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Writing prompts for middle school

64 prompts for grades 6 to 8: narrative, argument, informative, creative, and journal prompts for the start of class. Ask Sparky for a set on your novel or unit.

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A teacher asks Sparky for a week of ELA journal prompts for 7th graders and gets a document with a narrative, opinion and descriptive prompt for Monday to Wednesday, with Sparky offering to tie them to a unit or text

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Narrative writing prompts for middle school

Middle schoolers write narratives with a clear point of view and pacing, and in 7th and 8th grade they end by reflecting on what the events meant (Common Core W.6.3 to W.8.3). These prompts ask for a moment and what it changed.

Other grades have their own pages: 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade and high school. The writing prompt generator writes prompts on your own topic.

  • Turning points

    1. Write about the moment you realized you had outgrown something you used to love.
    2. Write about a time you had to choose between fitting in and doing what you thought was right.
    3. Tell the story of a day that started badly and ended well. What changed it?

  • People who matter

    1. Write about someone you admire who isn't famous. Show who they are through one scene.
    2. Retell an argument with a sibling, parent or friend from their point of view instead of yours.
    3. Tell the story of a time a stranger helped you, or you helped a stranger.

  • Places

    1. Write about a place that feels different at night than in the day. Use details from all five senses.
    2. Write about the first time you went somewhere on your own.
    3. Describe a meal that matters to your family and the story behind it.

  • Fiction

    1. Write a story that starts with a text message sent to the wrong person.
    2. A seventh grader learns their school will close at the end of the year. Write the last week.
    3. Write a story that moves between two timelines: a character now and the same character five years earlier.

Argument writing prompts for middle school

Middle school arguments support a claim with reasons and evidence from credible sources, and 7th and 8th graders also answer the opposing claim (W.6.1 to W.8.1). Pick a prompt by how much research you want students to do.

  • School policy

    1. Should middle schools replace letter grades with written feedback? State a claim and answer one opposing claim.
    2. Should students be allowed to use AI to help with homework? Take a position and support it with evidence.
    3. Should schools ban phones for the whole school day? Use at least two credible sources.

  • How we live

    1. Should video games count as a school sport? Support your claim with evidence.
    2. Should cities make buses and trains free to ride? Use evidence from at least two sources.
    3. Should the school year run all year with shorter breaks? Answer what families who disagree would say.

  • Science and history

    1. Was the printing press a more important invention than the internet? Defend your claim with evidence.
    2. Should scientists try to bring back extinct animals like the woolly mammoth? Answer the strongest argument against your view.
    3. Should countries spend money exploring space before problems on Earth are solved?

  • Books you read

    1. Which character in a novel you read this year changes the most? Defend your claim with evidence from the text.
    2. Is the title of a book you read this year a good fit? Argue your answer with evidence from the text.
    3. Should a book you read this year be taught to every middle schooler? Make your case and answer one likely objection.

Informative writing prompts for middle school

Middle school informative writing analyzes a topic through definition, classification, comparison and cause and effect, in a formal style (W.6.2 to W.8.2). Several prompts here match middle school science and social studies.

  • Causes and effects

    1. Explain why earthquakes and volcanoes happen more often in some places than others.
    2. Explain how a habit forms and what it takes to break one.
    3. Explain the causes of a war or conflict you studied in social studies.

  • Compare and contrast

    1. Compare plant and animal cells. Explain what each part does and why plants need parts that animals don't.
    2. Compare two ancient civilizations, such as Egypt and Mesopotamia: their geography, government and inventions.
    3. Compare a book with its movie and explain why the filmmakers made the changes they did.

  • Define and classify

    1. Define "leadership" using three leaders from history or your own life.
    2. Classify the main types of clouds and explain what each one tells you about the weather.
    3. Explain what an ecosystem service is, with three examples from your community.

  • How a process works

    1. Explain how a bill becomes a law in the United States.
    2. Explain how the body fights off a cold.
    3. Explain how an app goes from an idea to the app store.

