Prompts for the New Year

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New Year Creative Writing Prompts

By Maria Chatzi

The beginning of a creative new year! It is the time to weave new dreams and new hopes for your creative life, as well as reflect upon the plans of the prior year that have gone wrong and the resolutions that have been broken. The following short list of writing prompts could be used to ignite your imagination for journal writing or just as an exercise to get you back to your daily creative thinking and creative writing habit, after the holiday break. So, grab a pen and a cup of coffee, get cozy and start writing!

10Imagine a wicked witch had put you under a spell and you had fallen asleep through winter. What would you have missed out on? What if, instead of the witch, it was a compassionate wizard or your fairy godmother — what would they have saved you from by casting this spell?

9Think of two words you hated the previous year and two words you loved. Think of “why” you felt the way you did about them. What could have made things be the other way round? When could at least one of your hated words have become a loved one, and in what case would at least one of the loved words turn into a hated one?

8You receive an unusual email message. It is a letter from one of the mistakes you’ve made last year, which has come to life. Write what your mistake wrote to you.

7You wake up one morning to find you are travelling inside a snowflake. What was the weirdest thing that happened to you on this journey.

6Write about a snowball that was actually a camouflaged tiny planet.

5Write a list of winter-related words. Then use them all in a piece of writing on a Spring theme.

4On returning home, you find a huge snowman standing in your living room. “I came for the interview.” he says in a strange sounding voice. You notice that, although close enough to the burning fireplace, he’s not melting. Continue the story.

3Write about a time when the turning of the year came with the disappearance of your most treasured possession.

2If your present creative life was a quilt what would it look like? Describe it in detail. Try to make the description as vivid as possible, so that the reader could live your creative experience through it. Also describe what the quilt looked like in the beginning of the previous year and what it is going to look like a year ahead from now.

1You’re hosting a party for New Year’s Eve. An Unfulfilled Wish (or Dream) and a Broken Resolution, both coming from the previous year, come to life and sneak in, uninvited. They start a conversation with one of your guests. Write part of this conversation.

Happy writing! •

© 2013 Maria Chatzi. All rights reserved.

Peter and the Wolf

Peter and the Wolf

AGENDA:

Go to the following link:

http://www.philtulga.com/Peter.html#04

1. Read the background about the composer.

2. Learn which instrument plays each character in the story.

3. Read the story.

4. Listen to the music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ueGfjBKbiE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot7m9i70JDg


5. Do the writing prompt indicated on the first link.

What is Poetry?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x7saqOf6_Q

Creative Writing Prompts about Music

Musical Writing Prompts

Write a page of nonfiction! 

Why not write about a musical subject?

1.     What is your favorite instrument, why?

2.     If you could learn to play any instrument, which one would you choose and why?

3.     Who is your favorite singer?  Describe why you enjoy their music.

4.     Music and emotions run hand in hand.  Describe a time when music helped you get through a tough time.

5.     Music can be used to really get people excited and focus on a task.  Describe a time when you noticed that music was used this way.

6.     All right dancing kings and queens:  Describe your dancing style in a paragraph.

7.     Mozart was a child prodigy.  This means that when he was a child he had extraordinary talent and skills.  If you could be child prodigy, what skills would you like to have?   Why?

8.     Sometimes music reminds of events that have happened in our lives.  Describe a time when music reminded you a funny time in your life.

9.     Imagine that you are an amazing inventor.  You have just created a NEW woodwind instrument.  Describe what it looks like, how it is played and be sure to give your cool new instrument a name.  Don't forget that this is a WOODWIND instrument.

10. Imagine that you are an amazing inventor.  You have just created a NEW brass instrument.  Describe what it looks like, how it is played and be sure to give your cool new instrument a name.  Don't forget that this is a BRASS instrument.

11. Imagine that you are an amazing inventor.  You have just created a NEW string instrument.  Describe what it looks like, how it is played and be sure to give your cool new instrument a name.  Don't forget that this is a STRING instrument.

12. What kind of musical present would you like to receive?  Describe it and don't forget to tell me why!

13. Your parents have decided to take you to ANY concert that you would like to see next week.  Who would you like to see and why?

14. Your music teacher has decided to take two students to see a new musical on Broadway!  Write a letter asking to be one of the students she chooses. Be sure to use all the parts of a letter and don't forget to be convincing!  Lay on the charm!!!

15. Unfortunately, some schools are not as lucky as we are to have music classes that meet every week.  Some schools have lost music class all together! Think about the reasons that it is important to have music in our school.  Write a persuasive paragraph about this topic.

16. What great book do you think should be turned into a song?  Describe the kind of song it should be.  (happy, sad, rap music, country music, fast/slow, etc...)

17. You are an amazing inventor and you have been asked to create a musical instrument that can be used under the water!  Introduce your new instrument in a paragraph and then draw a sketch of what your  instrument might look like below it.

