How to Create a Written Prompt

A Written Prompt is a custom lesson that asks students to write an answer of their own rather than copy a passage: a reflection, an opinion, a reading-comprehension question, a practice essay for a standardized test. It is a PLUS feature. This article covers making one, and then reading what your students wrote.

Step 1: Log in to your Teacher Portal.

Step 2: Click Custom Lessons in the left-hand menu.

Step 3: Click Create Custom Lesson, top right.

Step 4: Choose Written Prompt, the third of the three cards.

Step 5: Fill in the lesson's details. Lesson Title, Save As (Published or Draft) and Visibility are required and marked with a red asterisk; Lesson Introduction and Curriculum are optional.

Step 6: Write the question itself in Your Written Prompt (shown to your students), which takes up to 500 characters. Then set Word Count, which is required: it is the fewest words a student must type before they can submit, counting five characters as one word. Time Limit (seconds) is optional and the screen is untimed if you leave it empty.

Pro-Tip: Allow Formatting is ticked already, which lets students bold, italicise and make lists in their answer. Clear it if you want plain text.

Step 7: If you want more than one question, click Add Another Written Prompt and fill in the next screen the same way. When you are done, click Create Custom Written Prompt at the foot of the form.

Pro-Tip: with more than one screen, drag a screen by the handle on its left to reorder it.

Step 1: Click Reports in the left-hand menu.

Step 2: Under Lesson Reports, click Written Prompt Details.

Step 3: Narrow the report with Filter if you want to. You can filter by class, curriculum, unit or lesson, and choose whether to include students with no activity.

Pro-Tip: once a filter is set, Save Report keeps it for next time. It sits beside Filter and stays grayed out until there is something to save.

Step 4: Click See Response on a row to open that answer in place. The PROMPT and STUDENT RESPONSE columns each have an Expand All at the top if you would rather read the lot at once.

Step 5: Print and Export sit at the top right of the report, beside the number of records. They appear once the report has results, so a class that has not answered a prompt yet shows neither.

Step 1: Click Classes in the left-hand menu.

Step 2: Click the class whose responses you want.

Step 3: Open the Reports tab.

Step 4: Under Lesson Reports, click Written Prompt Details.

Step 5: The class is already applied as a filter. Its name sits in the report's header and the button reads Filter: Class, so you are seeing responses from this class and no other.

Step 6: Read and export the responses as in steps 4 and 5 above.

Step 1: Type the student's name into the search box at the top of the page.

Step 2: Click the student under STUDENTS in the results.

Step 3: On the student's page, open the Reports tab.

Step 4: Under Lesson Reports, click Written Prompt Details.

Step 5: Read and export the responses as in steps 4 and 5 of the first section.

That is it. If your students are already logged in, have them log out and back in before the new prompt appears.

Still stuck? Write to support@typing.com.