I absolutely love writing. Rarely, if ever, do I know where I am going when I start to write. I might begin with a photo and then create a story centered around the scene. Occasionally something will happen, and I think, “There’s more to XYZ than meets the eye,” and a fully fledged idea will pop out. But I don’t often use a prompt to start my own writing. Sure, I use them with my students, but I don’t usually use the prompts myself. And honestly, I don’t think that I could have done it any better than Kathleen C. in my sixth period class. Here’s her story about the adventures of a girl named Dot. The only trick to our little prompt: you can’t use any letter that contains a dot, so that means no Is or Js. Midway through the paragraph, I stopped looking for the offending letters and just enjoyed the ride.

Dot fell asleep. She wondered where she was. A treehouse maybe? How could she get here? A hawk screamed nearby. She felt the earthy smell of trees and bushes. A cool breeze touched her neck. To her left was a small crack to see out of. She peered out to see herself surrounded by trees and fog. But the tree she was on had a ladder by the wooden boards under her. Dot started to head down the ladder. Maybe there was an escape route? Dot carefully headed down the ladder. When she got to the bottom she saw a man hunched over a hole by the ground. ¨Excuse me, where are we?¨ Dot asked. The man slowly turned then hopped down the hole. Angry at the man, Dot leaned over the strange hole.  Dot spoke to a nearby plant that was almost dead. ¨Where’s the strange man?¨ she asked. All of a sudden, two hands pushed her down the hole. Dot was too scared to scream. She landed by a stream of water. ¨Help me!¨ Dot managed to say. She pushed through the water, and she saw a clock. She was back to the real world. Her room looked cozy and peaceful. The clock read 3:26 AM. ¨Better go back to bed¨ she mumbled. She fell asleep.

The strange man stood next to the plants by the glass. He ran off down the street. – By Kathleen C in Period 6