you care about your students REALLY learning the content you are trying to teach,
you know that having students write about what they're learning, while they are learning and as they have that learning reinforced, makes a world of difference. By giving your students a creative means for communicating their ideas, you're helping them refine and consolidate that learning.
you can assess how far students have come in clarifying and solidifying their understanding of the concepts you're helping them learn--by evaluating the writing students are doing as they demonstrate their learning.

Here's something else you probably know: Generating new, fresh, intriguing ways to prompt student writing and assessment can be a bit taxing; students want new, new, new all the time. Here are 10 prompts that might be new to you (and each includes a definition, if needed, and one or more sample expansions of the prompt):

1. abbreviation

Since looking up words in the dictionary requires that one understand abbreviations for parts of speech, etc. have students create a list of abbreviations they need.
Do a matching exercise between state names and their abbreviation.
Prepare a list of abbreviations that are commonly used in your chemistry or physics (or any science) text. Have students figure out the whole word or phrase for as many as they can.
Write a list of all the abbreviations you use to communicate with your friends. Discuss the value of a common language and/or the pros and cons of using abbreviations.

2. ABCs (also known as an abecedarian)

Create an abecedarian of the classification system in science. List the alphabet down the side of the page and fill it in with as many vocabulary words related to this class that you can think of.
Show your understanding of the ABC's of the food web.
Establish the ABC's of what makes history, history!

3. abridgment

Write both the full version and an abridgment to solving a linear equation.
Write an abridgment of the novel we're currently reading.
Write an abridgment of today's lesson...although it was 55 minutes, make your abridgment no longer than 5 minutes (if you were reading it aloud).

4. absolution

Pick a crime, (i.e., murder, an ethics transgression, or something else that is in the news); write about what a person could do to absolve his/herself of that specific incident.
Write an absolution to future generations for Yucca Mountain (Nevada).

5. abstract (adj.)

Describe the concepts of point, line, plane that take the concept from abstract to concrete.
Write a distance word problem using abstract values for distance rate and time.
Describe zero to someone who doesn't understand abstract concepts.

6. abstract (n.)

Write an abstract of a recent political speech.
Develop an abstract of today's lesson.

7. acceptance speech

You are accepting the award for best director of a foreign film at the Emmy's. Write an acceptance speech that acknowledges the country you filmed in and why you filmed there.
Write an acceptance speech for Richard Nixon as if he had won the election against John Kennedy.
If Kennedy had lived for the next term write an acceptance speech that Kennedy might have used in 1968.

8. accolade

You've earned an "A" for the semester. Write the accolades you'll receive since it's the first time you've earned an A in this subject.
Write an accolade for your favorite rock group so that kids in 100 years will appreciate the group (or maybe your parents will appreciate the group now!)
Write on accolade indicating your approval of your partners' work on last group project.

9. account of...

Write an account of the transitive property, i.e., if A=B, B=C then A=C and how it applies.
Write an account of how you are giving to go about developing the floor plan for your dream kitchen.

10. acknowledgment

Health - Write an acknowledgment of something one of your parents has done for you.
Create an acknowledgments page for your *next* novel (or other major project).

When you use this list to stimulate your thinking about (and inspire your creation of) writing assignments and assessments, you'll never run out of new ideas, I promise! And you probably are constantly on the lookout for new ideas. Consider various resources.

For an expanded list of another *50+ Fabulous Writing and Assessment Prompts for Students,* just visit http://www.meggin.com/50PlusWritingPrompts.php where you can learn more about this resource. You might as well have as many ideas as possible and by accessing *50+ Fabulous Writing and Assessment Prompts for Students* and the ideas in this article, you'll have over 60 prompts plus examples for each and every prompt!

These ideas are happily created for you by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. of Emphasis on Excellence, Inc. Feel free to visit her site - http://www.OwningWordsforLiteracy.com - for loads of other free items you can access and download for yourself and your classroom.