35 Back-to-School Writing Prompts for Middle and High School

After summer break, students often return to the classroom with plenty of stories and memories to share. Back-to-school writing prompts give middle and high school students an opportunity to reflect on those experiences all while easing them back into learning. Whether you’re looking for first-day-of-school writing prompts, journal prompts, or larger writing assignments, the following activities can help middle and high students find their voice and start the school year ready to write. 

First-day-of-school writing prompts: Middle school students (grades 6–8)

Getting-to-know-you prompts

1. Share five things you’d like your teacher to know about you as a learner, a classmate, or a person.
2. A flashbulb memory is a very detailed memory that you have from when you were young. Do you have any memories like that, and if so, what are they about? Are there any events that have happened recently that you think you will remember for a long time?
3. If your life had a soundtrack, what songs would be on it? Choose three songs that represent different moments in your life. For each song, explain why you chose it and why it connects to your personal story.
4. Do you have any family or personal traditions that are special to you? Why do you enjoy them? If not, what tradition would you want to start this year?

Goal setting prompts

1. For the new school year, what new skill would you choose to learn if you had the time, money, and opportunity? Why?
2. If there is a club, sport, class, or event you are excited about this year, write what you already know about it. Follow up with some expectations that you have for the experience and yourself.

Reflection prompts

1. Write a letter to your younger self, and then another to your older self.
2. Write a critique of a book, movie, or show you recently read or watched. What were its strong points? What were its weak ones?
3. Describe the reigning emotions you felt this summer. Why did you feel that way, and how do you think these emotions might change as the school year progresses?
4. Choose a place you traveled to this summer, either locally or far away, and write a blog post about that location. Should other people visit as well? It could be a restaurant, a town, a shop, or a favorite spot to hang out.
5. Describe the most memorable school project that you’ve ever done. Would you like to do a similar project this year, and if so, how can it be adapted to what you’re learning now?
6. Write a 1,000-word essay about an aspect of your summer that focuses on the five basic senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.

Creative writing prompts

1. Stream of consciousness is when a character lets their thoughts continuously flow. Write a stream of consciousness story of your own and see where your thoughts take you.
2. If you could create a themed book display for your school library, what would it be? Which titles would it include, and why?
3. One important rule of creative writing is to “show, don’t tell.” Write a 1,500-word short story in your favorite genre, following this rule.

Research prompts 

1. Write a local wildlife guide to your backyard, neighborhood, local park, or even the school itself. What flora and fauna exist there?
2. Choose a person—living or historical—you would like to interview. Why would you like to speak with them? What questions would you ask? 

First-day-of-school writing prompts: High school students (grades 9–12)

Getting-to-know-you prompts

1. Write a list of how-to instructions for something that you know how to do. It could be making a meal, cleaning something, playing a game, babysitting, drawing a picture, etc.
2. Is there a cause that you want to be a part of? What is it, and why is it important to you?
3. What five items would you put in a time capsule to represent your life right now? Explain why you chose each item.  

Goal setting prompts

1. Set three resolutions for yourself to accomplish this year and describe why those are the ones you chose.
2. Create a new club for your community or school. What is the club about? What are your goals, and who do you hope will join?
3. Imagine it’s ten years from now and a post about one of your accomplishments is trending online. What did you accomplish? What does the post say? 

Reflection prompts

1. Which app do you spend the most time on? What are the positive aspects of using the app? What are the negatives?
2. Describe three things that you are looking forward to this year.
3. Reflect on a meaningful experience from the past year that helped shape who you are today. What did you learn from that experience, and how might it influence your goals, decisions, and mindset during the coming school year? 

Creative writing prompts

1. Write a short story using only dialogue. Work on creating different voices for each character. If it helps, take notes on each character before the dialogue starts. Does one character use slang? Is the other excitable? Is one character older than the other?
2. Write a song on a subject that isn’t usually heard in other songs.
3. Create a new class for your school to offer. Why do you think that class is necessary? What are the learning goals for that class, and what are the assignments?

Research prompts

1. What is your ultimate dream job? Research the industry, company, or role you’re interested in and report on what it is and how to get there. Conclude with your expectations before and after your research. Is the job what you thought it was?
2. Choose a position with the local government to run for and outline a platform to run on. Then, write a speech to voters about your platform. Make sure to research your current representatives to learn what their platforms are.
3. What is going on in the town or city that you live in? Research local events, places, volunteer opportunities, parks, clubs, etc. Visit a new place or attend a new event, then write a review of your experiences using descriptive language. Would you go back again? Why or why not?
4. An executive summary is an intro to a business plan that is designed to grab the reader’s attention by summarizing what the new business will accomplish. Write an executive summary between 500 and 1,000 words for a product, venture, or business that you wish existed.
5. Research a historical figure with a similar background as yours. This could include where they grew up, their family background, culture, interests, education, challenges they faced, or other aspects of their life. What similarities did you find? What did they accomplish?
6. What was happening in the world the year you were born? Research major news events, trends, innovations, and entertainment of that year. Then choose one event or development that you believe had the greatest impact and explain why. 

Back-to-school journal prompts and writing ideas 

These first-day-of-school writing prompts for middle school and high school students offer a valuable opportunity to get students reflecting and writing. As the year progresses, you can continue to generate fresh writing ideas and activities with HMH AI Tools’ Writing Prompt Generator, which helps create prompts tailored to your students goals and needs. By providing students with the opportunity to share their experiences, perspectives, and goals, you can foster an engaging classroom environment and set the stage for a successful year ahead. 

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