50 "Do Now" Writing Prompts for GCSE English: “Help Helkor”

This is a beautifully presented set of 50 “Do Now” activities to increase student participation and resilience in their creative and transactional writing.
They feature a cute alien called Helkor (from the planet Halcyon, don’t you know) who is a little confused by the English lessons he is experiencing in his new school.

These 50 Do Nows will help Helkor - and your students - spark their imagination and develop their writing skills in short, very active bursts. Whether it’s crafting vivid descriptions, exploring emotions through dialogue, or coming up with fresh story ideas, these exercises are designed to help everyone get their creative juices flowing. Your support will help Helkor- and your students - build confidence and improve their writing in a fun, engaging way!

Some of these activities are very short – such as the editing a sentence ones (to include similes, adverbs and so on). Others are a little longer but ideally suited to mixed ability classes where some will produce longer and more sophisticated responses than others. However, they are also very adaptable. For example, I have included one “Do Now” where students have to write about Paper 1 Question 3. You have up to 11 more “Do Nows” by simply tweaking the slide to ask the same of a different exam question. Likewise, the other “Do Nows” are very easy to adapt to your own ideas.

These Do Nows were created in an attempt to increase the resilience of my students when it comes to writing in a (supposedly!) familiar way about unexpected subjects. I call it “exam paralysis” – when students sit in an exam for five, ten, fifteen minutes or more, apparently doing nothing. They are so unused to writing spontaneously and in time-constrained conditions that they freeze. This not only wastes valuable exam time, it stops them doing as well as they could (in terms of final grade).

The “Helkor” set is designed without marking in mind – they are designed simply to develop the ability to write and edit quickly, developing voice and confidence. However, I will pace the room making comments and encouraging the writing process, of course! As these do not have “answers” as such, only responses, there is also they joy of hearing some of the students read these out loud. They are not a passive learning tool by any means – as they give other learners ideas about how to approach their own creative writing as well as a EBI (Even Better If) platform for a teacher to make suggestions.

I have included a PDF of the file as well as the original PowerPoint presentations. The additional “image acknowledgment” file is to reassure that all images that have been used are in the public domain.

(Sometimes it’s difficult to activate learning, especially at the beginning of the first session of the day or week. A great way to kickstart a class, assess prior learning and to give the students instant feedback is a “Do Now” activity.)