic sentence, assert what truly makes you happy with no concrete detail. For your 2+ sentences of concrete detail, provide examples and situations that you have experienced or that people have discussed that created this happiness within you. For your commentary sentence, answer this question: What is it about the situations in your concrete details that inspired happiness within you? And for your concluding sentence, write a sentence about how your happiness might affect others or your outlook on life. Please use 12-point font, Times New Roman, double space, and MLA for your heading."

Once students see this layout -- this foundational prompt -- they'll realize that they must decode a prompt into a logical, organized thought process. Sure, eventually, you wean them off of direct instruction about sentences. How do you do that? After several prompts with precise instructions, you ask them, "Who or what are you writing about? Circle in blue the subject of the assignment." They should be able to identify the subject/topic of the assignment that would belong in their topic sentence or thesis statement (if you are assigning an essay). 

Next, ask them, "What concrete details will you be searching for that will support your topic sentence?" Let them tell you and underline those in red in the prompt.

Continue with, "What's the ratio of this assignment?" If the assignment is literary, style, or rhetorical analysis, it's 1:2+. If the students are writing an expository (nonfiction), argument, or narrative, it's 2+:1. If the assignment is a summary, the ratio is 3+:0.

Next question, "What type of commentary is the prompt asking you to write? Circle that in green. Words might be "discuss," "explain," "investigate." If the word were "summarize," and you didn't have the ratio, students would assume that it fell into a 3+:0 ratio. Ask the students, "What are you going to discuss that comes from your analytical mind, your heart and soul, your gut instincts, and your intuition?" The answer should be something like "the importance, the significance, the impact, or the effect of what they have discovered about themselves" in this particular assignment.

There's a difference between teaching and assigning writing. You'll be teaching them!

Keep Reading and Writing!

Warm regards,

Dr. Louis

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Since its inception over forty years ago, JSWP® has held and advocated a multi-sensory, vertically articulated, and cross-curricular philosophy about the importance of students reading and thinking independently and sharing successfully their thinking through oral and written communication.

Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) has come onto the business and academic scenes as a timesaving method of writing; and, in some cases, “AI” is a viable and expeditious form of drafting and editing documents. However, as educators, our first mission is to develop and produce thinkers in our society.

Glen Slater, an Australian-trained Jungian psychologist and one of my venerable professors at Pacifica Graduate Institute where I earned my doctorate, examines in his 2024 book Jung vs Borg how to preserve humanity in an accelerating technological age. Slater is concerned that “increasingly, . . .we're drawn off and distracted to the point of losing our connection to those elements of creativity that drive us to be a better species . . . Unless we start figuring out a way to educate the whole person, we're just going to breed a race of automatons.”

JSWP devotes its time, energy, and professional development to guiding educators how to teach “Authentic Intelligence” to young and maturing minds, to teach the whole person.

When students learn to examine carefully their unique experiences, intuitive contemplations, rational observations, and reflective reading, they can then formulate and communicate those thoughts through writing. Subsequently, their creative expression and innovative ideas result in both personal growth and an evolving collective human experience that ultimately and positively affects generations to come.

Many teachers that we have met are gifted writers themselves; however, they have confided in us that they have difficulties isolating or understanding their innate processing and writing skills and conveying those skills to their students. The Jane Schaffer Academic Writing Program and this guide, Analytical Response to Literature, have been created to provide teachers with a step-by-step visual thinking process of what comes to them naturally, filling the gap between thinking and writing as twilight fills the gap between the night and the day.

Good morning!

My name is Sofia. I'm an English teacher from Brownsville, Texas, and while it's only my second year in the classroom, I feel like I've been teaching the Jane Schaffer Writing Program all my life.

Both of my parents are career educators, and my mom is legitimately the greatest English teacher I've ever met. I thought I was biased about that growing up (being that she raised me), but I find more evidence with every passing day. I was raised surrounded by her colleagues and students, who she loves like family, watching the impact she has on them in real time, and watching them leave her classroom more certain of themselves and their voices than before. She's taught me how to be a great teacher for the past 22 years of my life—which is all of them. 

For the past 24 years of her career, she has taught the JSWP. She told me the story of the first time she attended a workshop with you, how she was a newbie in the classroom, wondering why her students couldn’t magically apply the feedback she was giving them when she asked for "more," to "explain," to "be clearer, more organized.” She'd been forced to attend yet another droning professional development training, and she was not excited. 

By the end of the first day of the workshop, however, she was in tears over the revelations she was having; she'd always believed there was no formula to writing, and that to suggest there could be would constrict writers' instincts. But my mom has always loved writing. She's always been able to intuit how to make her writing sound natural and controlled because it was the most important thing to her in life. How can you impart that on an unwilling mind with no structure?

Jane Schaffer put into words the method my mom and so many great writers have always intuited or studied, one way or another. It made it genuinely accessible. Her workshop with the Jane Schaffer, way back in 2000, proved to be life-altering. She taught it to me as her daughter, not her student, and I never once struggled to articulate myself with confidence. Even though I scarcely think of the terminology as I write anymore, the JSWP bones are present in all of it. She told Ms. Schaffer about her epiphanic experience on day 2 of the conference. Ms. Schaffer completely understood her hesitation, but explained it as concrete structure, not formula. It’s training wheels that want to be taken off. It lays the foundation for free, flexible, articulate writers. My mom sees Ms. Schaffer as the patron saint of writing pedagogy, and she’s been a devout follower since. 

I remember being in middle school, accompanying my mom to a professional development in Austin. Honestly, I just cared about the indoor pool at the hotel the district was paying for. But before I could have my fun, I had to go to her workshop with her (aka, sit next to her and work through a book of word searches and go unnoticed as much as possible). When the training started, I recognized the content immediately as my mother's. Even at that age, having hung out with enough jaded teachers, I had some idea of what made a useless versus a useful training. I knew this one was the real deal, and though I didn't imagine I'd be teaching it myself one day, I remember thinking, "This is the good stuff." 

Now, I'm teaching a few doors down from my mom, imparting the JSWP onto my English II students. Before this gig, I was teaching this for free at my university's Writing Center. There is a jarring number of college students I worked with who had never had any clear instruction on how to write an essay. Many students I've met have believed since childhood that they are doomed to remaining forever mystified by how good writing gets done, leaving it to the experts, the people lucky enough to just have the ability. 

But every time I teach the JSWP to a student at any age or level, with enough time, practice, and persistence, I get to witness this incredible moment where it all just clicks. It's one of life's greatest highs—a massive hit of oxytocin. This method is the only one I've ever known, and it's given me unshakeable confidence in my ability to write and speak well—of course I'm going to give that to as many people as I can. Writing is no secret. You just have to be taught well. Everyone deserves this kind of education, and everyone is capable of writing well.