Write Out is a free two-week event—October 11-25, 2020—organized as a series of online activities where educators, students, the public, and NPS Rangers are invited to explore national parks and other public spaces to connect and learn through place-based writing and sharing.
From Oct 11-25, 2020, the National Writing Project and the National Park Service will once again host Write Out.
NPS Photo
Write Out is in its third year and is sponsored by the National Writing Project and the National Park Service. The theme of this year’s event is Stories Around the Campfire which connects to the National Park Service theme for October.
Through a Write Out Newsletter, we will share ideas and resources organized around this theme that you can use at your own pace and way; the newsletters we will send on Sunday October 11 and October 18 will be chock full of writing prompts, storytelling/storymaking video links and related resources you can use the following week. Visit writeout.nwp.org to sign up for newsletters, see the schedule for this year’s Write Out, and check out resources from the past Write Out events. As always, we connect on social media using hashtag #writeout.
This year, National Park Service Rangers have made some fun daily writing prompt videos to inspire your writing, and can’t wait to ‘visit’ you in your classroom, your home, or your office! Check out these 5 prompts to get you started for Week 1 of Write Out beginning October 11th. More writing prompts from Park Rangers across the country will be shared on Week 2 starting October 18th - be sure to check back for more writing inspiration!
Niobrara's Writing Prompt: Find a place of quiet. Pause there for five minutes. Use your senses to experience. Write what you experience. What is nature telling you?
Sequoia and Kings Canyon's Writing Prompt: We know that some trees can “talk” to each other through their root systems. What kind of messages might trees send to each other?
Weir Farm’s Writing Prompt: National Parks are not just open lands. It includes historic buildings and sites. Which building or site in your neighborhood would you preserve for the future and why?
Springfield Armory's Writing Prompt: Write a story in which a city block or urban center has been retaken by nature and time, what does it look like now?
Sagamore Hill's Writing Prompt: Write an argument about the need for protected public spaces. What do you think could have happened to these lands if conservationists didn’t work so hard to protect them?
Springfield Armory's Writing Prompt: Filling the shoes of men who left for wartime military service through the 20th century, thousands of Women Ordinance Workers (WOWs) worked through the factories and faced many challenges, such as poor working conditions, low wages compared to their male co-workers, and discrimination. How do you think these women felt when they joined the workforce?
Capitol Reef's Writing Prompt: Leaves have elaborate vein systems. But imagine each leaf is really a map. Draw a leaf map and then label places on the map.
Homestead's Writing Prompt: Imagine, who would have been there in the past, who would have lived there? What would their stories be? And write a story that reflects their experiences.
Longfellow House Washington’s Headquarters' Writing Prompt: We often see the world from the ground up. Write a story of a creature (insect, animal, etc.) that only experiences the world from the ground down.
Thomas Edison's Writing Prompt: Imagine you can leave one important artifact for some future generation to find. What will you leave that will allow a future historian to better understand you?
Delaware Water Gap's Writing Prompt: Draw a picture of a bird that has nested on a city building. Write a journal entry of a day in the life of that bird. Imagine what kind of challenges it might face living in a big city.
