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Prompts for Writing

Mindprint Rating

Tags

ELA: Writing All Ages iOS App

Skills

Flexible Thinking Expressive Language

Mindprint Expert Review

Pros

  • App includes a broad variety of prompts.
  • Students can easily save and share their work.
  • The app includes follow-up cues (e.g. When did this take place?) for students who want to use a prompt but are still unsure how to get started.

Considerations

  • The navigation icons are confusing.
  • Some of the prompts are poorly written and others may not be appropriate for students.
  • The app has no features that will inspire or motivate reluctant writers.

Mindprint Expert Review

This app encourages students to write using auto-generated prompts, but some of the references and topics may make it a bad choice for K-12 students. The app includes over 1,000 starting lines and ideas. Students press the lightning bolt until they find an idea that intrigues them and then start typing away. Students can save their work in the app, email it, or post it on social media. The prompts are not very intriguing, not particularly well-written, include phrases that might be difficult for even middle school students to understand, and include some sexual references and encouragement of negative behavior. Not all the prompts are bad, and students can easily skip over ones they do not understand to find one they like. However, the design is a plain font on a white screen and the navigation icons are confusing. The combination of these concerns results in an app that is unlikely to do the job of inspiring unenthusiastic students to write, but it could be a useful extra tool for students who enjoy writing.

Academic Benefits

Improves academic skills

  • Provides sufficient and varied types of practice problems to maximize understanding and generalization of the targeted skill/concept
  • Manufacturer claims alignment with Common Core/Known Standards
  • Presents educational concepts accurately
  • Explains answers so students can learn from mistakes
  • Better for teaching the skill to new or struggling learners
  • Better for practicing or refreshing the skill
  • Skills are practiced through authentic, meaningful problems (not just rote practice)

Fun

Engaging for the Mindprint recommended age range

  • Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
  • Subject matter and problems are relevant, interesting and authentic to students
  • Visually appealing to children in the target age range
  • Provides virtual rewards or incentives after meeting specified goals or objectives
  • Provides a "break activity" between academic problem sets
  • Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
  • Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option

Easy to Use

Understandable for children in the Mindprint recommended age range

  • Has a free or trial version
  • Provides teaching guidance for adults to support the child and set appropriate goals
  • Provides an age-appropriate tutorial/first time users can work independently
  • Student should be able to use independently after first use
  • Has a multi-player option to foster in-person collaboration or cooperation
  • Multiple users can save a profile
  • Student graduates to the next level or topic only after meeting a benchmark
  • Can play without sound and not distract others
  • Students can save work between sessions
  • Can effectively understand and monitor student's progress (email report or in product)
  • Provides options to play in languages other than English/Good for ELL
  • Presents information in multiple formats (voice over, pictures and text, etc.)
  • Overall - Easy to use

Cognitive Concerns

May not be advisable for students with the following cognitive needs

  • Attention
    • Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
  • Reading Comprehension
    • Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
  • Verbal Reasoning
    • Assumes specific knowledge or vocabulary without "look-up" options
    • Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own

Manufacturer Description

One of the #1 creative app for all writers. Open to write and follow the prompt suggestions, it's that easy.

More than 500,000 unique writing starting lines and creative writing prompts to inspire you and give you ideas for creative writing. Good for poetry writing, journal writing, storytelling, narration, cinema, and more. All using a patented artificial intelligence technology.

The app even reminds you to write a little every day, and shows you progress on your writing goals as you go.

Whenever you sit down to write, Prompts suggests a few words to get you started. And if you ever get stuck while writing, Prompts is there to give you advice on how to keep going without leaving the app.

"Getting stuck with writer's block is a huge pain. Prompts provides great inspiration." - Mashable

Prompts is great for students in the classroom, amateur writers, or professionals who want to free write more often.

** Part of the Apple Education program, teachers and schools get a discount when buying this app! **

• Prompts gets you writing, even when you don't know where to start
• More than 500,000 unique starting lines and creative prompts like that of Brian Eno
• Set a custom, daily writing goal and use the app to hit it
• View custom writing stats like how often you write, how long you write, and more
• Set daily writing reminders to keep yourself motivated
• Categorize your writing with custom, color-coded tags
• Auto-save so you never lose a word of writing
• Write in either landscape or portrait view, on your iPhone or iPad
• Adjustable font size and styling
• Backup and sync your writing to iCloud
• Share your writing by email, Twitter, or Facebook, and more

Why use Prompts for creativity writing?

• Prompts is full of unique writing prompts and starting lines. Feeling stuck or creatively blocked? Press the lightning bolt at any time and you'll be presented with a prompt to help inspire you.

• Even if you don't know where to start writing, just open the app and press the plus button to get a random and totally unique idea in the form of a starting line. There are hundreds of completely original ideas to start from.

• On the bus, in the break room, anywhere you are, Prompts helps you become a better writer and build a writing habit with just a few minutes a day

Whether you want to write more just for fun or if you write for a profession, you are going to love how Prompts helps you write. Built for writers who love apps like Bear, OneNote, IA Writer, Grammarly, and other creative writing prompts apps.