daily prompt archive

Take a few minutes to share your thoughts as you entered the school on your first day. Explain one or two goals you have this year for each of the following categories:Athletic/Physical Health and Wellness Goals; Academic/Intellectual Goals; Extracurricular goals Social Goals; Mental Health and Wellness Goals; family goals.

Write about a person you know who did something significant or exceptional or sweet for you or someone you know without any desire for recognition.

A major movie studio is making a film about your life up to this exact moment. They want you to choose three songs for the soundtrack: the opening credits theme, the conflict theme, and the closing credits theme. Explain why these songs are appropriate for those themes.

Think of a time someone wronged you, hurt your feelings, or misunderstood you, but never apologized. Write the exact apology you needed to hear from them in that moment. How does reading it make you feel now?

Think of a classmate or friend who’s in the midst of struggling with something now–stress, loneliness, or some other challenge. Without naming that person, what is the advice or comfort you wish you could give today?

What is a something you would defend with absolute passion? Argue your case fiercely.

Imagine you could send a one-sentence text message back to yourself exactly one year ago today. What does the message say, and how would past-you react to reading it?

Think of one of the classrooms in the school. Choose one corner, one poster, one piece of furniture, etc. If that specific spot or item could speak, what is one observation it would make about the energy, habits, or personalities of the students in that classroom?

Your English teacher has been given a sabbatical for the rest of this year so that they can work on that novel that’s been itching to be written. Your teacher asked you to write a secret, brutally honest survival guide for the substitute teacher who will be taking over your English class. What are the unwritten rules? Who should they watch out for? What is the exact sequence of events required to keep the peace?

A time capsule buried today is opened 500 years in the future. The historians find only three items: a half-empty bottle of a popular beverage, a specific meme printed out on paper, and your current footwear. Write the historical analysis these future scientists write explaining what these items tell them about our civilization.

Your brain is run by a committee of three fictional characters, celebrities, or historical figures who debate every decision you make. Who is on your internal committee, and what does a brief transcript of their argument look like when deciding how you should manage your time after school?

Think of a literal or figurative scar you carry. Without necessarily detailing the trauma of how you got it, describe the “geography” of it. What does it look like or feel like now?

Growth often means letting go of old versions of ourselves. Think of a phase, a habit, a belief, or a version of yourself from two or three years ago that no longer exists. Write a brief eulogy for that past version of you. What did you love about that version of you? Why does it no longer exist?

Think of something you overheard someone say—perhaps a stranger—say in passing that stuck with you. Why do you think it stuck with you?

Think of a time you were so dying to leave a room, car, or other space, that you wanted to scream. Write about that experience.

Describe your journey to school this morning. Who were you with? What was their mood? What was yours? Do you remember any smells? sights? sounds?

What is one of your quirks or habits? Something you do without thinking (tapping your foot, biting your lip, twirling your hair, adjusting your glasses). If a character in a novel had the same quirk, what might it say about them?

Write a passionate defense of something most people dislike or consider “bad.” It could be a universally hated movie, a terrible weather pattern (like freezing rain), or a chore everyone avoids. Convince us of its magnificence.

Write a short letter to a significant place (a corner, a park, a treehouse, etc.) from your childhood. Tell the place what has happened to you since you saw it last.

If you were guaranteed a completely honest answer to three questions from any one person in your life (living or dead), who would that person be? what would the questions be? and why are these questions important?

Think of an everyday object you use, neglect, or abuse daily (your phone, your backpack, your water bottle, your alarm clock). Write a letter of complaint from that object’s perspective to you.

Your teacher wants to launch a world-changing podcast and wants you on their marketing team. The podcast must reflect their interests and classroom personality. Create the campaign that will make their podcast blow up. This is not just marketing—it’s myth-making. Think: slogans, jingles, cover art ideas, hashtags, episode titles, TikTok skit concepts, merch, taglines, guest stars (living, dead, imaginary).

Think of a moment when something small made a big difference for you—a comment from a friend, a song you heard, a detail you noticed, or even a coincidence. Write the story of that moment, and reflect on why it mattered.

What is something someone said that has stayed with you? Who is the person? And why do you think that what they said has stayed with you?

What is something you said to someone that you would like to think has stayed with them?

It’s a Thursday night, no school Friday, and you’re out for a solo neighborhood walk when you pass the Suds All Night Laundromat. A young woman inside the laundromat with a six year-old girl bangs on the window for your attention. When you look, she opens the door. She looks familiar, and she’s frantic. She tells you she’s got to run home for her roll of quarters (she lives five blocks away) but she’s babysitting this girl. She pleads with you to watch the child for her, and something about the situation makes you believe she needs you now, and what the heck, you’re off school tomorrow. So you sit down, and immediately, the little girl climbs on your lap. As you watch the frantic woman run down the street from the window, you realize how you know her. She was your childhood babysitter. 

Just then, the girl turns around to face you, and lo and behold, she looks familiar, too. My word, she’s young you! You’ve got 20 or so minutes to talk with your younger self. Describe your feelings as the girl turns around, and then describe the conversation you have with her.

Think about a choice you didn’t make—something you passed up, avoided, or walked away from, or a choice you wanted to make, but didn’t. What might have happened if you had chosen differently?

