Love/Valentine’s Day Writing Workshop

Below are the prompts (and teaching directions) for a writing workshop I used to teach on Valentine’s Day. It always seemed to generate some interesting and often funny writing from students.

Give all the prompts to students (modify/simplify for your age group when necessary) and have them respond quickly. The teacher should also respond, occasionally providing examples aloud. Picking students to share their “hot” lines as the workshop develops is also an effective idea to encourage involvement. After responding to all the prompts, have students delete, add, edit, rearrange their responses and construct them into a poem or a piece of prose. (Non fiction can be emphasized here.) You can then have students read a part or the entirety of one piece of work. Or you could have all students respond to one or more of the prompts, or offer their best line to construct a class poem or piece of prose. The possibilities here for collaborative writing and editing and sharing are endless.

  1. What is the color of love?
  2. Describe the sounds of love with three words.
  3. Describe the look of love.
  4. Write an equation for love.
  5. Ask a question of love.
  6. I love ____ most in the world.
  7. Why doesn’t love rule the world?
  8. What’s my master secret plan to bring more love to the world?
  9. What undermines/weakens love?
  10. Finish this sentence: Love matters because____
  11. What happens when love disappears?

  12. Thomas Carlyle wrote, “A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge. Respond to this belief.

  1. Finish this simile: Love is like____.
  2. Finish this sentence: The message of love is____.
  3. Write a statement about this declaration: I believe in love at first sight.
  4. You control Cupid for 24 hours. What do you do with him?
  5. Does it matter to you if a Valentine’s Day gift of flowers and/or chocolate is produced by child toiling outside in a distant country?