18. If you could audition for American  Idol, what song would you choose? Describe how your audition would  go.

19. Oh no!  You have the Rock and Roll Flu!  You can only speak in song titles!  Write a short play (with two or more characters) in which  your character only speaks in song titles.

20. Music gives us a voice for our patriotism.  What is your favorite patriotic song?   Why?

Hamilton Rap

AGENDA:

Work on completing photo short story.

NEW PROJECT: Historical RAP

Think about a famous historical character.  Do some research on the character.  Create a rap song for that character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0aX8Jy1tME

Alexander Hamilton Rap

[BURR]
How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a
Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a
Forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence
Impoverished, in squalor
Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?

[LAURENS]
The ten-dollar founding father without a father
Got a lot farther by working a lot harder
By being a lot smarter
By being a self-starter
By fourteen, they placed him in charge of a
Trading charter

[JEFFERSON]
And every day while slaves were being slaughtered and carted
Away across the waves, he struggled and kept his guard up
Inside, he was longing for something to be a part of
The brother was ready to beg, steal, borrow, or barter

[MADISON]
Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned
Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain
Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain
And he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain

[BURR]
Well, the word got around, they said, “This kid is insane, man”
Took up a collection just to send him to the mainland
“Get your education, don’t forget from whence you came, and
The world is gonna know your name. What’s your name, man?”

[HAMILTON]
Alexander Hamilton
My name is Alexander Hamilton
And there’s a million things I haven’t done
But just you wait, just you wait...

[ELIZA]
When he was ten his father split, full of it, debt-ridden
Two years later, see Alex and his mother bed-ridden
Half-dead sittin' in their own sick, the scent thick

[COMPANY]
And Alex got better but his mother went quick

[WASHINGTON]
Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide
Left him with nothin’ but ruined pride, something new inside
A voice saying

[WASHINGTON] “You gotta fend for yourself.”

[COMPANY] “Alex, you gotta fend for yourself.”

[WASHINGTON]
He started retreatin’ and readin’ every treatise on the shelf

[BURR] There would have been nothin’ left to do For someone less astute He woulda been dead or destitute Without a cent of restitution Started workin’, clerkin’ for his late mother’s landlord Tradin’ sugar cane and rum and all the things he can’t afford Scammin’ for every book he can get his hands on Plannin’ for the future see him now as he stands on The bow of a ship headed for a new land In New York you can be a new man

[COMPANY] Scammin’ Plannin’ Oooh...

[COMPANY] In New York you can Be a new man— In New York you can Be a new man—

[HAMILTON] Just you wait! Just you wait!

[COMPANY]
In New York you can be a new man—

[WOMEN] In New York—

[MEN] New York—

[HAMILTON]
Just you wait!

[COMPANY] Alexander Hamilton We are waiting in the wings for you You could never back down You never learned to take your time! Oh, Alexander Hamilton When America sings for you Will they know what you overcame? Will they know you rewrote the game? The world will never be the same, oh [BURR] The ship is in the harbor now See if you can spot him Another immigrant Comin’ up from the bottom His enemies destroyed his rep America forgot him

[COMPANY] Alexander Hamilton Waiting in the wings for you You never learned to take your time! Oh, Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton… America sings for you Will they know what you overcame? Will they know you rewrote the game? The world will never be the same, oh [MEN] Just you wait [COMPANY] Just you wait

[MULLIGAN/MADISON & LAFAYETTE/JEFFERSON]
We fought with him

[LAURENS/PHILIP]
Me? I died for him

[WASHINGTON]
Me? I trusted him

[ELIZA & ANGELICA & PEGGY/MARIA]
Me? I loved him

[BURR]
And me? I’m the damn fool that shot him

[COMPANY]
There’s a million things I haven’t done
But just you wait!

[BURR]
What’s your name, man?

[COMPANY]

Alexander Hamilton!

Photos As Writing Prompts

AGENDA:

Using photos as writing prompts for a short story:

Go to http://writingfix.com/classroom_tools/picture_prompts.htm

https://plus.google.com/+Photowritingprompts1

Extra credit creative writing prompts

http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/

Ekphrastic Poetry

AGENDA:

EQ: What is ekphrastic poetry

Ekphrasis is writing about any art form, but in its modern usage, ekphrasis generally refers to poetry that reflects on visual art, and most often painting. In my classroom, I often choose one or two artists for an in-depth study. Once my students are experts about the artists, they each choose a meaningful piece of work to inspire a poem. 
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2016/04/ekphrasis-poetry-about-art
http://americanart.si.edu/education/pdf/Ekphrastic_Poetry_Lesson.pdf

http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/paintings&poems/classicscene.html

The Red Wheelbarrow

William Carlos Williams, 1883 - 1963

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

ACTIVITY:

Students select a postcard or artwork