Imagine yourself five years from today. Where are you, what are you doing, and what small and large steps helped you get there? Write a five-year-long to-do list, with each year containing goals, milestones, or personal wishes. These can be serious, reflective, light and playful, funny, ambitious, or anything in between—anything that feels true to you.

if there was something about yourself or your life that would hurt you if you knew it–maybe a hidden family history, a medical diagnosis, a betrayal by someone you love, or a fact that would change how you see yourself—would you rather know it, even though it might cause great grief or pain, or would you rather stay ignorant and preserve your current sense of peace?

Write about a small victory you experienced recently. Write about it without using the word loss.

Write about your first (or one of your first) memories. Write it in first person, present tense. e.g., “I am four years old, sitting at the kitchen table…)

October feels like a turning point in the year—summer and the first month of school are behind you. Winter is just ahead. On this first day of October, write about a small change you notice around you (in the weather, the light, the people, the trees, even in yourself). Start with the words: “I knew it was October when I woke up because…”

In The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway writes “it occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well.” Write about a time when you were really sick—whether it was the flu, strep throat, a broken bone, or something else that left you feeling weak, stuck, or out of your normal routine. What are things you noticed or thought about yourself and others in that moment? 

Think back to an occasion when you experienced real joy, excitement, or a sense of peace—an occasion or experience that didn’t cost any money. Describe the scene in detail: What were you doing? How did that experience make you feel in the moment, and why do you think it has stayed with you? What do you think this memory says about what really matters to you?

Miracle of miracles. You get a day off school to do anything you want, you can bring anyone you know with you. Money is not a question. Transportation is taken care of. Write thoughtfully and thoroughly about how you will spend your day.

Mondays can feel like recurring beginnings throughout the year. Write about something in your life you’d like to reset, restart, or approach differently this week. What would it look like if you actually did?

There are some things you have to do between 3:15pm on Friday and bedtime on Sunday night, but some of that time is completely in your control. What are some things you can do between now and Sunday that can prepare you for success next week? 

you’re in a ridiculously generous mood, and you decide to do something that is going to make your English teacher ridiculously happy. What is it that you’re going to do?

Tell the story of a person who mattered deeply to you but who is no longer in your life. Try to capture a single vivid memory or moment with them — one that reveals who they were and why they mattered.

Write a letter addressed to an older student who, when you were younger, made a lasting impression on you. Maybe they helped you, encouraged you, or simply noticed you at a time when that mattered, or at a time when you felt invisible. Write to them directly (in the second person, using “you” throughout). Tell the story of one memorable encounter, describing what you remember feeling in that moment. Then, reflect on why that experience still matters to you. What made this person stand out to you at the time? How did their words or actions affect you then—and how do they affect you now? 

Describe an interaction with a younger student who you encouraged or noticed at a time that seemed to matter to them, or at a time when they may have felt invisible. Tell the story of one memorable encounter, describing what you remember feeling in that moment. Then, reflect on why that experience still matters to you. Things to consider: What is it about the interaction that allows you to believe you had an effect on them? What about this person stood out to you at the time? How do you think your words or actions affected them? 

Write about a single moment from this past quarter or semester that stands out to you—a class discussion, a conversation, a mistake, a success—and unpack why it lingers in your mind.

Think back on the first quarter or semester of this school year. What’s one thing you’ve learned (or developed further)—regarding yourself as a student, a thinker, or a person—that surprised you, or that you’re proud of?

It’s the beginning of a new quarter/semester. You’re looking back on the past 1, 2, or 3 quarters. Are you looking back on them with pride? Regret? A combination of both? What did you accomplish, change, or learn about yourself between now and then?

You’ve fallen asleep in the school library, and when you wake up it’s midnight. A ghost of the founder of the school guides you into a room in which are shelves of recordings of each day of your life. They tell you that you could select one video of one day of your life. What day would it be? Why would you choose that day?

Write about something in your life that’s ending, but quietly, gently.

If you could press pause on one part of the world right now, what would you pause and why?

What breaks your heart about the world, and what do you hope/would you like to do about it?

Where do you feel most yourself in the world? describe that place.

Write about a character who keeps falling under the spell of ordinary things. a dog with its head out a car window, a child holding her little brother’s hand, a distant laugh. What was it they saw today?

Reflect on something about your life or your inner world that you wish adults understood. Why do you think this misunderstanding exists, and what would change if they saw it clearly?

Write a letter to someone you’ve been meaning to thank for something.

Write about a way you’re trying to grow right now that feels slow or uncertain.

write about a belief you no longer hold. What changed, and what does that shift reveal about you now? (Try to move beyond things like believing in Santa Claus. For one, Santa still exists).

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s great to make resolutions meant to improve yourself and your life, but it’s also fun to make resolutions for other people. Use the templates below to write resolutions for people in your life (animals, parents, teachers, friends, former friends, etc.)

Dear______________,

I’ve been thinking about some NY’s resolutions that you should consider:

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Love (or something else),______________

Write a prompt you think would be a good prompt for your class to respond to. Why do you think this would be a good prompt?

What is the next big thing (or next couple of things) you’re looking forward to right now?

A younger person you’re crazy about is just starting the year you just finished. Write a letter to them to let them know you’re crazy about them and to help get them through the year successfully.