Creative writing prompts for middle school

These give middle schoolers a strong premise or a genre to work in, which helps students who freeze at a blank page.

  • Strange powers

    1. Everyone in your town can hear each other's thoughts for one hour. Write that hour.
    2. You can relive one day of your life but change only one thing. Which day, and what do you change?
    3. Your shadow starts acting on its own. Write the story.

  • Other points of view

    1. Rewrite a scene from a book you read this year from a minor character's point of view.
    2. Write a letter from a historical figure to someone alive today.
    3. Write the story of your school's oldest object, told by the object.

  • Genre

    1. Write the first page of a mystery in which the detective is the youngest person in the room.
    2. Write a science fiction story set in a city on Mars a hundred years from now.
    3. Write a fable with a modern lesson, about something like group chats or screen time.

  • Poetry

    1. Write a poem that describes middle school through one extended metaphor.
    2. Write a found poem using only words from one news article or textbook page.
    3. Write a "Where I'm From" poem, following George Ella Lyon's poem of that name, about your own life.

Journal prompts for middle school

Sixteen questions for the first five or ten minutes of class. Many teachers grade journals for completion only, so students write about what they really think.

  • Who you are

    1. What is one thing about you that has changed since last year, and one thing that hasn't?
    2. What do people get wrong about kids your age?
    3. What is a song, show or book that feels like it was made for you? Why?
    4. What does a good day look like for you?

  • Friends and family

    1. How do you know who your real friends are?
    2. Who in your family would you like to know better? What would you ask them?
    3. Think of a recent disagreement. What would you do differently?
    4. Who do you go to for advice, and why that person?

  • School and goals

    1. What is one goal for this quarter, and what will you do this week to move toward it?
    2. Which class challenges you most, and what helps when it gets hard?
    3. What are you proud of that nobody gave you a grade for?
    4. If you could design one class for your school, what would students learn?

  • Thinking it through

    1. What is a rule you think is unfair? What would you replace it with?
    2. How does social media change the way you feel about yourself?
    3. What is something you wish you had said, and to whom?
    4. Write about a time you failed at something. What did you learn?

Get more middle school prompts from Sparky

  1. Give the grade and the goal

    Type one line, like "argument prompts about school lunch for 8th grade" or "journal prompts about friendship for 6th grade".

  2. Revise in the chat

    Sparky writes the prompts in the chat or in a document. Ask it to add a counterclaim to each, tie them to a novel, or make them shorter.

  3. Put them on the board

    Paste them into your slides, or ask for a printable sheet you can save as a Google Doc or a Word file.

Ways middle school teachers use them

  • Bell ringers

    A journal prompt on the board as students walk in, written for five minutes while you take attendance.

    Get bell ringers

  • Argument essays

    Prompts that ask for a claim, evidence from sources and an answer to the other side.

    Get argument topics

  • Novel units

    Prompts on the book your class is reading, from a scene rewritten from another point of view to an argument about a character.

    Use our novel

  • Check-ins

    Journal prompts on friendship, stress and goals, to read how students are doing.

    Get check-ins

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Frequently asked questions

Are these middle school writing prompts free?

Yes. Use or print any prompt on this page, and Sparky is free for teachers when you want more.

What are good journal prompts for middle school?

Open questions about students' own lives with no right answer, such as what people get wrong about kids their age or which rule they think is unfair. The journal section has sixteen. Many teachers grade journals for completion only, so students say what they think.

What should middle schoolers be able to write?

In the Common Core writing standards, middle schoolers write arguments with claims and evidence from credible sources, and by 7th and 8th grade they answer opposing claims too. They also write informative pieces that analyze causes, effects and comparisons, and narratives with a clear point of view.

How long should a middle school journal entry be?

Most journal prompts on this page can be answered in a paragraph or two, about five to ten minutes of writing. Ask Sparky for prompts sized to the time you have.

Can I print these prompts or put them in slides?

Yes. Copy them into your slides, or ask Sparky for a printable sheet. It makes a document you can print, save to Google Drive as a Google Doc or download as a Word file.

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