Writing Prompts using Emojis 

Use these emoji generators to create fun writing prompts for students. 

There are two random emoji generators that can be used for a variety of fun uses (I will leave those to your imagination); in this post though, I will focus on one of the goals that many schools are working on and that is writing using the Random Emoji Power Paragraph EduProtocol. 


Ok, small side step here....

EduProtocols are lesson frames that you can use in your classroom. They are low prep, high impact frames that you can use for any content. To check them out, go to the EduProtocol website. To see this particular frame, click on the Free Templates & Resources button in the top right. You will need to enter your name and email but it is WORTH it!

Back to the post..

Using the Random Emoji Power Paragraph protocol, you can get your students to enhance their writing skills in a super fun way. There are two websites that you will need to access. The first is the members only section of the EduProtocol site so that you can use their fun Emoji Generator and the second site is Socrative. You will want to create a free account on Socrative; you will be using the Short Answer Quiz on this site. When students log in, they will also need to go to  Socrative but will login as a student and use your "Room Number" (that is the number at the top of your screen) to access the short quiz. Do this first!

Here is the gist of the protocol (this is DIRECTLY from the free available protocol on the EduProtocol site):

  1. Explain the concept of pursuing an idea. Staying on topic is what defines a paragraph. If you pursue a new idea, it’s time for a new paragraph. And for this activity, we are only writing one paragraph.
  1. Click the Start Over button on the Random Emoji Generator page until the class yells “yes” to pick the first emoji. This begins the game. Give the students about a minute or two to get the first sentence typed out.
  1. Then hit the And Then button. Another random emoji appears. We repeat this until each student has five sentences typed. When they have five sentences, they hit submit.
  1. When everyone is done, select Start Vote in Socrative, and the students and I can read everyone’s paragraphs.
  1. It’s great for them to immediately admire one another’s work. It's easy to give pointers immediately. Try completing one more paragraph right away. because we will usually do one more paragraph right away. The Start Vote option in Socrative is magical, because all the students see all the work immediately – no “collecting” or handing in.

The Random Emoji Power Paragraph can have endless permutations, making it effective for most any grade level. Once kids can snap off 5-6 sentences on point (should take about 6-8 reps), You can add twists like tense, POV, literary devices, appositives and so on. You can scaffold their writing in a myriad of ways, and the combination of random emoji and fast feedback via Socrative is a total win for kids and teachers.

For a special twist, have the students write a paragraph with a mixed emoji as the prompt Emoji Mixer!


Hebern, Marlena, and Jon Corippo. "Random Emoji Power Paragraph." EduProtocols, www.eduprotocols.com/randomemoji.