By Curtis Brown Dyanis Popova Natalie Fuentes

Purpose and Benefits Combines both reading and writing activities. Supports daily context writing. Critical thinking, learning and reflection. Multidisciplinary curricula. Prompts can be used in different orders and do not all have to be used in the same lesson to support writing skills. Short, informal, ungraded writing

SPAWN Prompts Defined S –Special Powers -students can change an aspect of the text or topic. P - Problem Solving – students can write solutions to problems posed by the text or lesson. A – Alternative Viewpoints – students can write about a topic from a unique perspective. W - What if? – teacher introduces a change to the text or lesson and students can write based on that change. N – Next – students can write about what they think will happen next.

Using SPAWN Prompts The Latest on the Oil Spill by The NY Times “THE NUMBERS It has been 34 days since the first explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig. The spills impact on shore now stretches across 150 miles, from Dauphin Island, Ala., to Grand Isle, La., officials said.” Retrieved from html html

Using SPAWN Prompts Students will form discussion groups based on 4 different perspectives. Environmentalist Fisherman BP CEO Governor of LA, Bobby Jindal After discussion, students will address “Alternative Viewpoints” in their writing. Write about the oil spill from the assigned perspective in your journal.

Using SPAWN Prompts Students will then address “ Problem Solving” by suggesting a solution to their problem in writing. Students can then share their ideas and solutions with the groups and the class as a whole. The teacher can provide additional tasks modeling the additional prompts. Students with limited writing proficiency can use illustrations to develop their perspective.