Writing Prompts Wheel
A blank page is the hardest part of writing, and a surprising prompt gets pencils moving. This wheel offers 30 story starters, such as a door appearing in your bedroom wall, a pet that suddenly talks or the day gravity switched off. Spin one for a ten-minute quick write, a journal entry or the opening of a longer narrative. Because the class doesn't choose, nobody spends the first five minutes deciding what to write about. Mix in prompts linked to your current topic, or let students add one each so the wheel fills with ideas from the class.
How to use it
- The wheel is ready with 30 entries. Press Spin, click the wheel or press Space, and the result appears in the middle.
- Open Edit entries to change the list for your class, or press Use my class instead to spin your students' names.
- Press Present (or F) to show just the wheel on the board. Turn on Take winners off the wheel in Settings if you don't want repeats.
Ways to use it in class
- Ten-minute quick write: spin, set the classroom timer and write without stopping until the chime.
- Story relay: spin a prompt, each student writes one paragraph, then passes the page to the next person.
- Prompt swap: students add their own prompt in Edit entries, then spin to write from someone else's.
More ready-made wheels
Questions teachers ask
Can I change what's on the wheel?
Yes. Open Edit entries to add, remove or reword anything, one entry per line. Your changes last until you leave the page, and Restore brings back the original list.
Can I spin my students' names instead?
Yes. Press Use my class instead to swap the entries for your saved class, with absent students left off. Press the back button in the same place to return to this wheel's entries.
Is every entry equally likely?
Yes. The result is chosen with your browser's cryptographic random number generator before the wheel moves, and every slice has the same chance. Turn on Take winners off the wheel in Settings to avoid repeats.
Will ads show on my projector?
No. Press Present (or F) and the screen shows only the wheel and the Spin button, in large type for the back of the room.