Below is a sample writing assignment that asks students to write something truly meaningful.
Assignment: An Important Story Draft
For this last story you are going to write, I want to give you a challenge. Pick one of the things below to write about. I want you to write a story which is at least 2-3 pages, double spaced:
- A story that really matters to you–something that you think is really worth telling
- A story that you think is important, but you aren’t sure why
- A story that you think is not important, but for some reason you think you should write about it anyway
- A story that you can only sort of recall but seems to be worth trying to tell
- A story that will teach people something
- A story that will teach you something as you write it
The goal here is to write something that is a little bit hard to do. So, pick a story which will be a challenge for you. Maybe it will work out, maybe it won’t. But take a chance and see if you can write something important.
I know students often dislike having to write papers and don’t enjoy writing. But, if you are only going to ever write one paper in your whole life that is worth your time, make this that paper. Write something that would be worth showing to your kids some day. The paper doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, it just has to have something to say to you. So don’t just write this paper because I told you to. Instead, write a paper for yourself about something that really matters!
If you can do that, you will have learned the most important thing I can ever hope to teach you.
Bring two copies of this story to class: one copy of this story will be to turn in and one copy will be for inclusion with your full collection of stories.